While both of my feral/wild dog encounters also occurred in rural areas, that is not the subject of this thread.
The wide open farm lands with houses and livestock scattered about will be just as you state. The farmers will protect their animals and shoot
anything within their fenceline.
But, since this is a “Situation X Suburbia” thread, I was trying to relate what it could be like in the outskirts of a city of one million or
more. Here is a calculation using my assumptions along with the statistics I quoted above.
Population of metro area: 1.2 million people, roughly 2.4 people per household equals 500,000 households
0.5 million households times 1.6 dogs/household equals 800,000 dogs.
0.8 million dogs divided by 3 equals 266,666 large dogs.
Assume that 1 in 10 is released for whatever reason, and that is nearly 27 thousand large dogs roaming the streets,
or over 2000 packs of 10-15 dogs/each.
All of these dogs could be in the metro area of a city. They would move outward as the food supply diminished. People in buildings and semi-secure
home will not be wasting ammo on dogs, when there are bigger (people) things to worry about.
Yes, there are several assumptions, one being that 1 in 10 large dogs would be released. I couldn’t find statistics on how many dogs were released
in the Katrina disaster, but I found many reports on “unnumbered” and “untold numbers” of them were abandoned.
As for reasons to release the animals, city folk are much less likely to “put down” an animal that is using up too much food. No vets around for
“humane” kills.
Jimmy and Hanna are crying that they can’t give Fido a little of their food, because Dad said the food is almost gone. Dad can’t take Fido out
back, because the dog has been in the Family for three years, and this would make the miserable survival situation even worse. Heck, most people in
NewYork don’t even own firearms. What are they gonna do, club Fido the family pet with a shovel while the kids look on, or just let him go to his
own instinct.
My bet is that a bunch will be let go, like Katrina… people think that will be better than killing them. (I know most rural farm folk do not think
this way.)
And most people (in the cities) think meat comes from the grocery store. Do you really think suburbia America knows how to kill and clean a 70-120
pound feral animal? Will Jimmy and Hanna eat it? Will Mom and Dad?
As for pigs and cows walking down the typical suburban residential street, bring it on.
In my experience, they don’t attack in packs. I’ve climbed more than a few trees trying to get away from wild/feral hogs. Don’t get me wrong;
they are dangerous.
Just think about that hungry pack of 20 feral dogs you encounter while you are scrounging for food. Don’t you think there might be a little
something to the “fairy tales told”? I do…