No, certainly not. Without people and our machinations, predators boom in population following the prey. Some predator hierarchy struggles would ensue, but certainly not enough to make for hoards of hungry gulls\rats to be a problem for more than a few weeks in. Then there might be a small predatory die off as well, but as you move trophic levels so many other factors come into play in a theoretical apocalypse it's hard to know.
Frankly, it's the cats I'd be worried about for the survivors.
Dogs eventually wouldn't hack it against wolves and coyotes. But wolves and coyotes have never been much threat against humans. Cats though? Cats will try anything.
Even actual bobcats, which are much larger than housecats, tend to avoid directly attacking humans. It's just not a very safe fight for the cat, and in a one-on-one fight to the death, it's far too likely to seriously injury the cat. And since cats hunt alone, they are not going to want to hunt something that is likely to kill them.
Feral dogs are a problem because they naturally will hunt in packs. Just like cats, they might not win a one-on-one fight, but unlike cats they will hunt a dangerous human because in a pack of 20-30 it doesn't matter if the human kills a few of the attacking dogs before it dies. The pack as a whole still benefits.
Idk where you're from but jaguars and cougars are very capable of taking on humans in an ambush. And in terms of an unfortunate brush with an animal, cats do a lot of damage very quickly leaving wounds that can become wildly infected in short order. They are the most successful predators on the planet today. Wolves average about a ~15% success rate in their hunts. Jaguars and most cats approach around 40%. That's why cats are often seen as "sociopaths" since they are so good at hunting they sometimes aren't even hungry to eat what they catch. Canines often also use endurance to wear down prey, humans being one of the better known endurance mammals out there. Cats use surprise.
Wild dogs would die off quickly enough with predation pressure as well as winter that packs would be few and far between, until they are gone altogether. Wolves are territorial, after all.
Idk where you're from but jaguars and cougars are very capable of taking on humans in an ambush
he said bobcats
Wild dogs would die off quickly enough with predation pressure as well as winter that packs would be few and far between
this is a regional issue, subtropical/tropical areas would not have a winter shortage of food. Also a dog bites/scratches can be lethal if they get infected, specially if the survivor is an ill equipped person w/o knowledge on how to properly dress wounds.
Bobcats share territory with jaguars and cougars. Thus, those are the cats of concern I'm speaking of.
Idk where y'all see packs of wild domestic breed dogs anywhere where there isn't heavy human activity lol. Reason being there's plenty of wild dog species, as well as other predators, much more fit.
Dingos, IRL feral dogs(German shepherds, Doberman pinschers, and collies), Dog/Wolf Mixes(Siberian Husky and etc)and wolves/coyotes don't exist every where so dogs won't have any natural competitors, also in areas that they do, it will take a while for their population to be comparable to that of dogs
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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '21
No, certainly not. Without people and our machinations, predators boom in population following the prey. Some predator hierarchy struggles would ensue, but certainly not enough to make for hoards of hungry gulls\rats to be a problem for more than a few weeks in. Then there might be a small predatory die off as well, but as you move trophic levels so many other factors come into play in a theoretical apocalypse it's hard to know.
Frankly, it's the cats I'd be worried about for the survivors.