Predator Reintroduction

[rmcrobertson]

It might be argued that the reason to reintroduce predators--beyond cutting down on the rats with hooves population--is the same reason that we need to let the occasional fire rip through the national forests, and quit trying to have the Corps of Engineers turn everything into a concrete-lined culvert.

We're trashing the planet. We should stop; it's prettier untrashed (and this has a lot to do with why people behave so badly in ghettoes), and that's our air and water and food supply we're trashing.

If people can't walk through our wilderness area, take some responsibility, and accept a risk or two, they shouldn't be there. I'm increasingly tired of our national policy of paving everything so whale-like people can drive to it with their whale-like kids in their whale-like SUVs, get out and throw a few cans, cups and diapers around, then drive home and turn on every light and appliance in the house. I'm also increasingly tired of every middle-class and wealthy bonehead in California demanding their "right," to build a butt-ugly house in some absurdly-inapporpriate place, then demand that everything alive within a forty-mile radius get killed so their Chihuahua can yap unceasingly in the back yard without fear.

My goodness, that was cranky.

 

[Kenpodoc]

It might be argued that the reason to reintroduce predators--beyond cutting down on the rats with hooves population--is the same reason that we need to let the occasional fire rip through the national forests, and quit trying to have the Corps of Engineers turn everything into a concrete-lined culvert.

We're trashing the planet. We should stop; it's prettier untrashed (and this has a lot to do with why people behave so badly in ghettoes), and that's our air and water and food supply we're trashing.

If people can't walk through our wilderness area, take some responsibility, and accept a risk or two, they shouldn't be there. I'm increasingly tired of our national policy of paving everything so whale-like people can drive to it with their whale-like kids in their whale-like SUVs, get out and throw a few cans, cups and diapers around, then drive home and turn on every light and appliance in the house. I'm also increasingly tired of every middle-class and wealthy bonehead in California demanding their "right," to build a butt-ugly house in some absurdly-inapporpriate place, then demand that everything alive within a forty-mile radius get killed so their Chihuahua can yap unceasingly in the back yard without fear.

My goodness, that was cranky.

Cranky but good. When we try to take all risk out of our world when end up in a plastic disneyworld.

Jeff :asian:

 

[Feisty Mouse]

Oh the horror stories...

I've encountered lots of extremely dangerous snakes in some very obscure places. Like under an esky, in sleeping bags, underneath tents (!), and even in canoes. And the spiders, and the scorpions...

Then we get the lovely little beasties that like to live in and around your homes, like the sydney funnelweb spider who make a habit of hiding in your shoes, or the redback spider who likes to live under the toilet seat, and can cause serious illnes or death. Of course, there is the ever present huntsman spider who, while mostly harmless, likes to freak people out. I've woken up to these critters (big ones, too) crawling across my face in the night, or flipped down the sun guard in the car to have one drop in my lap, or had to calm frantic passengers as one crawls across the inside of the car roof. Nothing like the feeling of a 8" spider hanging off the roof only a few inches from your head...

Of course if you want to go swimming you have to deal with the blue ringed octopus which can kill you in three minutes or the stonefish which can kill you in seconds. This is, of course, without mentioning the box jellyfish which is about as lethal as they come, or the ubiqitous great white shark, which needs no link.

When I worked (volunteered) in Australia for a bit, I remember always checking the open-air bathrooms for redbacks - and sometimes peeing while staring at one that lived behind the bathroom stall door.

Apparently a redback with eggs got into a fight with a baby snake - I'll have to look up the name, apparently *immensely* poisonous, esp. as a baby, even by Australian standards - and the redback won - kept running out of a crack in the wall, biting the snake's tail, and running away. Eventually the snake was curled up and dead.

The sharks are pretty crazy too. Wasn't ever really SCARED of sharks - until a 14' (or so) tiger shark followed our tiny outboard-motor dinghy around (of roughly the same length) for a while, just STARING at me, taking its time.

 

[kenpo tiger]

I guess geckoes don't qualify as scary creatures, huh.:idunno:

My son was stung by one of the garden-variety jellyfish which inhabit the shores of South Florida when he was about 10 years old. My parents took him to the hospital, where he was treated for a variety of symptoms suspiciously like those listed for that absolutely gorgeously stunning blue-ringed octopus, minus the paralysis and dying parts, thank goodness.

So, do we not go into the ocean? I wouldn't because of a related rant to Robert's - pollution and the degradation of our oceans - but where does one draw the line for "safety"?

 

[Adept]

Ummm.. you don't work for Tourism Australia obviously, right Adept?

Come for the sun, stay for the horrible creatures of death!

So, do we not go into the ocean? I wouldn't because of a related rant to Robert's - pollution and the degradation of our oceans - but where does one draw the line for "safety"?

I think you just have to accept that, at all times, we are part of the food chain. On land, we are usually on the top. In the water, we aren't. Be careful where you go, never swim if it is dangerous, and you should be fine. We are lucky in Australia that most of our beaches are untouched by pollution.

 

[PeachMonkey]

I'm also increasingly tired of every middle-class and wealthy bonehead in California demanding their "right," to build a butt-ugly house in some absurdly-inapporpriate place, then demand that everything alive within a forty-mile radius get killed so their Chihuahua can yap unceasingly in the back yard without fear.

For anyone who has ever lived in and falled in love with California, or any other beautiful state, I recommend the beautiful book "Farewell, Promised Land: Awakening from the California Dream".

http://www.museumca.org/exhibit/exhib_awakening_california_dream.html

(if Steve or Feisty would like to see it, I have a copy)

The photography is amazing, and the book itself is touching and heartbreaking, and inspiring to try and save what is left. The amount of damage that has been done to the state in 150 years is absolutely mindboggling.