Article

2005-08-18 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Elephants, lions to roam North America once more?

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Posted by Deacon Blues 2005-08-18 10:19|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 It's a shame western Europe is deprived of fire ants and alligators in their yards. Can I have a grant to fix this?

Posted by ed 2005-08-18 10:55|| 2005-08-18 10:55|| Front Page Top

#2 Why is it that the people who most fervently believe in Darwinism are the least able to accept the outcomes?

Posted by BH 2005-08-18 10:57|| 2005-08-18 10:57|| Front Page Top

#3 "but NIMBY"

Posted by macofromoc 2005-08-18 10:59|| 2005-08-18 10:59|| Front Page Top

#4 I like cats, so we'll take two of the cheetahs. The invisible fence should do the trick, as long as the power doesn't go out.

Posted by Curt Simon 2005-08-18 10:59|| 2005-08-18 10:59|| Front Page Top

#5 I say we put all these beasts in Berkly with a large wall so no one can get out, let them play with the local population for a year or so and then interview the survivors (if any) and see if the survivors are all for widespread reintroduction.

Posted by mmurray821 2005-08-18 11:12|| 2005-08-18 11:12|| Front Page Top

#6 Establishing Asian asses ...

We already have those. Do we need to import more?

Posted by BigEd 2005-08-18 11:15|| 2005-08-18 11:15|| Front Page Top

#7 Those asain asses look like the tend to overgraze.

Posted by macofromoc 2005-08-18 11:19|| 2005-08-18 11:19|| Front Page Top

#8 WTF? We don't even allow enough room for the native predators (wolves, cougars, bears, etc.) to thrive, so let's introduce some more! That's brilliant.

Posted by Dar">Dar 2005-08-18 11:20|| 2005-08-18 11:20|| Front Page Top

#9 Wasn't there a reason the populations were "lost"? Like climate and environmental changes?

Mostly due to the invasion of humans, esp. once the Clovis style of arrowhead was in use.

Posted by leader of the pack 2005-08-18 11:21|| 2005-08-18 11:21|| Front Page Top

#10 except for climate change re: the mastodons and mammoths. never were 'elephants' here.

Posted by leader of the pack 2005-08-18 11:22|| 2005-08-18 11:22|| Front Page Top

#11 Why should Australia have all the kangaroos?

No blood for marsupials!

Posted by Matt 2005-08-18 11:35|| 2005-08-18 11:35|| Front Page Top

#12 Mostly due to the invasion of humans, esp. once the Clovis style of arrowhead was in use.

but, but, but, I thought the Indians lived as One with nature in a glorious new-age Utopia?

Posted by BH 2005-08-18 11:39|| 2005-08-18 11:39|| Front Page Top

#13 I say reintroduce mastadons. When one hunts one of these babies, the whole town can eat for a year.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2005-08-18 11:39|| 2005-08-18 11:39|| Front Page Top

#14 Why is it that the people who most fervently believe in Darwinism are the least able to accept the outcomes?

BH,

Ouch! If you keep breaking liberals like that, we're not going to have any left to play with!

Truth is, Darwinism is only useful to that crowd as a battering ram to smash down traditional notions like God, honor, decency, etc.

Posted by Dreadnought 2005-08-18 11:44|| 2005-08-18 11:44|| Front Page Top

#15 So are we supposed to just evacuate Nebraska and turn it over to the gazelles? I mean, where do they want to put this massive park?

Posted by WhiteCollarRedneck 2005-08-18 12:08|| 2005-08-18 12:08|| Front Page Top

#16 Actually, the name gives it away: Pleistocene re-wilding.
But we're not in the Pleistocene anymore, we're now in the Holocene. You can't unscramble an egg.

Posted by Spot">Spot 2005-08-18 12:14|| 2005-08-18 12:14|| Front Page Top

#17 I would love to have a couple of Cheetas to take care of the damn neighborhood dogs that run free.

Posted by BrerRabbit 2005-08-18 12:42|| 2005-08-18 12:42|| Front Page Top

#18 I think the sight of Polar Bears roaming around Gainesville, Florida would be pretty cool. And, the image of gators up in Churhill, Canada would be a sight!

Posted by DragonFly 2005-08-18 12:54|| 2005-08-18 12:54|| Front Page Top

#19 sweet! hoper we getn sum jirafes overn heer. nise shade off bernt oranje. :)

an there got horns to!

Posted by muck4doo 2005-08-18 13:01|| http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/]">[http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/] 2005-08-18 13:01|| Front Page Top

#20 Scientists are proposing reintroducing large mammals such as elephants, lions, cheetahs and wild horses to North America to replace populations lost 13,000 years ago.

As a sometime resident of Gerlach, Nevada I just have to comment on this at some length.

1) There are currently rather a large number of wild horses in North America. Anecdotally, several off them walked past the front of my ranch in March of this year. The question of what, if anything, to do about them is a constant source of political debate in Northern Nevada. They make look pretty but they certainly arenât indigenous animals and, as a basically superior species, they take up grazing land that is normally occupied by deer, pronghorn antelope, and bighorn sheep. Wild horses equal dead indigenous species. Currently the B.L.M. (Bureau of Land Management) conducts a costly annual roundup of mustangs to keep their numbers down.

2) Nevada currently has an out of control mountain lion population problem. This is due in no small part to the fact that Californiaâs animal control people routinely dump captured lions including man eaters over the boarder into its northern counties. My neighbor Tony DieBold, a professional hunter and former Nevada state trapper, estimates that there are over 130 adult lions in the Granite and Calico ranges alone. The rural northwest needs more big cats (cheetahs and lions) like a hole in the head.

3) There were 130 bear âencountersâ in Incline Village last year alone. Badgers have become a constant menace to house pets even in the center of Reno The timber wolves have come back; they should be infesting my area as soon as next year. Which, for me, is all to the good. My wife and I are armed up like an Afghan tribesmen and a little danger keeps the riffraff out. Iâm hoping that a few Burning Man people are eaten by bears or something. But all of my neighbors are real ranchers (I just own a place everyone calls a ranch), none of them are thrilled about the resurgence of Mutual of Omahaâs Wild Kingdom.

Now some mad scientist wants to add elephants? What kind of scientists are these? Besides the mad kind, I mean.

Posted by Secret Master 2005-08-18 13:08|| 2005-08-18 13:08|| Front Page Top

#21 I'm all for having these threatened species in large *enclosed* parks, with the aim of preventing extinction.

Introducing them to roam free, much as similar timber wolf etc programs have done, is of course ludicrous.

Of course, if they can resurrect sabre-tooth tigers and reintroduce them to the wild, I am on board with that. It'll probably help keep the mountain lion population down.

Posted by Carl in N.H.">Carl in N.H. 2005-08-18 13:28|| 2005-08-18 13:28|| Front Page Top

#22 What kind of scientists are these?

Well-paid tenured ones.

Posted by leader of the pack 2005-08-18 13:32|| 2005-08-18 13:32|| Front Page Top

#23 big kats no prbblem long their intredoose hyenas to.

Posted by muck4doo 2005-08-18 13:36|| http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/]">[http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/] 2005-08-18 13:36|| Front Page Top

#24 Buffalo commons revisited. Here in western Kansas our insurance rates are already extreme due to the deer and the antelope playing. Last week a guy hit a wild pig and demolished his monster truck. We also have emu's and ostrich that have been dumped out from failed businesses. The cowboys love to rope them, and are thinking about adding it as an event in the local ranch rodeos. What's the matter with Kansas?

Posted by bman">bman 2005-08-18 15:17|| 2005-08-18 15:17|| Front Page Top

#25 A few years back someone got the bright idea to "re-introduce" Red Wolves to the Smokey Mountain National Park. They didn't last. Daniel Boone wrote that there were more buffalo here (east Tennesse) than he had seen cows in most pastures back east. We don't want buffalo roaming here now. This sounds like someone's fantasy. They wouldn't have to actually live where the animals would be "re-introduced" so, to them, it sounds like a great idea.

Posted by Deacon Blues">Deacon Blues 2005-08-18 15:40|| 2005-08-18 15:40|| Front Page Top

#26 Uh....

Wasn't there a real reason these were lost?

Extinction is an entirly natural process.

Posted by CrazyFool 2005-08-18 15:50|| 2005-08-18 15:50|| Front Page Top

#27 Wasn't there a real reason these were lost?

The in-tune-with-nature human immigrants living in North America 13,000 years ago wiped them out...

Posted by Laurence of the Rats">Laurence of the Rats 2005-08-18 16:39|| http://www.punictreachery.com/]">[http://www.punictreachery.com/] 2005-08-18 16:39|| Front Page Top

#28 When are they going to advocate for the reintroduction of the mythical moderate and tolerant arab muslim in the middle east?

Posted by MunkarKat 2005-08-18 16:46|| 2005-08-18 16:46|| Front Page Top

#29 LotR,

Stop being ignorant, even 13,000 years ago, it was Cheney's fault.

Secret Master,

Are you telling me that Nevada is in possession of electricity and mountain lions from California?

Posted by Poison Reverse 2005-08-18 16:48|| 2005-08-18 16:48|| Front Page Top

#30 Poison Reverse:

I don't know about electricity (my place is off grid), but the mountain lions? I trust Tony's word on this one: a good number of them are from California, and a small number of those have tasted the flesh of SoCo joggers.

~~F**ck you~~ Thank you California, in so many ways.

Posted by Secret Master 2005-08-18 18:01|| 2005-08-18 18:01|| Front Page Top

#31 Db, the State of Florida has re(?)-introduced American Bison into Paynes Prarie. Very strange to see, but they seem to do okay. Their only natural predator T. Turner Americanus is rarely seen south of Live Oak.

Posted by Shipman 2005-08-18 18:03|| 2005-08-18 18:03|| Front Page Top

#32 Do you have badgers?

Posted by Howard UK 2005-08-18 18:05|| 2005-08-18 18:05|| Front Page Top

#33 sum howerd but gotter more snipes tho.

Posted by muck4doo 2005-08-18 18:31|| http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/]">[http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/] 2005-08-18 18:31|| Front Page Top

#34 Our last big buffet was 13,000 years ago -- let's have another.

Posted by Darrell 2005-08-18 18:49|| 2005-08-18 18:49|| Front Page Top

#35 Howard UK
"We don't need no stinking Badgers"

Posted by Yosemite Sam 2005-08-18 19:18|| 2005-08-18 19:18|| Front Page Top

#36 Too bad they can't bring back the Miracinonyx Trumani. That would really be good at keeping the riff-raff out.

Posted by Phil 2005-08-18 19:21|| 2005-08-18 19:21|| Front Page Top

#37 LOL YS!

Posted by Shipman 2005-08-18 19:43|| 2005-08-18 19:43|| Front Page Top

#38 That cat looks (gulp) a little largish....

Posted by Secret Master 2005-08-18 19:58|| 2005-08-18 19:58|| Front Page Top

#39 Hmmm... What do the folks in Nebraska think about having rhinoceri and giant sloths reintroduced?

It depends - what do they taste like?

Posted by SC88 2005-08-18 21:28|| 2005-08-18 21:28|| Front Page Top

#40 I for one have no prob with scientists improving or reintroducing species as new human food sources. As a kid I used to wonder how America would look like if it had large herds of enviro-friendly, meat- or flavor-improved African Wildebeests, Camels, Illamas, etc. roaming around America's deserts or preserves and legally being hunted for dinner by members of the NRA - BWHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!?

Posted by JosephMendiola 2005-08-18 22:31|| 2005-08-18 22:31|| Front Page Top

#41 California already has a surfeit of big cats. The security cameras at our facility in the wilds of San Diego periodically show mountain lions roaming our parking lots at night. They come up out of the canyons. Remember the state fossil of California is Smilodon Fatalis (sabretooth tiger). Perhaps some enterprising biotech company can find a way to bring them back as well.

As for converting the Great Plains into game preserves, this is just a Democrat plan to depopulate some of those pesky red states.

Posted by RWV 2005-08-18 23:57|| 2005-08-18 23:57|| Front Page Top

00:03 JosephMendiola
23:57 RWV
23:39 jules 2
23:37 plainslow
23:35 JosephMendiola
23:30 phil_b
23:28 CrazyFool
23:20 JosephMendiola
23:10 GK
23:07 JosephMendiola
23:06 Omaviting Flons4287
23:05 Captain America
22:57 JosephMendiola
22:57 Poison Reverse
22:56 Frank G
22:54 bigjim-ky
22:41 Alaska Paul
22:35 Alaska Paul
22:31 JosephMendiola
22:29 DMFD
22:21 JosephMendiola
22:19 DMFD
22:16 Bomb-a-rama
22:14 Bomb-a-rama