Geoff,


"The point here is what happens to a cow, dairy or otherwise when she has to forage for herself. So you ask a husbandman."


The challenge in testing the claim here is twofold:  One, no husbandman will willingly release a dairy cow to fend for herself without compensation for loss of milk (and probably the cow too, I doubt that any dairy farmer would believe that "Number 2069" would be able to stay healthy on her own in the neighboring state park).


Second, as former chair of an "Institutional Animal Use and Care Committee", I can tell you that here in the United States it would be illegal to release a dependent domestic animal into the wild just to see how it "copes".  There is too much evidence to show that the result would involve suffering, so such a plan would not be approved.


That fact alone should tell us that our domestics are not able to re-enter the wild without a lot of distress and/or death.  Any more than we humans can survive "on our own" without distress or death....there is an entertaining reality show here called "Naked and Afraid".  Well, our domestic animals are "naked and afraid" if suddenly returned to the wild, and they don't have a camera crew to rescue them if they fail.


Bees breed with whatever drones are out there.  Most of us do not rigorously manage mating behavior of our queens...and I think that is ultimately a good thing, because I don't see that humans have helped bees become stronger genetically by developing "bee breeds".  We've just tweaked them into the equivalent of bee beagles, or bee labradors.  If we have to choose a bee breed, give me the bee German Shepard or the bee Belgian Shepard for survival strength.  Meanwhile, I'll take Northern Queens, thanks.  Proven and tried to survive in the climate I put them in.


Christina

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