Has anyone ever seen a Jackal in Europe?
I’m going to Bulgaria in early September. We have a house out in the East in the countryside about 40 miles from the Black Sea.
I’ve not been for a couple of years, I’ve got a couple of off road bikes out there and I love to ride in the wilderness with a Bulgarian friend. There’s so much wildlife
We always seem to see Jackals….apparently they are mating with wolves and getting bigger. I’ve never seen a wolf or bear out there. Jackals seem very bold and I believe the Bulgarian authorities are sympathetic to wild animal welfare and occasionally move them if they “pack-up”
I have the utmost respect for wild animals that survive despite the best efforts of humans.
What wild predators (four legged!) have my fellow clarets encountered?

enduroclaret wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:12 pm

Has anyone ever seen a Jackal in Europe?
I’m going to Bulgaria in early September. We have a house out in the East in the countryside about 40 miles from the Black Sea.
I’ve not been for a couple of years, I’ve got a couple of off road bikes out there and I love to ride in the wilderness with a Bulgarian friend. There’s so much wildlife
We always seem to see Jackals….apparently they are mating with wolves and getting bigger. I’ve never seen a wolf or bear out there. Jackals seem very bold and I believe the Bulgarian authorities are sympathetic to wild animal welfare and occasionally move them if they “pack-up”
I have the utmost respect for wild animals that survive despite the best efforts of humans.
What wild predators (four legged!) have my fellow clarets encountered?

Watch out for a Jackal taking pot shots at watermelons with a gun designed to fit inside a crutch

https://youtu.be/90ZyH8yBTck

Deer on my drive last night. Just a young fella. Looked confused when he saw me. Didn't exactly look scared. just trotted off over the road and jumped the wall.

Not a predator I hasten to add!

Black bears in Whistler. I saw loads and was very close to one just foraging around. Saw some elk as well but that was out near Banff. Just off Vancouver Island we came across a pod of Orcas - that was amazing!

Most of my holidays are focused on wildlife photography, so bears, wolves, wolverines, lions, leopards, cheetah, hyenas, verbal, caracal, black backed jackal, side striped jackal, cerval, bat rated fox, Arctic fox, brown bear, grizzly bear, black bear, polar bear, killer whales all photographed. Off to Canada in a little while to photograph spirit bears hopefully, then Falklands and Antarctica in October for penguins and various seals, and back to Kenya in January for more big cats.

dandeclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:49 pm

Most of my holidays are focused on wildlife photography, so bears, wolves, wolverines, lions, leopards, cheetah, hyenas, verbal, caracal, black backed jackal, side striped jackal, cerval, bat rated fox, Arctic fox, brown bear, grizzly bear, black bear, polar bear, killer whales all photographed. Off to Canada in a little while to photograph spirit bears hopefully, then Falklands and Antarctica in October for penguins and various seals, and back to Kenya in January for more big cats.

Close the thread!

Out fishing about a mile offshore in my little kayak when the big (dorsal?) fin of a bull killer whale cruised past 15 metres away at what seemed like around 16 knots... It was one scary experience as he turned for a closer look.. I paddled for the shore at what I'm sure would have been an Olympic winning speed.

I believe, there's never been a record of an Orca killing a human being. I went up to the Norwegian fjords, in a place called Andenes to snorkel with them in the wild (Resident Orcas - they eat fish, as opposed to the bigger Transient Orca which eat mammals). There's amazing footage of them swimming below swimmers in (from memory) New Zealand, where they just seemed to be intrigued by the swimmers.

Hoping to get out on kayaks if we find a pod of them in Canada, and just listen to them and watch them. Obviously unable to keep up with them if they are moving at hunting pace.

Also noted some of the autocorrects in my post above - verbal = serval and cerval = serval too, Bat rated fox = Bat Eared Fox.. there's also an array of amazing birds seen as well, with the most impressive probably being the martial eagle.

Edit - it was New Zealand - here's the magical video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTIcQMwYC1o

dandeclaret wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:49 pm

Edit - it was New Zealand - here's the magical video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTIcQMwYC1o

That’s fantastic - just from that brief video, it’s obvious to see that they are intelligent creatures.

The only incidents of harm to humans that I have ever heard of have been with them held in captivity.

Sadly, I went to one of the shows as a naive twenty odd year old. I wouldn’t dream of doing so now.

I highly doubt you'' have any problems with wolves or wolves breeding with jackals, so close to the coast. Jackals are pretty common but wolves are based in the more uninhabited mountainous area inland. I've lived out here for 15 years and never seen a wolf, but plenty of jackals.