Ho Chi Minh Trail area safe for wildlife

AP ^ | March 3, 2007 | Jerry Harmer

[BIGLOOK]

Ho Chi Minh Trail area safe for wildlife.

By JERRY HARMER, Associated Press Writer

Four decades after U.S. warplanes plastered it with bombs, a remote corner of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia is making a comeback as a treasure trove of endangered wildlife.

Tigers prowl imperiously down tracks where weapons-laden North Vietnamese trucks once rolled. Elephants shepherd their young past giant bomb craters to drink at jungle water holes, and rare apes call from treetops that used to hide communist forces from American pilots.

Much of the credit for this swords-into-plowshares story goes to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which has managed and protected this forest in southern Mondulkiri Province since 2002, in partnership with the Cambodian government. A former free-fire zone is now a strictly policed no-hunting preserve.


excerpt

[BIGLOOK]

It's a lovely day in the Neighborhood!

[BIGLOOK]

Life goes on after all.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Wow, thanks for the info, I was worried about that! BTW Is that you Mr. Rogers? :)

[johnny7]

Yeah... but the American left made it safe for the NVA.

[BIGLOOK]

This is a wonderful example of what can be achieved once the insurgents are driven out and the law of the jungle is restored.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Very true. Now they are trying to pull the same thing, 30+ years later.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Insurgents driven out? I thought that they took over.

[BIGLOOK]

Nah.....just moved to the suburbs. No one really want to live out there.

[Condor 63]

Interesting story.

The links kept coming up crackers for me so I found the rest of the article here:

Wildlife on the Ho Chi Minh Trail

http://enn.com/anim.html?id=1652

[Alter Kaker]

This is a wonderful example of what can be achieved once the insurgents are driven out and the law of the jungle is restored.

The insurgents were driven out? I hope that was tongue-in-cheek. They weren't driven out, they conquered the country.

[ozzymandus]

AP still attacking the USA and sucking up to the VC.

[Old Professer]

The jungle waits to swallow us all.

[alice_in_bubbaland]

LOL! Jokes aside...I'm glad that the wildlife is safe, just hope that they found all the landmines. :)

[Brad from Tennessee]

"Ho Chi Minh Trail Area Safe For Wildlife"

The animals will be glad to learn that they can now safely return to their former home.

[BIGLOOK]

I thought this was an interesting counter point to all the horror stories of bombings in the pristine jungle, defoliation of the forest canopy with Agent Orange that bombarded the public during the VN War. Of course, the Sierra Club and others that existed then never once complained about the damage to the jungle done by the NVA and their extensive supply line.



Not to mention the invasion by the NVA of two sovereign countries and the displacement of the indigenous population.

[BIGLOOK]

Next thing you know the place will become an amusement park. I can see the announcement ........

Grand Reopening of the Ho Chi Minh Trail!

[Rb ver. 2.0]

It's all fun and games until Jumbo steps on a bouncing betty.

[BIGLOOK]

Ahh.... we never mined the Trail. Anything there would have NVA stamped on it.

An unexploded 500 pounder would create a stir.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

We never made bouncing bettys either.

[Brad from Tennessee]

From what I've heard and seen on cable channels they have a pretty good tourist trade now. Capitalism is in those people's blood.

When we left and the Soviets came in the people in southern Vietnam called the Russians "Americans without dollars."