Soapbox

Oh my. Gloria could do with putting her paramo troos back on

I think Mike might go for Gloria....

"Dogs are generally excellent judges of character"


OMG! Sometimes nesbit you come out with some really funny things. Is that not anthropomorphising dumb animals just a little too much, even for a brit? How the hell does a dog evaluate character?

Woozle..if you re in Northern Italy the village of Pont in Grand paradiso has a wolf population nearby.The locals see them regularly and can direct you to there wear abouts.When I last visited in 2008 there were about 5 in the local area.

woozle wrote (see)

How the hell does a dog evaluate character?

If it bites you, you've got bad character. Simple.

I am confused. Was this two year old and her mother bad characters?

Ben Hunter wrote (see)

I am confused. 

You most certainly are. But you're in good company on Woozle's threads.

Ben Hunter wrote (see)

I am confused. Was this two year old and her mother bad characters?

What that article doesn't say was that the child was a notorious opium fiend and the mother ran a house of ill repute.

"An address in the town was raided on 6 May and a Staffordshire bull terrier arrested. The owner has been destroyed" - ahh , that's better

Guys, whatever you may get up to fighting amongst yourselves, please bear in mind this is a public forum and making jokes about dog attacks on kids possibly isn't the most thoughtful thing...

Wasn't really directed at you, Grumps, you just got caught by some shrapnel.

Indeed - serves me right!

I have heard of the brutal urban fox hunting that chavs with pit bulls have been known to do and I am disgusted by it. So it is quite a nice thought that one day a chav and his pit bull could come across a rogue pack of wolves rather than a poor fox. Far removed from reality I know, still most of my most enjoyable thoughts are.

"Woozle..if you re in Northern Italy the village of Pont in Grand paradiso has a wolf population nearby.The locals see them regularly and can direct you to there wear abouts.When I last visited in 2008 there were about 5 in the local area."

Thanks for that Julian. Gran Paradiso is a beautifulplace. It was the Gran Paradiso NP that I used to work for. The population is now about 7 iirc.
I'm really lucky as a half hour scooter ride and a three hour linear walk will get me to a remote area frequented by the biggest wolf pack in europe (14 last count). Last summer in the place I go called infernet (little hell) they officially killed 20 sheep in one night and unofficially i.e. not reported to the authorities, a further 40 during the rest of the season in a neighbouring flock. This summer if all goes to plan, I hope to be spending some time with the shepherd, my tent and a video camera (cue smutty comment by one of the ilk).
BTW the Gran Paridiso pack which ranges over a huge area, killed 70 sheep in the summer of 2008. Just shows you how the ecologists are missing the point regarding scottish reintroductions

Woozle,you re lucky living so close to Grand Paradiso its a true unexploited gem,so many of Europe's alpine areas have been disfigured by cable cars and pistes its refreshing to find somewhere bulging with wildlife and wilderness.Spent many happy nights in the mountain huts of grand Paradiso and enjoying some of the very best walking in Europe.

I heard a brief bit on Springwatch last night that they reckon introducing Lynx is a much more realistic possibility.

Big cats keep themselves to themselves and are more solitary.

They did however say they would work well to keep deer numbers down on estates where it's a problem and there's no shooting (Cairngorm?), but surely any sensible Lynx/Wolf wouldn't bother with deer when there's a herd of lazy stupid sheep nearby