Yeah, I’m aware that they are a real pest in parts of Oz.

@Zealandia last year I was told they were foraging on the side of the road about 150klms from me & that bait towed for a few klms down the road would result in about 10 chasers to be shot when you stopped.

@FrayedBear Looks like the numbers of wild pigs are increasing here too:

Boom in New Zealand's wild pig population blamed on COVID-19 lockdowns, mild winters

[newshub.co.nz]

Lots of people are keen on hunting them.

@Zealandia bloody feral - where's the daleks. We also have dogs, cats, rabbits, camels, goats, foxes, a variety of birds & some aquatics.

@FrayedBear Luckily no foxes here.

Running over possums on the road is a national pastime.

An AI trap is being developed, it analyses the shape of the creature, if it recognises it as a pest, takes it out. Otherwise, lets it go.

AI to help us hit our predator-free targets in the countdown to 2050

@FrayedBear [stuff.co.nz].

@FrayedBear Keas are very inquisitive birds, so need to reduce the risk of accidentally killing them, or other native species when reducing pest numbers.

Looks really good.

I was joking with a friend about what emotional support animal I’d have on a plane….wanted a small Kunekune breed pig that squealed noisily when the plane hit turbulence or made weird sounds. Pig would be allowed to roam and snuffle around the cabin, despite what passengers said.

Friend chose a magpie. Lol

Story about the emotional support animals seen on US planes…

[thenationalnews.com]

My favourite was Fred the miniature service horse.

Fortunately the emotional support animal free for all isn’t permitted in domestic flights here.

Not allowed to choose a domestic pet. What would you have?

@Zealandia First of all, I don't fly, but my emotional therapist for the moment is Dimash....a very different vocalist from Kazakhstan.

@Zealandia Dimash speaks Kazakh, Russian, some English & Mandarin. He sings in 13 languages, plays several instruments, sings in 7.7 octaves, writes, composes, & has university degrees in several music categories, born May 1994, & is 6 ft, 3 in. tall.

@Lilac-JadeCanada Sounds like a very talented person!

I’d never heard of an emotional therapist before.

@Zealandia I started listening/watching him on You Tube a few months after my husband died, & his way of emotional singing has helped me enormously.
This is how he went world famous....The Singer, 2017 which is for established Chinese well known singers, who are invited to compete with each other, the judges are 500 members of the audience who are also musicians. Dimash was well known in his own country, but he was invited to China as a wild card constestant, at the age of 22, for perhaps 1 or 2 performances.
This first performance on the first show of the season blew him up with 600 million hits on the video, & he woke up ythe next day with security around his hotel room.

Then the second performance showed his playful side too....not knowing his dad was in the audience.

@Lilac-JadeCanada Thanks for the info. Good that his videos help you deal with your grief.

@Zealandia It has, & some of the people commenting on the site have said the same thing.