I love the History Channel show "Life After People", which deals with all of this: what happens to power plants, what happens to domesticated pets, fish in fish tanks, cattle, horses. In one show, they dealt with animals. It was cool. They showed how in a hundred years or so, vast herds of elephants would be thundering across the country, along with cattle and horses. They showed how cutesy family cats and dogs would go feral pretty quickly (another reason I hate how we anthropomorphize them--they're animals). They showed tigers and leopards hunting vast overgrown grasslands that used to be highways and freeways, chasing the abundant deer running throughout the cities.
"Life After People" started a new season just last month. They've also tackled things such as, what will happen to our great works of art, our major buildings, our treasured symbols? One show was wild, as the dome of the Capitol fell in upon itself. They showed the roof of the building where the Constitution is housed collapsing in a century or so. Although the document itself was still protected against rain and oxidation in its casing of thick glass and inert gases, it was finally done in by the one thing it's not protected against: sunlight. They showed how the sun would beam down on the Constitution for several hours each day, in time simply obliterating the ink molecules until they fade into oblivion. Fascinating stuff. http://www.history.com/content/life_after_people/about-the-series ----- Original Message ----- From: "B Smith" <daikaij...@yahoo.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 12:11:39 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Survivors? Actually modern dairy cows are fed mixed rations as well. A lot of modern dairies have very little grazing compared to the way it was done in the past. Dairy cows are so specialized there would be massive die offs in the first few weeks from mastitis and other infections. With no calves to suck and no human interference those full bags become bacterial soup pretty quickly. Some would survive and dry off(go out of milking condition) but with so few bulls on farms these days there would be a big drop off in numbers in a generation. I imagine interbreeding with the more multiple breeds of beef bulls would change the look of domestic cows a hell of a lot in a couple of generations. Beef cows are actually far more resilient than the dairy animals and cow-calf pairs are kept on grass in most of the country before the calves are processed and placed on feed. That's why I wouldn't be concerned about them as much. They toughen up pretty quickly. I think the wild animals wouldn't be a major concern for a while for any groups of people. There would be a buffet of domestic pets and livestock to prey on for a long time. Some isolated problems from the ones that scavenge human corpses but I imagine they would be dispatched pretty quickly. There won't be a shortage of guns. LOL. The feral animal population would be the scarier proposition. With so many bodies left by the plague I imagine lots of hungry animals would scavenge corpses, equate humans with food and have to be destroyed. --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@...> wrote: > > I think that the things would eventually go back to how they were before man > interfered. Over produced, over bred animals will die off immediately, the > ones that learn to adapt will thrive. If you want a variety of food you will > need a barn, hen house, pigs, cows etc. We have wild turkeys here and I can > tell you it took less than 10 years for them to repopulate here. We have > them all over the place and I'm sure they will be good eating! :) You could > also allow them to eat grass. (wow what a concept! :) ) Dairy cows eat > grass, the ones for beef eat corn concoctions. > > The problem will be large cats and bears. There have been coyote sightings > in San Francisco and foxes near Stanford University. > > > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 2:42 PM, B Smith <daikaij...@...> wrote: > > > I'm on the hunting and fishing team too. Although with the huge numbers of > > domesticated animals in the U.S. eating wouldn't be a problem for a long > > time. The bigger problem would be feeding them on a long term basis and > > preserving meat if the power grid is shot. > > > > The cattle and sheep problem would take care itself in the spring through > > fall because taking them off grain and feeding them strictly grass and > > forage would take off some of the pressure but even then huge numbers of > > them would have to be slaughtered or culled. Hay and winter pasture > > cultivation would be a hell of a lot easier than growing corn and soybeans > > for animal food. But 85 million cattle and 6 million sheep could cause huge > > environmental problems in the long term. > > > > Hogs on the other hand would be a menace of epic proportions. We'd have to > > cull huge numbers of them to keep them from becoming a horde of mammalian > > locusts. They are smart resilient and return to the wild very quickly. In > > the U.S. alone there are about 66 million hogs and it's no way in hell that > > a population of 3 million of so people post-virus could keep them in check. > > Look at South Texas or Australia to see how unchecked numbers of hogs can > > impact an area. > > > > Chickens...let's jsut say we'd have huge amounts organic compost to use for > > a long time. Numbers would drop after the current genration of broilers > > were > > dealt with but there still would be a huge number of birds that would > > starve > > to death if they aren't euthanised. There are nearly 9 billion chickens > > slughtered every year in the U.S.!!! Throw in turkeys, ducks and other > > commercially raised poultry and you see the enormity of the problem. > > > > We'd have to make sure we'd have enough self pollinating non-genetically > > modified varieties of plants to make 2nd generation agriculture effective. > > All these wonderful GMO crops don't breed true and yields plummet by > > design. > > If you didn't have heirloom seed lines it could be a huge problem in the > > future. > > > > I'll stop now. LOL > > > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , "Tracey de Morsella" <tdlists@> > > wrote: > > > > > > Well you took Buckingham Palace first thing and you love books, so you > > know you are on team Scifi! > > > > > > > > > > > > From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com ] On > > Behalf Of Mr. Worf > > > Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 1:21 AM > > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > > > Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Survivors? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I can also shoot a gun, and fish too. :) > > > > > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 1:13 AM, Tracey de Morsella <tdlists@> wrote: > > > > > > I want you on my team!!! :-) > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com ] On > > > Behalf Of B Smith > > > > > > Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 2:53 PM > > > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > > > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Survivors? > > > > > > we have a pretty good cross section of folks that post. I think we might > > be > > > lacking a few skillsets but with books and hard work we could make a go. > > > > > > I'm pretty well versed in agriculture and could handle the basics of > > growing > > > food, animal based agriculture and have even milked a cow or three. I've > > > slaughtered and procesed my own meat so that wouldn't scare me. I know > > which > > > end of the hammer to swing and could be semi-handy if pressed into > > service. > > > I also know my way around a lab setting pretty darn well so manufacturing > > > biodiesel and the like would be up my alley as well. > > > > > > Unfortunately I've gotten lazy and haven't used my more physical > > skillsets > > > for a while. I guess i'd have to come out of retirement. > > > > > > Any pilots on the list? How about some mechanically inclined people? > > Medical > > > professionals? Anyone know how to set up an off the grid solar or wind > > power > > > system? > > > > > > --- In scifinoir2@ <mailto: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > , "Tracey de > > Morsella" <tdlists@> wrote: > > > > > > > > I hate "reality" tv, but maybe this would be good. How do you think we > > >
