Gone wild

Zoo escapees. Natural-disaster refugees. Throwaway pets. Runaway farm animals. However they end up in the wild, feral animals are on the rise — and we don’t just mean cats and dogs. Give any domesticated animal a hospitable environment in the great outdoors with opportunities for breeding, and chances are they’ll end up thriving.

Some feral animals are relatively harmless — charming additions to their adopted ecosystems. Others, though, are tenacious and often deadly — invasive transplants spreading mayhem wherever they roam. Read on to learn more about some of the planet’s most improbable feral creatures. (Text: Sidney Stevens)