The Canadian Freezer

[A Canadian Foodie]

Hi Valerie,

too funny . At least you haven't had any racoons on your deck throwing tupperware . I use my garage, attached to the kitchen, as my animal-free freezer and storage at the moment 

I do this, too - as an extra "fridge", but it is not cold enough for the freezer.
Yes, it could always be worse!
I the mountains, they could never do this and have padlocks on their garbages and wire around them and their trees to protect them from the deers and the bears!

[cookie1]

.................and they say Australia is a country of dangerous animals. I think I would prefer to face a red back spider or snake than a bear. He would be tooooooooooooo big!

[I Love Bimby!]

Hilarious!

Out at the farm we used to have to chase kangaroos down the lane, would be woken by deer on the gravel drive way in the middle of the night, can remember walking through the garden in the dark and tripping on a wombat, being startled by a goanna stealing eggs from the chook house, startling the wallabies that come down to the spring for a drink.... taking a walk to the dam only to discover a black snake sunning itself on the edge, watching echidnas searching through the garden for ants. Oh and Mum and Dad live on the edge of a creek so we used to often watch the platypus and water rats playing on dusk.

Thankfully NO big bears to contend with 

[Thermomixer]

Have you seen any cougars?  everyone else is....

[chocdoc]

Have you seen any cougars?  everyone else is....

Sargo and I were teaching a chocolate class at a local community college.  It's in a populated area but there is a big ravine behind the room we were in.  She saw a big cat that likely was a cougar or other wild cat from the window.

Bears can be a big hazard in some areas - my friends child underwent major surgeries to his head after being nearly killed by one. 

[andiesenji]

My garage is fridge temperature rather than freezer temps.  Took a couple of pork shoulders out of the garage this morning that I bought for a really good price a couple of days ago and I didn't have room for in the inside fridge, broke them down into chunks for making sausage. 

Wish I had a freezer temperature spot inside that I could use while I defrost the freezer - I live on a ravine and foxes and raccoons wander through my back yard regularly so leaving stuff outside no matter how well bundled wouldn't discourage the wildlife.  I was bringing in the groceries once - left a couple of bags in the open trunk of the car - when I came back out a huge raccoon was sitting in the trunk with a bag of naan bread in his hand.  He just gave me a look - then ambled out of the trunk into the culvert.

My friends who live up at Mammoth Mountain are caterers and often have some things that don't fit into their freezers or fridges so for short-term storage they use the "bear-proof" trash cans with locking lids.  In fact, I think they are made in Canada.   They have them in their garage and they are carefully marked "NOT for TRASH."   They are more expensive than regular trash containers but are worth it to keep critters away from expensive meats and etc.    If they have to leave them outside they are chained together with a heavy chain.  A bear might be able to haul off one but not two at a time.
Theirs are similar to the ones shown here:
http://www.bearicuda.com/critter-can/bearproof_trash_can.php

[Thermomixer]

OMG - we aren't supposed to have cougars roaming free - but every now and then a TV station runs a story about somebody having sited one in the bush.  None have ever been caught, or even found dead.  But the stories continue and film of "large" cats continue to be posted - but they look more like oversized domestic cats gone feral.

Have seen film of bears trashing trash cans - not fun !!!

[cookie1]

Yes we have stories of 'big cats' over here fairly often too.  People have seen them and are positive they are cougars or tigers that have escaped from a circus many years ago. It is obviously a nation wide thing.

[I Love Bimby!]

I wasn't sure if you were asking the internationals or me Thermomixer... We are supposed to have them close by town here. I haven't seen them, but some family friends have said they've seen them several times. A bit scary.

Yes we have stories of 'big cats' over here fairly often too.  People have seen them and are positive they are cougars or tigers that have escaped from a circus many years ago. It is obviously a nation wide thing.

Thats a different story cookie. Our local ledgend tells about how the Americans brought them out in the war - and they had a specific use (which I can't remember for the life of me what it was). Once they headed back they let them go. But I havent researched the history or story, but it does sound a little odd.

[cookie1]

That sounds rather interesting ILB.

[andiesenji]

SoCal has cougars in most of the mountain and foothill areas, even close to residential areas that have been extended into the cat's territory.  In recent years there have been a few people attacked, sometimes killed, usually because they were running and in one case biking (prey runs away, inviting attack).  None in my area in recent years but the coyotes come around fairly often and it is unwise to leave small pets outside at night.  I have electrified fencing to keep them out.  My home is on the very edge of the city limits and is essentially rural, on an acre lot, as are the homes of my five neighbors in this little enclave.  The next nearest building is 3/4 mile away. 
From time to time the local wildlife moves into the more distant parts of my lot, usually snakes, rabbits, ground squirrels, etc., but a family of roadrunners has set up housekeeping in the unfenced section and has successfully run off or consumed most of the snakes, rats and mice.
(These are not the Norwegian brown rats but the cute desert rats that have the long tails with a tuft of fur on the end.)

I have no idea where the idea that GIs would have taken wild cats with them originated.  They certainly had dogs (and the Alaskan Malamute people have a very poor opinion of how the dogs taken to Antarctica were treated) but there has never been a program for using undomesticated animals.
My stepdad was in Australia during WWII and was an officer with the K-9 Corps.  I heard lots of stories about his experiences.  Subsequently he was on Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa.  If anyone would have known about the use of other animals it would have been him.   The only wildlife he mentioned was a rock wallaby that one of his men caught and "tamed" and followed him around like a puppy.   He had several stories about this guy who was apparently a natural animal "whisperer" and made pets out of the most unusual critters. 

I think this may be an urban legend.  Or, someone with a traveling wildlife exhibit or a zoo allowed one or more to escape.  Their natural life span is not all that long so it would have had to have been a breeding pair.

There were similar sightings a few years ago in Orange county, when a tiger escaped from a backyard "zoo" and was killed even though it didn't try to attack anyone and was very old and virtually toothless.   The person who had the tiger and failed to report him missing was landed with a hefty fine and ended up having to sell his home and the rest of the animals to satisfy the fine, or go to jail. 

Some people are idiots!

[A Canadian Foodie]

My friends who live up at Mammoth Mountain are caterers and often have some things that don't fit into their freezers or fridges so for short-term storage they use the "bear-proof" trash cans with locking lids.  In fact, I think they are made in Canada.   They have them in their garage and they are carefully marked "NOT for TRASH."   They are more expensive than regular trash containers but are worth it to keep critters away from expensive meats and etc.    If they have to leave them outside they are chained together with a heavy chain.  A bear might be able to haul off one but not two at a time.
Theirs are similar to the ones shown here:
http://www.bearicuda.com/critter-can/bearproof_trash_can.php

You will see these all through the mountains in the west: Banff, Jasper... in the winter, the trees are even guarded with chicken wire to keep the deer and rabbits away. In the summer, you would be crazy not to keep food locked up and sealed tightly in the mountains... there are BEARS for sure!

[meganjane]

WOW! Scary stuff!

The worst we get is the occasional fox that comes in at night and kills the chooks. We don't have chooks in town, but others have had issues with a fox that's hanging around. He did try to dig up the grave we dug for my little dog when she died.  We had to put a stone on it...

Other than that, it's only bobtails (a stubby tailed lizard that's harmless), very occasionally we'll see a snake on the road and lots of destructive (and protected) cockatoos.

[Nay-nay]

Reminds me of a movie we watched with the kids - "Over the Hedge" - LOL!! 

[cathy79]

Reminds me of a movie we watched with the kids - "Over the Hedge" - LOL!! 

We love that movie - my favourite part is the introduction of the corn chip, nacho cheese flavoured.  It's a regular reminder to keep my food healthy!