h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A very interesting article. I used to bread guinea pigs (we also kept rabbits) and as you state they are hardy, eat almost anything, bread easily and readily. What has always surprised me is that I have never heard of wild guinea pigs in the UK. I am aware of many other animals that have escaped from captivity and live quite happily free e.g. mink, coypu and even a flock of parrots that live in some heathland near my sister-in-law in Sidcup. So the question is are there any wild guinea pigs in the UK and if not why not?

In the wild in South America there are not a large number of cats. I think the UK probably has a large cat population that would easily catch any escaped guinea pigs. Even pet guinea pigs occasionally are killed by cats. Parrots can obviously fly away and mink are predators themselves. Coypus are big enough to look after themselves. But guinea pigs are too defenceless to cope with cats.

That is what I think.