Prior to the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971, American mustangs were routinely captured and sold for horsemeat. Throughout most of Polynesia and Melanesia feral pigs constitute the primary sources of animal protein. Many feral animals can sometimes be captured at little cost and thus constitute a significant resource. Loss to farmers by aggressive feral dog population is common in India. Feral populations can also pass on transmissible infections to domestic herds. Accidental crossbreeding by feral animals may result in harm to breeding programs of pedigreed animals their presence may also excite domestic animals and push them to escape. Another example is of goats competing with cattle in Australia, or goats that degrade trees and vegetation in environmentally-stressed regions of Africa. Although hotly disputed, some cite as an example the competition between feral horses and cattle in the western United States. Economic harm įeral animals compete with domestic livestock, and may degrade fences, water sources, and vegetation (by overgrazing or introducing seeds of invasive plants). Researches in Scotland have remarked on a similar phenomenon of the genetic mixing of feral domestic cats and their wild counterparts.
Dingoes are wild true dogs that will interbreed with dogs of other origins, thus leading to the proliferation of dingo hybrids and the possibility of the extinction of pure wild dingoes.
Other examples of genetic swamping lie in the breeding history of dingoes. Cases include the mallard duck, wild boar, the rock dove or pigeon, the red junglefowl ( Gallus gallus) (ancestor of all chickens), carp, and more recently salmon. The Australian government encourages the hunting of feral water buffalo because of their large numbers.Īnimals of domestic origin sometimes can produce fertile hybrids with native, wild animals which leads to genetic pollution (not a clear term itself) in the naturally evolved wild gene pools, many times threatening rare species with extinction. Water buffalo run rampant in Western and Northern Australia. A substantial population of feral dromedaries, descended from pack animals that escaped in the 19th and early 20th centuries, thrives in the Australian interior today. The dromedary camel, which has been domesticated for over 3,000 years, will also readily go feral. Both goats and sheep were sometimes intentionally released and allowed to go feral on island waypoints frequented by mariners, to serve as a ready food source. However, in places where there are few predators, they may thrive, for example in the case of the Soay sheep. Sheep are close contemporaries and cohorts of goats in the history of domestication, but the domestic sheep is vulnerable to predation and injury, and thus rarely seen in a feral state. The goat is one of the oldest domesticated creatures, yet readily returns to a feral state. Zoologists generally exclude from the feral category animals that were genuinely wild before they escaped from captivity: neither lions escaped from a zoo nor the white-tailed eagles re-introduced to the UK are regarded as feral. Some common examples of animals with feral populations are horses, dogs, goats, cats, rabbits, camels, and pigs. Other definitions include animals that have changed from being domesticated to being wild, natural, or untamed. The removal of feral species is a major focus of island restoration.Ī feral animal is one that has escaped from a domestic or captive status and is living more or less as a wild animal, or one that is descended from such animals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some cases, contributed to extinction of indigenous species. A feral (from Latin fera 'a wild beast') animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals.
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