I used to be quite fascinated with bigfoot years ago. Haven't thought about it in a long time, but I remember a couple of thoughts I used to have on the subject... One is that the only physical evidence I've come across that seems credible are the hair samples that were sent to a gene lab, and identified only as an "unknown primate." Two, there were at times in the distant past multiple species of humans, Neanderthals (homo sapiens neanderthalis)being the most recent one most of us are familiar with. I always thought that if bigfoot is real, it must be an unknown human species. Perhaps they survived by steering clear of homo sapiens sapiens? This might explain why no bodies are found - they might be wary enough of us to remove their dead from where they fell, and maybe they bury them? I suppose I'd have to see one to believe it these days...

I would guess that this is a woodchuck/groundhog. I also live in Chester county, and if I leave my garage door open, the local woodchuck is curious enough to wander in and look around. This probably happened when you were not looking. You would know if an animal of that size was still in your garage, since the scat is large.

To adhmumrgh: You create a contradiction in terms by writing "Cats are not domestic animals, humans have domesticated them." Cats are not domestic. Humans have domesticated them. You even claim to have domesticated a cat. Yet you state that cats are not domestic animals. What ???? ALL home/house/farm/ranch animals were (and mostly are) still found in the wild. This includes dogs, goats, horses, cows, sheep, et. al. Domestication is the process of adapting a wild animal (or plant) for human use. In the case of cats, that use is usually pleasure, companionship, or mousing. House cats and feral cats are of one species (Felis catus). Feral cats are house cats that have gone from domestication to the wild (the opposite direction of domestication), and any of their offspring. So, the great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter of a house cat from 10 years ago is still Felis catus, even though her bloodline is largely from feral cats. She is no longer a domestic individual of a species that is largely domestic, and is considered feral. I have a cat that was a house cat (domesticated) that I got from a shelter. I also have a cat that was feral (not domesticated) that is now domesticated. So, counter to your original post, this cat is a domestic animal. Oh, and I domesticated it. As an aside, I keep both cats outside year round. They grow wonderful coats in the winter, they hunt, they anger me when they kill my songbirds, they play with my children, and are wonderful outdoor pets. There's very little I can do regarding their killing of my songbirds. The birds are wild, the cats still have wild instinct, and things like coyote spray, collars (break-away, or not) simply do not work. I've tried *everything* for 20+ years. I now accept, with grace, when one of my cats ceremoniously deposits a dead cardinal at my feed after she's viciously killed it -- it's a gift, and it's a cat. :-) Cheers!

As the northern Italian hills and mountains empty of people, wild animals come flooding back. Roe deer and wolves have returned since we came to live at the farm in 2002, for example, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if bears and lynxes eventually followed them. I'm generally for predators; of course I don't pasture livestock, and I would hate for my dog to end up in the belly of a wolf. I see no reason to expect a (human) repopulation of rural areas in the near future. Nik, is the same thing happening in Greece, everybody going to live in and around cities? Oaks are the dominant trees in dry woods in the hills where we live; chestnuts are found a thousand feet (300 meters) higher, though perhaps beechwoods are more common. Wild boars will stay quite close to human dwellings. After they tore down a dry stone wall ten yards from our front door, we called the boar hunting squad and they shot eight or so of them that had taken up housekeeping in the woods immediately below our house. About the boars rooting, I'm repeating what I read and can't vouch for its accuracy. I have read elsewhere that the boars are one of the threats to our rich but diminishing population of wild orchids (other dangers are the abandonment of grazing and, of course, agriculture and development). Hunters don't seem able to keep the boars under control. I heard that last year they shot 900 of them in our and the two adjacent townships ("comuni"). That's a lot of wild boars. Apparently wolves are hybridizing with dogs here, presenting problems for the wildlife biologists. I had read that the European wild cats can't hybridize with domestic cats, whether tame or feral: the offspring are weak and don't survive. True or false? They do seem like the kind of animal that would escape notice, being neither edible nor likely to cause economic damage. Suzy, I'm a vegetarian and have never held a gun in my life. Though I think I could eat game, just because most of the reasons for my not eating meat don't apply to them, and in fact I realize they need predators to limit their numbers. Then there's that murderous rage when I find a young recently planted tree or shrub destroyed by their nibbling teeth. It does no honor at all to my principles. I was glad yesterday evening when the dog scared up a deer in the woods below the big garden and chased it all over the hillside. I want them to be uncomfortable here. fduk, that's interesting: thanks for sharing. I do learn all kinds of things here. Melissa