[EinNYC]

Sherman, While raccoons are certainly indigenous to most places around NY, they were not native to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge area--they were dumped there from other areas and established a population. So I was told by a ranger at the Refuge.

Here is a picture of a raccoon in a tree that I took recently at JBWR. And here is a picture of a muskrat from there (tee-hee, could not resist!).

[Sherman Logan]

Not to get overly nitpicky, but I think the ranger misused some terminology.

“Indigenous” usually refers to the historical wildlife of a region. It is highly probable that 1000 years ago raccoons inhabited the area that is now part of the refuge.

They were probably wiped out in colonial and early American times, then later reintroduced. But that just re-establishes the natural fauna to some extent, it doesn’t introduce anything new.

Certainly little protective boxes around the turtle nests aren’t “natural!”

I think the rangers are being disingenous if they portray this interference as protecting native turtles from non-native raccoons, as if they are protecting native Hawaiian birds from introduced rats.

What they’re actually doing is protecting a preferred native species from another non-preferred native species.

I have no problem with that, but it can cause huge problems, as historically in Yellowstone when they “protected” the deer and elk from the wolves and bears.

Decide you want more turtles? Fine. Just don’t call it an attempt to protect the “natural” balance.