On Mon, 3 Feb 1997, Dale Goble wrote:

> what is the difference between wild and domestic?

This one gets messy real quick. If you want to find one of the messier
examples, explore the "Wild horse and Burro Act" or whatever it's called
and consider how politicians decided to distinguish between acceptable
and unacceptable animals in the "wild". Here in Washington, we have "wild"
horses on the Yakima Indian Reservation. Are they wild? They are apparently
derived from stock brought over by the Spanish centuries ago so they have
been living as wild animals for a long time. (Certainly more wild than the
Bobwhite that has only been out of its pen for a few days or weeks).

Washington state law defines wildlife to exclude "feral domestic mammals".
Is that what the wild horses are, feral domestic mammals? How about the
lowland red foxes that have been here for decades? Are they just wild
domestics?

Kelly McAllister