SPB's mountaintop HQ menaced by wolves It's with one eye on the distant sierra and a shotgun close to hand that I report today that attempts to expel wolves from the Spanish province of Ávila have failed. Despite vociferous and emotive exhortations, mostly from farmers, the Junta de Castilla y León has rejected a call to declare the province a "wolf-free zone", …
Sod it, I just remembered the Spanish rules on remotely controlled flying vehicles.
Semtex451,
There's no need to go to space to get round this. The Special Projects Bureau have access to plenty of hydrogen helium. They could obviously go for a high-altitude surveillance balloon.
But they're nearly finished with their rocket plane anyway, so it's time for something different. I suggest a wolf-detecting airship. The bonus being that the Editor of this august journal is an airship buff, so there's bound to be plenty of funding on offer.
Now it's just time to get the acronyms sorted out.
@ I ain't Spartacus - I was happy with AWACS and LASER has much merit, but a system so named suggests a need to be weaponised, which I suspect is off the table. Since you point out the clear suitability of an air-ship, I offer ABLIMP - Air Boyant Lupine IMaging Platform. I still prefer your interpretation of my AWACS and apologies to my fellow pedants for earlier repeating the word 'system' an error made in haste.
This is surely an ideal opportunity for the famous SPB to dream up something useful for the local community. No?
I'm assuming you didn't mean something along the lines of "designated 'divorce by wolf' routes" where the hapless (soon to be ex) partner is sprayed with wolf attracting chemicals as she pops out to the local shop?
... to get you another six pack... wearing that lovely red scarf you brought her today.
I thought the exact same thing as wolf attacks near SPB Software's development HQ are not new, as this story from 1911 attests.
Your neighbour should be careful what he wishes for... Farmers wanted foxes culling in our otherwise happy valley, but the toffs were not very good at it in our neck of the woods...
The folks who used to "hunt" across our land (without asking for permission) didn't bother to stop their dogs worrying sheep+lambs, they destroyed stone walls, fences, gates (few hundred quid each time - no compensation). On occasion I was threatened with a whip + being trampled while I tried to remove the jaws of one of their piss-poorly-trained hounds from the neck of a Ewe trying to defend it's lambs. That particular Vixen (in it's entire lifetime) caused a tiny fraction of the damage and aggravation the toffs achieved in a less than an hour.
Only chinless 'tards and their sycophant serfs could think that horses dogs and trespassing are the best way to go about culling foxes (IMO). I hope the Spanish are smarter than that w.r.t. Wolves. :)
Its probably far too late to prosecute now but you have a claim under Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/1-2/28
For the purposes of this Act worrying livestock means—
(a)attacking livestock, or
(b)chasing livestock in such a way as may reasonably be expected to cause injury or suffering to the livestock or, in the case of females, abortion, or loss of or diminution in their produce.
(c)being at large (that is to say not on a lead or otherwise under close control) in a field or enclosure in which there are sheep
There is a clause that c doesn't apply to packs of hounds but sections a and b still apply to them.
Thats a english thing I think, In france they hunt foxes and wolves with guns on foot and maybe dogs at worst. The hunters here all dress head to toe in green and fatigues, but then french gun laws require they all wear flourescent tabbards so they dont shoot each other, which they all do. That alone proves someone in gov has a sense of humour.
The wolf has made a re-appearance in France too, they've lifted its protected status as its a pain, and anyone that disagree's with that, I suggest you have them imported to your town and have them polish off the local pet cat/dog population, never mind livestock. Here the sheep are fenced in well too and not left ferral.
The wolf has made a re-appearance in France too, they've lifted its protected status as its a pain, and anyone that disagree's with that, I suggest you have them imported to your town and have them polish off the local pet cat/dog population,
I'm sorry, is that supposed to be a bad thing...
"The wolf has made a re-appearance in France too, they've lifted its protected status as its a pain"
Not against culling, it is necessary sometimes... French hunting technique seems more appropriate but it sounds like a similar breed of dipstick takes part. ;)
Thanks for the thought Shrimpling, but in this particular case the Ewe and her lambs were traumatised but basically OK (no puncture wounds - I got in there very quickly before the dog had got a proper hold) - and I think it's fair to say it was a pack - even though it was just one dog making contact.
As for trespass, property damage & assault, that's my word vs a large bunch of noxious & influential toffs + serfs, not much chance of the part-time plod taking action.
I do wonder if the down-voter is disagreeing with my assertion regarding hunting technique or is simply trying to stick up for a very badly run hunt.
In a (possibly apocryphal, but I'd like to believe otherwise) story from the Vale of Glamorgan a couple of decades back, one of the local sheep farmers found a good use for such protections when they started large scale housing development in the Vale back in the 80s.
Mostly, the residents of the new houses were townies, kids away at school and both parents working in the city, with the dogs left to roam the countryside all day.
Whenever a worried couple would turn up at the farm explaining how they hadn't seen little Bozo for nearly a week, and was it possible he'd somehow got himself trapped in one of the outbuildings, he'd march them over to his barn, swing open the door and ask them if they recognised any of the canine carcasses he had nailed up against the inside wall.
Apparently, it eventually helped to keep the sheep worrying problems down, although whether because of dog owner education or rapid dog attrition is not clear
Think of all the potential LOHAN-related headlines we could be treated to!:
LOHAN succumbs to local wolf!
Wolves attracted to LOHAN!
Spanish wolves enticed by LOHAN's hot piece!
The possibilities are endless.
(By the way, reintroducing the wolf into Yellowstone National Park has been a huge ecological success. Elk and deer are no longer overpopulating and denuding grasslands, brush and saplings within the park. But yes, there have been some attacks on livestock outside the park.)
Could be worse. In my neck of the woods predators capable of taking down a cow (let alone a bull) are practically non-existent (the occasional mountain lion may visit every few years) so while they don't have to worry about wolves or matadors, they do have to worry about the meat packing plant.
At least against a wolf or matador they have a chance to fight back a bit before they meet their end.
Wolves are as dangerous as tigers and lions. Which is to say that all of the surviving ones have learnt that, on the whole, humans are fucking dangerous and best left alone.
You get attacked by the desperate ones (infirm / elderly / ill), the ones that are making a basic living off the land usually give humans a wide berth. Sounds like you got a fairly intelligent one who noticed a potential free dinner in the offing and decided to chance it ;)
It is no coincidence that we domesticated them into Canis lupus familiaris, after all...
Because there's no EU/gov compensation for dog attacks, so everything is reported as a wolf attack.
(At least in France this is how it gets played.)
Or even better, maybe the hunters are feeding the wolves to grow the numbers to justify culls.
(As the French hunting fraternity does with wild boar, causing massive over population problems leading to drunken free-for-all shotgun culls in public parks.)
"As the French hunting fraternity does with wild boar, causing massive over population problems leading to drunken free-for-all shotgun culls in public parks."
Sounds like France really needs to ban the consumption of Alcohol to me. Oh hang on, I made the mistake of opening the Mother in law's copy of the Daily Mail today...
I've just had a better idea... How about lock all the folks who hunt while drunk in a field with as much booze, guns and ammo as they can wish for and give them a couple of days to get it out of their system. I'm sure Dick Cheney would love it. What could possibly go wrong ?
Hi everybody
Wild boars and deers=car crashes and transmiting diseases to cattle (tuberculosis); vultures eating alive animals because they don´t have dead ones (after BSE regulations), foxes bitting small and weak calves and hens; and now wolves attacking cattle. Wild life is beautiful but our politicians should help people suffering problems that come from these animals.
Lester, let´s have a drink in La Cueva at 20:30
Cheers!
We ranch in an area where wolves, mountain lions and grizzly bears exist. Yes, we have had attacks on livestock and people by bears and mount lions BUT never a human attack by wolves. Wolves are a very smart animal and know when to stay away from the easy pickings.
Humans and wildlife can co-exist!
If he was close enough to respond to the screams, why didn't they eat him too? And no remains? Seriously? Very tidy wolves then. Is it too late to get a forensic pathologist to uncover the jealous murder and burial?
The one with the Silent Witness DVDs in the pocket.
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