Lions, Tigers and Bear - oh my!

[tac]

1. Elephants eat grass and trees
2. Hippos eat water plants

1. Elephants can, and do, regularly stomp people into colourful paste.

2. Hippos just bite people in half.

I guess that's alright then.

tac

 

[The Heretic]

Hippos are very territorial and they do come out of the water. Part of it would depend on the time of year that some event happened. From spring to late fall you would need to be concerned about them. Not sure how well they would tolerate the cold - west of the Cascades the weather is relatively mild in the winter.

Elephants and hippos would make a mess of crops. Elephants would make a mess of trees.

I am not saying that all these animals should be shot on site - but they would be a problem.

Feral dogs and people would be more of a problem due to sheer numbers, but anyone close to any place that keeps exotic animals - such as Portland, Sherwood, Bandon, Winston and so on - would need to be cautious and prepared to deal with these animals should they survive the event and get loose.

 

[mjbskwim]

1. Elephants can, and do, regularly stomp people into colourful paste.

2. Hippos just bite people in half.

I guess that's alright then.

tac

Some of my favorite vids are elephants stomping mean trainers into paste.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

ROFLMAO what makes you think I even own a firearm that uses 5.56mm? Granted my 30-06 and .35 Whelen would be marginal on some of the African animals but both have taken all of them. And since it wouldn't be a sporting event I would have no trouble dumping a clip from the M1 Garand into any big critter that might eat me.

As to Hippos I think you would find the people they kill tend to be in the water.

Around here a Hippo in the water is going to be one hurting critter they aren't set up for 50 degree water.

The big cats would be the most trouble. Even zoo raised animals which almost all of them would be can half assed hunt.

Elephants eat grass and trees
Hippos eat water plants

Ahhh, Mark! There ya go, using logic again!

 

[ditchtiger]

A 12ga slug would be my go to.

Honestly, though even some warning shots from a smaller caliber would most likely startle any large normally caged animals into running the other way IMO.

My warning shot will startle them for sure, I'm not going to miss.

 

[Joe13]

My warning shot will startle them for sure, I'm not going to miss.

Yea, no warning shots for a charging animal. My point was that your just as likely to startle them into a retreat, hit or no hit, as they would be highly anxious being in an open world while having lived all their lives in cages.

Just look at a house cat that goes outside for the first time - they are on sensory overload from being in an entirely new environment and lots will bolt back into the house if startled.

 

[Camelfilter]

It wouldn't take but one snack for a large cat to figure out that there's plenty of meat just walking around oblivious to there surrounds.

Early on after an event I might have a chance at spotting a large cat (before it attacked me). Further into an event, I highly doubt I'd see nor hear it. Would depend on the cover around obviously, but the further on, the worse the yards will tend to get incredibly overgrown.

-Note to self: get a good dog or 3. A dog would prove helpful in this (albeit fancifull) situation & innumerable real world ones!

 

[tac]

When I was in BC a few years back, attending a 'know your bear' symposium, the ranger i/c told us a little story about two guys going out in the woods talking about what gun to use in the event of being attacked by a griz.

The one guy noted to the ranger, with some degree of pride, his .454 Casull, comparing it scathingly with his pal's choice of a .25cal Baby Browning vest-pocket pistol.

'You're not going to do the bear much damage with that squeakpip thing, are ya?'

'I don't have to do the bear ANY damage' - he resplone - 'I just have to shoot YOU in the kneecap, and then make a run for it....'

tac

 

[Joe13]

When I was in BC a few years back, attending a 'know your bear' symposium, the ranger i/c told us a little story about two guys going out in the woods talking about what gun to use in the event of being attacked by a griz.

The one guy noted to the ranger, with some degree of pride, his .454 Casull, comparing it scathingly with his pal's choice of a .25cal Baby Browning vest-pocket pistol.

'You're not going to do the bear much damage with that squeakpip thing, are ya?'

'I don't have to do the bear ANY damage' - he resplone - 'I just have to shoot YOU in the kneecap, and then make a run for it....'

tac

Yellowstone Rangers tell a similar story, all ending with:

You can't and won't out run the bear, on the ground or up a tree, but you can outrun the other people your with.

 

[tac]

Yup, the ranger closed the presentation with a shot clip of 8mm home movie, taken some time in the mid-sixties. The bear, a sow [so he said] was catching up to an unfortunate ranger across a uphill meadow, and was just about to make a swipe when the ranger cleared a ten-foot firebreak, into which the bear tumbled.

It's not that the ranger was blessed with extraordinary athletic ability, but that the horse that he was riding didn't want to end up as bear food.

It was calculated that the bear was closing in on the galloping horse at approximately 28mph...

tac

 

[Provincial]

I once was asked by a controller at an Alaska airport to try to chase a grizzly off the runway with my Cessna 180 so traffic could land safely. I "buzzed" the small bear (it looked like a yearling to me) off the runway and into a patch of small trees. It was running about 30 mph without slowing down while knocking over a dense stand of trees 3-4 inches in diameter. All the while, it was looking over it's shoulder at my airplane, and didn't seem to notice the trees at all!

It was a memorable sight that impressed me with the power of a large bear.