Lions & Tigers & Bears...oh my...

“When Lister Robinson joined his neighborhood watch patrol he never imagined he'd be watching for bears.
"He cut out, and there was a bunch of trees going boom, boom, boom, boom," said Robinson describing the animal he saw trekking through the woods behind his West Mobile home.
Over the last couple days, several people have reported seeing a mama bear and her cub on Howell's Ferry Road near the Forest Acres subdivision. A Mobile police sergeant who was searching the area said he saw the bears, but they went into the woods when the officers showed up.
Sheryl Neighbors was driving a school bus when she spotted one of the bears Thursday morning.
"I want to say he was maybe 200 pounds or something," she said.
Officials at the Alabama Department of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries says the bears have not acted aggressively, so he doubts his officers will try to track them down. Instead, he just warns residents not to get between mama and her baby.
"The bear is probably just moving through the area finding opportunities for food," said Sharp.
Wildlife officials say if you live near the bear sightings it's important to make sure your trash or pet food is not where the animals can get to it.”

“Some guy brought a male lion....3 or 4 years old....to a new house/land he bought a few miles from Quebec city last week. The lion pulled the chained that was holding him, out of the ground and was roaming around the area for a couple of days.

He was a tame lion....when the cops found him....they just put a lasso around his neck and placed him into the back of the cop car. :o) Then the lion spent a few days inside a jail cell before being transported to Granby Zoo near Montreal.

There might be charges against the owner....”

“Yeah. The 'owner' is really upset and tried to run over some journalists and rammed one of their vehicles and escaped back into the reserve.”

“Who belongs in the animal reserve, the lion or the owner? There's a ban coming on owning "exotic" animals in NC. One proposal includes koi fish. How exotic is it? It's a carp with racing stripes, fer crissake!”

“How about elephants?

http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/5/6/itsbeenoneo128546157360447500.jpg”

“roflol @ treebait”

“Maybe not too funny

Koi have been accidentally or deliberately released into the wild in every continent except Antarctica. They greatly increase the turbidity of the water because they are constantly stirring up the substrate. This makes waterways unattractive, reduces the abundance of aquatic plants, and can render the water unsuitable for swimming or drinking even by livestock. In some countries, koi have caused so much damage to waterways that vast amounts of money and effort have been spent trying to eradicate them, largely unsuccessfully.”

“They make good sport fish, too. There's carp fishing tournaments all over. Maybe there needs to be more. Tournaments, that is.

Also, WF, I was being sarcastic in that post.”

“Carp are wonderful sport fishing. Nothing like a twenty pound carp on 6 pound line and an ultralight rod to get the blood pumping.”

“...ugly as hell though”

“The drainage pond behind my parents' house contains several large grass carp. They were deliberately put there, and were irradiated so they can't breed. Interesting.”

“Carp are used to take care of heavy soil deposits and some toxic materials. The things can and will eat most anything and survive. They are the cockroach of the fish world. Bottom feeders tend to keep carrion down in ponds and things. But, as I understand it, unlike the catfish and other bottom feeders carp don't seem to be fussy about what they eat.”

“Treebait, I realized that you were...

The truth is that there are numerous occasions where animals, insects or plants have been either intentionally or unintentionally introduced into foreign territory and have wound up inflicting unrepairable damage..

I was not trying to take a shot at you by any means...

'fool”