Posted on 07/13/2005 1:00:59 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Germans are getting used to a new kind of immigrant. In 1998, a pack of wolves crossed the shallow Neisse River on the Polish-German border. In the empty landscape of Eastern Saxony, speckled with abandoned strip mines and declining villages, the wolves found plenty of deer and rarely encountered humans. They multiplied so quickly that a second pack has since split off, colonizing a second-growth pine forest 30 kilometers further west. Soon, says local wildlife biologist Gesa Kluth, a third pack will likely form, possibly heading northward in the direction of Berlin.
Wolves returning to the heart of Europe? A hundred years ago, a burgeoning, land-hungry population killed off the last of Germany's wolves. Today, it's the local humans whose numbers are under threat. Wolf-country villages like Boxberg and Weisswasser are emptying out, thanks to the region's ultralow birthrate and continued rural flight. Nearby Hoyerswerda is Germany's fastest-shrinking town, losing 25,000 of its 70,000 residents in 15 years.
Such numbers are a harbinger of the future. Home to 22 of the world's 25 lowest-birthrate countries, Europe will lose 41 million people by 2030 even with continued immigration, according to the latest U.N. Population Division report. The biggest decline will hit rural Europe. As Italians, Spaniards, Germans and others produce barely half the children needed to maintain the status quo—and rural flight continues to suck people into Europe's suburbs and cities—the countryside will lose close to a third of its population, say both the United Nations and the EU.
The implications of this transformation touch on everything from tourism to retirement locales to government conservation and agricultural policies. Our postcard view of Europe, after all, is of a continent where every scrap of land has long been farmed, fenced off and settled, where every tree has been measured, counted and named.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Interesting read.....and the Tour De France was delayed yesterday because farmers were protesting wolf attacks on thier livestock!
This will be interesting. Environmentalism is all well and good until you have a pack of wolves roaming around in your back yard.
The French never have been # 1 predator in their country anyway.
Ain't allowed to shoot at them either.
I wonder of the same things is happening in the USA. That is, are people fleeing the rural areas and heading to the cities? Allthough, I was in upstate NY a couple of weeks ago, the middle of nowhere, and lo and behold they are building a Walmart.....must be something good going on in the sticks.....
Actually, the opposite in the US, I think...
This seems ...metaphorical..
It is tempting....you can get a whole lotta land in rural NY for not much $$$$$....
Sigh.
The question is, would Euro-weenies rather live with Islamo-fascists or wolves?
Unless Europeans regain an interest in reproduction, Europe in 150 years might be populated primarily by Muslims, wolves and deer.
Japan faces the same depopulation phenomenon, and the US would also if not for immigration. As China and India prosper in the next hundred years, population growth in those countries is projected to decrease and then go negative. Paul Ehrlich's "Population Bomb" worries, which look increasingly naive, are taking care of themselves, and the reason is capitalism and growing prosperity. The real concern over the long term might be world depopulation.
Very important article. The USA faces identical pressures as forty million babies were murdered since 1973. The short-fall in the working population is being made up many millions of meztizo invaders from Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras.
Hunh... gone to the dogs.
Tough call. I'd prefer wolves.
.
I would agree with you. At least wolves fight fair.
bttt
This is happening in Bavaria as well...but for very different reasons than stated. Many of these alpine farms were dairy farms, which were heavily state subsidized. The governments have been offering farmers their subsidy to cut back their dairy operation, and instead just maintain the fields. There have been excess supplies of dairy for twenty years now. Most of these areas see more income in tourism than farming, and cutting the fields adds to the picturesque view. I'm sure the wolves will be tolerated until they effect tourism.
At this rate, it will be ten years or less.
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