Two weeks ago, helicopters firing nets captured 31 bighorn sheep in the mountains near Yuma, 240 miles to the west. The bighorns were examined by vets and transported to the Catalinas, where they were released with satellite tracking collars. Two days ago, the local media announced that two of the bighorns have already been killed and eaten by mountain lions, which falls squarely in the “what did you expect” and “that didn’t take long” categories.
It gets worse. The two “guilty” mountain lions were tracked down and shot for killing the two sheep. A Forest Ranger killed one of the lions, and the hunter in the other case was a private citizen hired to kill the other lion. Both lions were found next to the bodies of their prey. Duh, that was difficult, wasn’t it? Just to make sure they had the right lions, an autopsy was performed, and sure enough, sheep parts were found in the digestive tracts of each one. Double duh. I breathed a sigh of relief when I read that because I would have been heartbroken had an “innocent” lion been killed.
It is difficult to wrap my mind around this insane (and that’s the correct word) program. No rational human being ANYWHERE could possibly support it, yet it happened. And will continue to happen, according to a spokesperson for Arizona Game and Fish, who said just yesterday, “We’re in this for the long run.”
Here’s the kicker. Bighorn sheep disappeared from the Catalinas in 1992, when the last one was seen there. Why? The mountain lions ate them, that’s why. The sheep were thriving in the nasty, barren mountains near Yuma because there are no lions in those mountains. But mountain lions THRIVE in the Catalinas because there is plenty of game, especially deer. Occasionally, one of the lions will wander down into the populated Catalina foothills, where I live and play golf (yes, lions have been spotted on the golf course), and partake of an easy, tasty snack which is usually someone’s pet.
So what does Arizona Game and Fish do when that happens? First, it will provide NO NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF SPECIFICALLY WHERE A MOUNTAIN LION IS SPOTTED (how thoughtful to all the people in the neighborhood where a mountain lion is known to be roaming). Second, the lion is tracked, darted, hauled right back into the mountain wilderness, and released (I have no problem with this part of the policy).
Now however, Game and Fish turns right around and introduces the lions FAVORITE PREY, bighorn sheep, into the lion’s natural territory and institutes a policy of killing the lions when they do what predators instinctively do. This may help you to understand why I consider most environmental and conservation groups and their fellow travelers in state and federal agencies to be a threat to our society. They not only throw up insideous blockades to human activity, they end up damaging the very creatures they claim they are protecting. The leaders of these irrational and nihilistic private and governmental organizations, and the dupes who join them, will do anything to further their radical agenda, however insane it may be.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2013/12/09/the-twilight-zone-wolves-bighorn-sheep-and-mountain-lions/
Your government in action: Wasting your money as creatively as their pin-heads allow.
they gots mountain lions there
crap we were hoping to send them some of ours
They reintroduced bighorns round here.
The cats ate them all.
They reintroduced wild turkeys round here.
The cats ate them all.
One bright moment I was driving to work one morning and a cat crossed the road with a poodle in its jaws.
Now if they would eat the wolves...
The Copenhagen Zoo should have just sent their giraffe to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Would have spared them a lot of controversy, and might have saved the life of a mountain goat.
Governor Brewer is cool with this? I really don’t know her at all.