Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

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JD Spydo
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Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#1

Post by JD Spydo »

I've thought about this subject for quite a while before I finally got the nerve to put it out there for public consumption. Because I'm more than certain I'm going to have a core group of folks calling me a "Conspiracy Theorist" ( Whatever in the heck that is?) or just a flat out nutcase. But that's OK because I know I've got the truth on my side and I can deal with it. But we do have a growing problem here in the USA wilderness areas with non-indigenous animals taking up residence in USA forests, swamps, wetlands along with State and National Parks.
I was just chatting with my good buddy JamesY about stuff I've personally seen here in Missouri forests. The state of Missouri claims there are no exotic creatures in our forests>> WRONG!!! because me and my old boss both personally witnessed a Hyena feasting on a road kill deer here in the North Missouri area. That was in the autumn of 2006. The guy in the truck with me was a retired M.D. Doctor, an anesthesiologist who is about as credible of a witness as can be found. He freaked out because him and his wife had just been to the Serengeti Plane region in the African Country of Tanzania a year previous and knew for a fact what he saw. I was driving the vehicle at the time and I had never seen nothing like it in the state of Missouri.
Also you've got the growing problem of these monster sized snakes that are not indigenous to the State of Florida wreaking havoc on the wildlife in that region. I could go on and on but I'm sure you all get the picture at this point.
It used to be legal for people to own exotic pets here in the state of Missouri. But the Chimpanzee attack that made national headlines back 2009-2010 brought a swift end to that non-sense. But people we've got a problem of gigantic proportions getting worse as time goes by. Because only GOD himself really knows what all is invading our National Parks and other wildlife habitats here in the USA. There is an epidemic of missing people in National Parks and I've suspected something out of the normal might be happening. David Paulides has done a lot of research in that area and has few answers. Having non-indigenous animals here in the USA could be a horrible disaster in the making.
I would appreciate all valid testimonies, sightings and first hand knowledge of this growing problem. Let's talk about exotic animals invading the wilderness areas in the USA and what could possibly be done about it. It is a serious problem and it's growing fast.
Last edited by JD Spydo on Mon Mar 06, 2023 9:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#2

Post by JD Spydo »

JD Spydo wrote:
Mon Mar 06, 2023 9:06 am
James Y
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#3

Post by James Y »

Hi, Joe.

Florida has a huge problem with invasive species, such as pythons and iguanas, that pet owners who no longer wanted to care for them released into the wild, and now are out of control.

And of course, everybody knows about the invasive problem of wild pigs that were originally brought here by the Spaniards.

Also, the Snakehead fish that are from Asia, and became an invasive species here through aquarium dumpings, etc.

There's many more examples. People can be idiots.

Jim
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#4

Post by troutinCO »

My friend in east Texas has Lemurs and stuff running around.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#5

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This isn’t a conspiracy in the least, invasive species in this country are well documented and subsequently well known.

Florida is a lost cause when it comes to invasive species. Just about everything was introduced via the pet industry, both legal and illegal. Nothing can be done about it either, FL is too far gone. Floridas invasive creatures are at an unmanageable scale. It has become a case study of “how to F up natural environments as quickly as possible.”

Any African Hyena in the wild of Missouri is certainly a one off case. There’s no chance of an established population of African Hyenas in the US, especially not Missouri. The one seen there was most likely an escaped illegal pet.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#6

Post by akapennypincher »

We have problems in Arizona with people dumping pets in desert or lakes.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#7

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The majority of invasive species in Massachusetts are plants and bugs. There are some invasive fish species too but they’re mostly game fish species like Largemouth Bass, Pike, and stocked trout. The environment here isn’t able to support such a variety of wildlife like many southern states can.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#8

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Back in 2006 when my boss ( at that time) and me encountered that Hyena on 36 Highway here in North Missouri that gave me the creeps like nothing else ever had up to that point. While I was working on that wetland project and also his hunting lodge I was also finding cougar (mountain lion) tracks all over his property. He had a neighbor who worked a job at a hostpital and had late hours. She seen a mountain lion on more than one occasion crossing the road on the country road we all lived on at that time. She told us she would no longer get out of the car after work unless her husband would assist her. ( Smart if you ask me).

But I would never go to work at any of my jobs at that time unless I had at least a deer rifle and a sidearm on me at all times. If a human were to encounter an African Hyena unarmed it would be certain death for sure. Hyenas are extremely smart and vicious animals that can survive almost any predator in the African wild. Humans would be no match at all.

We also had people north of 36 highway start finding dead calves in their pastures. Some of them were even half eaten when the farmer found them. And all of this took place in 2006. I haven't been up there in a while but if I do go back I'll be heavily armed I can assure you.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#9

Post by JD Spydo »

akapennypincher wrote:
Mon Mar 06, 2023 11:17 am
We have problems in Arizona with people dumping pets in desert or lakes.
What types of critters were they dumping? Arizona is already full of snakes ( especially Rattlesnakes). I do hope that Pythons and Anacondas don't get started in the Arizona deserts like they have in the Florida swamps. Many animals wouldn't survive the harsh environments of the Arizona deserts. But it is important to prevent invasive species of any type.

It's truly becoming a national problem to be sure. The delicate balance of nature in these National Parks could easily get out of hand. Mainly because no one is allowed to hunt there. Also National Parks have millions of hiding places that would protect all kinds of invasive species.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#10

Post by JD Spydo »

Mushroom wrote:
Mon Mar 06, 2023 10:55 am
This isn’t a conspiracy in the least, invasive species in this country are well documented and subsequently well known.

Florida is a lost cause when it comes to invasive species. Just about everything was introduced via the pet industry, both legal and illegal. Nothing can be done about it either, FL is too far gone. Floridas invasive creatures are at an unmanageable scale. It has become a case study of “how to F up natural environments as quickly as possible.”

Any African Hyena in the wild of Missouri is certainly a one off case. There’s no chance of an established population of African Hyenas in the US, especially not Missouri. The one seen there was most likely an escaped illegal pet.
We later on discovered that a farmer close to Trenton, Missouri had a couple of hyenas and a couple of african lions. From what I was told he would never admit that any of those animals escaped from him. Whether or not the Hyena was one of his is probably close to impossible to prove at this point. But at that time there were lots of people all over Missouri who were raising and making pets out of all kinds of exotic animals. But the Charla Nash Chimpanzee attack got our lawmakers in gear to make a lot of that stuff illegal ( Thank GOD!!).

We still have quite a few people here in Missouri who are raising Ostriches and Emus. I personally encountered some Emus south of Grain Valley Missouri in the front yard of a vacant home back in 2009. I contacted the Jackson County Sheriff's office and deputies came out and got them back to their owner (who lived about a quarter mile away). Emus are somewhat dangerous because they could literally disembowel a person with their extremely wicked Talons. I kept my distance from the 3 I found at the time. And the Sheriff's deputies even called a professional animal control outfit to corral them.

I still know some people in Sibley Missouri who are raising several Ostrich birds. The Emus and Ostriches are not yet illegal for some strange reason.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#11

Post by Mushroom »

Emus, Rheas, and Ostrich’s are all considered domestic birds in Massachusetts! Which is crazy because I could go out and buy some right now without so much as a permit! Somehow they’re on the same level as chickens. :grin-squint
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#12

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Lake Tahoe has a problem with goldfish that people who no longer wanted, dumped into it. Now Lake Tahoe has all of these super-sized goldfish that grow to massive sizes because they’re living free in the lake. Yes, even goldfish pose a threat to native species and the ecosystem when they are introduced where they don’t belong.

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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#13

Post by Mushroom »

James Y wrote:
Mon Mar 06, 2023 4:00 pm
Lake Tahoe has a problem with goldfish that people who no longer wanted, dumped into it. Now Lake Tahoe has all of these super-sized goldfish that grow to massive sizes because they’re living free in the lake. Yes, even goldfish pose a threat to native species and the ecosystem when they are introduced where they don’t belong.

Jim
Carp in general cause all sorts of problems across the country. Asian flying carp have taken over and destroyed numerous ecosystems around the country. Goldfish are a type of carp and can survive in most environments in the US.

Speaking of invasive goldfish though, a couple years ago I was fishing in a kettle pond here in Massachusetts and caught, by hand net, a large fancy tail goldfish that was most likely someone’s pet that was released when they didn’t want it anymore. It was about the size of a football and was clearly thriving in that pond. I contacted Massachusetts wildlife authorities and they said either keep it for my own pond or kill it. I didn’t have a pond to put it in or the heart to kill it, so I just re-released it. I figured something like an osprey or bald eagle would pick it off eventually because it stuck out like a sore thumb in that pond.

I’ve actually spotted a few other goldfish and koi that were released in ponds around the state. Some people are just ignorant of the consequences they can have on the environment.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

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Post by The Meat man »

I know that there have been piranhas caught in the Lake of the Ozarks (about a half-hour south of where I live in MO, big resort area.) Of course, the climate is too cold here for them to survive and thrive, but still.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#15

Post by The Meat man »

A hyena here in MO is pretty wild! I'd definitely want a powerful sidearm if I ever encountered one of those.

There was a local man years ago who kept a pet mountain lion in a wire enclosure at his home, almost right in town. That was before I lived in the area. I never heard exactly what happened to it. Of course mountain lions are native to MO and not an invasive species.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#16

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That's really strange you guys talking about GoldFish. Because way back in the 70s and 80s a bait shop close to the lake I lived by sold small Goldfish like the ones you would put in an aquarium. They sold them for fish bait along with leeches and other weird types of bait. One of my old buddies I used to fish with caught a couple of really nice big Flathead Catfish using Goldfish for bait. It seemed that those bigger Channel and Flathead catfish loved them. But different types of Catfish was all I ever heard of that ate them. However the bait shop quit selling those Goldfish in the early 80s and I suspect the state didn't want them to get started in our lakes.

We've had a couple of reports recently in the past 3 years of those hideous Snakehead fish being caught in local lakes. I hope to GOD they don't get started here in Missouri. We've got those grass eating carp in 3 of our local lakes and I've heard that they clean up a lot of excess algae and other undesirable vegetation. But for sure you don't want those type of carp you describe earlier.

I had wondered for years why the bait shops quit selling those Goldfish because a lot of guys used to love them for bait. It seemed like only catfish would eat them though. Yeah foreign fish species can be a serious problem for sure.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#17

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The Meat man wrote:
Mon Mar 06, 2023 10:01 pm
I know that there have been piranhas caught in the Lake of the Ozarks (about a half-hour south of where I live in MO, big resort area.) Of course, the climate is too cold here for them to survive and thrive, but still.
Yeah I had also heard of those piranhas being the the Lake of The Ozarks some time back. But like you said the cold winters would eventually wipe them out. I also heard from an old hunting buddy that they also found a Caiman in the Lake of the Ozarks and also a small one at Lake Lotawana ( residential lake in the Kansas City area). That gave me the creeps because I used to live at Lake Lotawana in the 80s and 90s.

Also I have heard that wild hogs are getting to be a serious problem in Ozark area and the southest part of Missouri. I've also heard news of the wild hogs attacking people on two occasions in the past 4 years. You do not want to be attacked by a big boar. They grow seriously dangerous tusks that can cut you to pieces. Also I've been hearing that there is an increasing population of "coy-dogs">> a dog that is a crossbreed of a coyote and a domestic dog. They also have a problem with those in the State of Mississippi.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#18

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I have seen zebras on the coast of California several times. I've even taken the kids out zebra watching.

https://visitsansimeonca.com/what-to-do ... a-viewing/
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#19

Post by Doc Dan »

The hyena was the animal that killed a number of people in France in the 1700's and started all of the werewolf fears and myths. They are not nice pets at all.

Invasive species are a real problem in the USA. Look at what they've done to Australia! Rabbits and cane toads have wrecked the ecosystem. In the US a lot of asians will miss a certain fish that they like to eat and purposely release them into our waters (not knocking asians). Many people will have pets they no longer want and let them go without a thought about the repercussions. Sometimes, like the fireants and the zebra mollusks, they will hitch a ride about a ship. A good solution is hunting them to extinction. If there were a market for skins or etc. they'd be gone very soon.
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Re: Exotic Animals Invading USA Wilderness Areas

#20

Post by James Y »

Doc Dan wrote:
Tue Mar 07, 2023 8:31 am
The hyena was the animal that killed a number of people in France in the 1700's and started all of the werewolf fears and myths. They are not nice pets at all.

Invasive species are a real problem in the USA. Look at what they've done to Australia! Rabbits and cane toads have wrecked the ecosystem. In the US a lot of asians will miss a certain fish that they like to eat and purposely release them into our waters (not knocking asians). Many people will have pets they no longer want and let them go without a thought about the repercussions. Sometimes, like the fireants and the zebra mollusks, they will hitch a ride about a ship. A good solution is hunting them to extinction. If there were a market for skins or etc. they'd be gone very soon.

I doubt that would do it. For example, look how long wild pigs/boars have been multiplying and negatively affecting the ecosystem. Supposedly, they're really good eating (I wouldn't know, I don't live down south, and I don't eat pork, anyway). Boar hunting seems a popular pursuit for some. There have even been some teams that go out and hunt them, on foot and from helicopters. Yet they're not able to exterminate them. They're too elusive. However many they kill, it doesn't make a dent in the population.

Unfortunately, invasive species seem much harder to control than it is for people to decimate native species.

Jim
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