Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers

A SURVEY OF FERAL LIVESTOCK IN CALIFORNIA Tom McKnight Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles It is a well-known fact that California contains a large number of fourfooted mammals. The state is a leader in domestic livestock, having more cattle than all but five other states and ranking third in numbers of sheep.1 In terms of native wildlife, California also ranks high, with more deer than 1 Crop Reporting Board, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Poultry Inventory, January 1, Washington, D.C, February 13, 1961, pp. 12 and 18. 28 any other state, ranking third in numbers of bear, and counting more mountain sheep than all but five states.2 Not so well known is the fact that California is also a leader in another category of quadrupeds—livestock that have reverted to a wild existence. No state has a greater variety of feral livestock and probably only one or two can equal it. Within the confines of this state are feral populations of all common barnyard livestock: horses, burros, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, dogs, and cats. Some of them in considerable abundance. The definition of the term "feral" is unprecise. In the general sense it refers to animals that have gone wild from a domesticated state, or descendants of stock that has gone wild. In the more practical sense it should probably be restricted to any domestic species which are able to maintain themselves and reproduce in the wild. However, as these animals are widespread in both "tame" and "wild" conditions, it is often quite difficult to distinguish among "feral," "semi-feral," and "non-feral." Who is to say which term is applicable to a given animal, no matter how adjacent or remote the nearest human habitation may be? Even such tell-tale domesticated signs as brands and ear notches are not certainties, as these marks may have been made months or even years earlier, with feralization having occurred since. It is difficult and often impossible to tell whether an individual animal, when seen in the wild, is under the effective ownership of anyone, or whether it receives either protection or food as a deliberate gift from man. It should be mentioned that all of the species listed above, with the partial exception of the dog, are exotics; i.e., not native to this continent. They were imported from various Old World sources, during the early days of exploration and settlement, as domestic creatures, and have assumed a feral existence in only a limited number of cases. In some instances feralization took place decades or even centuries ago, with dozens of generations of feral individuals resulting. In the majority of instances, however, it is fairly clear that the animals in question have only recently reverted from domesticity. The basis for this study is a series of three extensive questionnaireinterview surveys over the past half-decade, which contacted some one hundred-eighty Californians who have personal familiarity with parts of the state where feral animals might be found. The data thus gathered were supplemented by field studies and library research. The result is the first detailed reconnaissance survey ever made of the feral livestock of the state. Burro The most famous of California's feral exotics is the burro (Equus asinus). This creature has achieved considerable notoriety because of its desert habitat, its voracious appetite, its questionable decorum at water holes, its indominitableness when competing with native species, and the strong emotional reactions which tend to be generated among burrophobes and burrophiles. On the basis of the questionnaire-interview surveys previously mentioned, it is estimated that there are between 2,000 and 5,500 feral burros in 2 Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, "Big Game Inventory for 1957," Wildlife Leaflet 399, September, 1958, pp. 1 and 2. 29 California, more than in any other state.3 Nearly all are located in the basin-and-range country of the southeast. The largest numbers, from 500 to 1,000 in each case, are found in the Panamint Mountains, the Saline Valley area, and the varied desert and mountain area between Highways 91 and 66. Smaller populations are in...