MrsLondon

Has anybody seen much of the native American wildlife whilst in the States? We saw a wild chipmunk (cute!) at the castle near Rockport, MA, and briefly saw a raccoon crossing the road near Mark's folk's house (at night). I've never seen a skunk or possum, they seem very elusive, though Mark says he's seen plenty of skunks on his early morning jogs when he was living there.
I finally was able to see two real raccoons close up in Monaco zoo of all places. A little girl was feeding them small cracker biscuits. My camera had run out of film and by the time I ran back with a new one, they had gone right to the back of the enclosure to sleep so I wasn't able to get a shot. We're going back in October and will show Mark. Man, their fur is thick, they must get so hot! They really are beautiful creatures!
Course we've got our own native American immigrants here in the UK aka grey squirrels! Naturalized British citizens now, o' course!

BTW IF YOU DON'T LIKE ANIMALS and think they are only good for hunting DO NOT join in this thread, I am looking for NICE conversation about wild animals from those who appreciate them. I know exactly who will come on here trying to stir up truouble and then think they can make it OK by putting 'do not take personally' at the end. Just so you know, I WILL take it personally!!!!!

207lonsdale

Slightly off topic, but ........ when I was in California I was shocked to see a dog dead in the middle of the highway having been run over, this happened again a couple of days later.

Apparently the driver does not have to stop if he/she hits a dog and the general opinion is that a small dog will be dissipated by the traffic!!!!!!!!!! Kem said that he has been called out a few times to move larger dogs out of the way of traffic, but never for a small dog.

There really does not seem to be much regard for animals in the US. It makes me wonder how children react when they see a dog lying dead in the middle of the highway, or perhaps it does not even bother them!!!!!

On one occasion, Kem said he pulled over a woman who was speeding ...... she had just run straight into a litter of puppies. He said that one of the puppies was embedded in the front of her vehicle ........ she continued talking on her mobile phone whilst picking the body parts out of her front grille! Kem is not a great animal lover, but even he said that incident made him feel physically sick!!

MrsLondon

God, how awful. I know we've got a long way to go in the UK (fox hunting etc) before we can start criticizing other countries, but as countries go I think we are in general, a nation of animal lovers.

Ranjini

The US is a nation of animal lovers too. Except that they think an animal's place is in the home in an enclosed yard, riding in the car or on a leash when in public. The reason is that some dogs ARE dangerous and could really cost you if they should end up biting someone.
My husband has always told me not to endanger my life or the lives of the others on the freeway by swerving to avoid an animal. I'm an animal lover and I always slow down when I see a dog or a cat on the street and I have seen others do the same. But on the freeway it could be actually dangerous. Think of all those lanes of traffic and everyone travelling at 70 m.p.h. I've never actually been placed in the situation to date, thankfully. But that's how it works. Bottom line, if you love your animals just make sure that they don't wonder on to the freeway

TexasPenguin

To get back to the original posting....
Down here in Texas I see a LOT of the local wildlife!
Armadillos are a common sight in the summer - both live and kicking and also, sadly, roadkill.
Possums are fairly stupid creatures - they 'freeze' completely in a car's headlights and then, if you stop (as I do), they quietly saunter off into the hedgerow.
Raccoons are also really common - they will come up to you to be fed in the parks, (but you shouldn't take the bait, so to speak, since they are sometimes rabid).
Also in the State parks we often see turtles in ponds - make a hell of a row splashing and climbing on each other.
Just down the hill from where I live are some wetlands that I often see beaver wandering about (that surprised me, I didn't know we had beaver in Texas!).
Other, not so welcome, wildlife in my back yard are scorpions (indoors as well), pit vipers and skunks (good to look at but not so nice to be near!) and tarantulas (they jump but are pretty innocuous really!).
It's strange, in England my wife would go ballistic at the mere sight of a money spider - out here she carefully puts outside any spider less than an inch or so across - she's had her 'offence-level' well and truly adjusted by the wealth of critters out here!

Andy.

207lonsdale

Oooops! Sorry, it was not the highway but a regular street!

Yorkieabroad

Texas too....we see lots of Armadillo, but sadly so far, all roadkill apart from at the zoo. Have seen deer pretty up close and personal in one of the local parks, but as soon as it realised we were there, it disappeared. Otters and turtles are pretty common in the streams/lakes, and I've also rescued a semi squashed turtle from the road - Texas Wildlife managed to rehabilitate it, put a fiberglass moulding over the broken shell and release it to the wild again!

We get more bugs than you can shake a stick at, and a fair selection of not very pleasant flying biting things, but citronella candles seem to hold most of them at bay We also get a lot of birdlife, very different to the species I've seen when I've lived elsewhere. I've never considered myself much of a twitcher, but think I will have to invest in a birds of texas book to identify most of them.

And finally, we've just had 'beware of the alligators' signs put up on some of the local creeks and ponds - probably tena penny for the Floridians out there, but the fist one I saw made me do a double take I have to say!

lairdside

I had a raccoon on my porch about 2 nights ago.

I must have been standing about 4 feet away from it, our dog was going balistic.

I had to go out and grab the dog (raccoons are vicious and our dog would have been torn apart by it). It backed down from me though - most likely because it was puzzled that I wasn't afraid of it ..lol They are very smart creatures and will attack people if they decide it's worth fighting for what they want.

I have also seen a skunk in the back yard one evening, bears (quite common around here), coyotes( you can't let your dogs, cats or small children out unattended as will end up as lunch, they have even been known to "snatch" small dogs off the leash when out for walks with their owners.

I seen chipmunks down the hill in the forests in the valley. Cute critters

I've also seen wolves, they were ones who had become part of someone's household and were tame enough to allow you to pet them.

Do black widow spiders and grey squirrels count?

Seen lots of those

Also lots of native birds, blue jays are pretty but rowdy things.

Patrick

Does my wife count?

2 black racers (snakes), 3 possums, Pelicans and Eglets. I have seen about 5 species of snakes all have been dead on the road - the 2 black racers - one was in my yard and I had to go out and kill it because I didn't want it to attack the cats. The other was in the next street over. The are not poisenous but they are biters

Patrick

Vicky88

We occasionally see skunks here which is really odd as the area we live is very residential. Got cornered on a path one day by a skunk, didn't know what to do as I didn't want him to attack me and spray. Believe me you can tell when you are driving when there is a dead skunk in the area because it hangs around for days. Never ever run over the corpse of one or you are in for a smelly time.

MrsLondon

Hubby says if you get sprayed by a skunk the only thing will get it off is tomato juice!
I'd love to see an armadillo!

mark19964

Just to say thats fine by me;
The grey squirrel is vermin and not Native of this country - as you rightly pointed out, its also directly responsible for the decline of our native Red squirrel.
Sorry that you feel that if you hunt animals, you must be a caveman. I happen to like animals very much, but sometimes they have to be culled and controlled so there is no detrimental effect and only those strongest and fittest survive for the sake of the species, hence we shoot grey squirrels in the countryside to help the endangered Red.

Here endeth the lesson

Mark

PS: when you own this site and Forum, then you can tell who and not to post on threads - it is an open Forum.

Good day to you.

lairdside

Rabbits were also "imported" from the New World to the UK.

lairdside

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a racoon or coyote if it was attacking or poised to attack one of my pets or children. (AND THEY DO).

Washoe County can be a little sticky about these things, unlike other parts but I'd take my chances and do my explaining later as long as the critter genuinely was going to attack or had strongly indicated so.

Ray

Well said Lairside... Mrs I wanna pet a rabid Racoon, better start learning quickly, wild animals are not pets... Next she will be saying you should not have guns...