Wild animals are often found near dumpsters.
The term wild refers to any type of animal or plant that was once domesticated but has now returned to the wild. Domestic animals become ferocious when released, abandoned, or when they escape human captivity. A wild animal includes not only previously domesticated individuals, but also any offspring that the animals may have or will produce after becoming wild.
Wild animals can include livestock such as pigs.
Most of the wild animals in any particular region get there due to human activity. For them to become feral, they must be able to survive in the habitat independently. For this reason, exotic pets generally do not survive long enough to be considered wild.
Wild animals often include livestock, such as goats and pigs, and domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats. When these animals are left to their own devices, they almost always cause problems for people or the natural environment they have come to inhabit. These ferocious animals are known as invasive species when they impact the environment and/or pests when they separately become a problem for their fellow humans.
Rodents can be ferocious.
Feral cat populations may well be the most abundant form of invasive species in the world. Once endemic only to Africa, cats have reached every continent in the world. Currently, there are only a few small islands that do not have cats living on them.
Due to their reproductive success, feral cats form large groups that are called feral cat colonies. These colonies can become extremely numerous. Although they avoid human contact, feral cats often congregate near restaurants, garbage cans, and residential trash cans looking for scraps; a burden felt by many who have to deal with them. In addition, a feral cat colony often becomes too large to support each member, and the cats become ill from starvation and disease.
A cat that was domesticated but now lives in the wild is wild.
Many animal advocacy groups work with municipalities and others to reduce feral cat populations in a humane way. Some of their strategies include rehabilitating feral cats to prepare them for adoption, capturing and neutering feral cats to reduce future populations, and then relocating them to an area where they will have less of an impact.
Feral goats are another animal considered destructive and dangerous to the environment in the countries where they were introduced, such as Australia and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. With few natural predators, feral goats breed profusely and destroy unique vegetation in ecosystems. This not only endangers plant life, but also indigenous animals that depend on the vegetation for their livelihood and cannot successfully compete with goats. These countries have implemented progressive strategies to eradicate wild animals in their conservation efforts.