Posted on 08/18/2005 12:48:35 PM PDT by freepatriot32
DENVER (Aug. 17) - If a group of prominent ecologists have their way, lions and elephants could someday be roaming the Great Plains of North America
The idea of transplanting African wildlife to this continent is being greeted with gasps and groans from other scientists and conservationists who recall previous efforts to relocate foreign species halfway around the world, often with disastrous results.
But the proposal's supporters say it could help save some species from extinction in Africa, where protection is spotty and habitats are vanishing. They say the relocated animals could also restore the biodiversity in North America to a condition closer to what it was before humans overran the landscape more than 10,000 years ago.
Most modern African species never lived on the American prairie, the scientists acknowledge. But some of their biological cousins like mastodons, camels and saber-toothed cats, roamed for more than 1 million years alongside antelope and herds of bison until Ice Age glaciers retreated and humans started arriving.
The rapid extinction of dozens of large mammal species in North America - perhaps due to a combination of climate change and overhunting - triggered a landslide of changes to the environmental landscape. Relocating large animals to vast ecological parks and private reserves would begin to repair the damage, proponents say, while offering new ecotourism opportunities to a withering region.
The scientists' plan appears in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. It is attracting interest from some influential circles, including media mogul Ted Turner, America's largest private landowner. He owns huge ranches in several states to support his commercial bison operation and personal conservation initiatives.
But the plan is also generating criticism on both sides of the conservation debate.
"It is not restoration to introduce animals that were never here," said University of Washington anthropologist Donald K. Grayson. "Why introduce Old World camels and lions when there are North American species that could benefit from the same kind of effort?"
Others wonder whether people would support African lions making a home on the range, given the opposition to the reintroduction of native wolves in the rural West.
"Just when you think the world has gotten as weird as it can get, something like this comes along," said Steve Pilcher, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association.
"I wonder how many calves or lambs it would take to feed a family of lions for a month?" Pilcher mused. "We sort of know what it takes for wolves, but something tells me we would be in a whole new ball game."
Some wildlife conservationists said the idea would further damage the prospects of both threatened species and Africa's hopes for sustainable economic development.
"Such relocations would affect future tourism opportunities for Africa," said Elizabeth Wamba, the East Africa spokeswoman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Nairobi, Kenya. "The welfare of the animals would have been reduced by transporting and exposing them to different eco-climatic conditions."
Critics also point to calamitous relocations of foreign species in Australia. Rabbits brought from Europe swarmed across parts of the Outback, and noxious cane toads brought from South America to control bugs in sugar cane fields killed native wildlife.
The authors of the new plan say they are not discouraged.
"We are not saying this is going to be easy," said Cornell University ecologist Josh Donlan, the lead author of the proposal. "There are huge and substantial risks and obstacles."
The plan grew from a retreat at Turner's New Mexico ranch - a 155,000-acre property in the foothills of the Gila Mountains that contains a mix of ecosystems ranging from desert grasslands to pine forests.
Ecologists are using the ranch to experiment with reintroducing the Bolson tortoise to the region. These 100-pound burrowers were once found across the Southwest, but now survive only in a corner of northern Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert.
The scientists' discussion expanded to consider long-extinct Pleistocene species that have modern counterparts elsewhere in the world.
For example, a larger American cheetah once stalked pronghorn on these lands, with both species evolving special features that enabled them to accelerate to 60 mph. Today, pronghorns rarely are chased, except by the occasional pickup truck.
In Africa, modern cheetahs are being exterminated as vermin, with fewer than 2,000 remaining in some countries. Relocation could help both species retain important traits, the plan's proponents say.
Other living species that are counterparts to Pleistocene-era animals in North America include wild horses and asses, Bactrian camels, elephants and lions.
Donlan concedes that lions would be a tough sell to Americans.
"Lions eat people," he said. "There has to be a pretty serious attitude shift on how you view predators."
You have a good idea with the fences, but why bother with the animals?
How about putting landmines in between the two fences instead? Oh, and make the fences, at least 100 yards apart.
"You don't have to be rich to be crazy. I know a lot of dead broke leftists at my office who are nuttier than squirrel turds."
Well I tell ya, when they get to the point where you can say their nuts as say a walnut or pecan, then it is time to haul them off to the hospital.
Don't even thinking of leaving a car or truck unattended for a few weeks in the summer in the MS Delta. You won't see it again until the winter, if even then!
Yeah those cotton picken predators sure are bothersome aint they?
Yup, they surely did, didn't they.
I always love when they drag that one out. When the Indians crossed the land bridge 10K years ago, the Americas still had mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and indigenous versions of horses and cows. All of them disappeared long before the coming of the white man.
As I remember, Texans are able to lawfully shoot cougar as varmints. Other cats would be dealt with similarly, I would be willing to bet.
"Misguided" isn't the word - "deranged" is more accurate.
Whenever some academic starts prattling about "endangered" animals, brace yourself because next comes a demand for funding to support that "endangered" animal.
The Endahgered Species Act has become a source of funding for the academic world, a tool for socialists wanting to convert America to a socialist government, and has helped virtually no species other that the population of ParkPersons.
What is it with these stinking do-gooders ..??
They don't have to put up with the animals who will be out of their natural habitat .. but who cares .. it's the intentions that count .. not the results.. right ..?? [/s]
My first thought too, bigger road kill.
These bozos have no idea of the many diseases that would be released upon the North American continent. Just a couple of animal diseases that are indiginous to the African continent would wipe out our cattle and horse herds here in the US, not to mention the native deer population. And the potential for zoonotic diseases would be high. Yes, thats all we need here in the US, a little malaria, sleeping sickness, Rift Valley Fever, African swine disease, and some that are not even on the radar.
We also don't need African rinderpest infecting non-resistant American livestock and decimating herds, or tsetse flies bringing in sleeping sickness.
Lions are over there for a reason. Elephants are over there for a reason. These guys need to leave it alone.
The more normal load is .416 Rigby in a double-rifle...or .475 Nitro Express!
That hunter needs his head examined. Or was the buffalo tethered?
No, it wasn't tethered. Just prior to this kill, he traveled to Africa and took #25 and #23 in the world with a bow. (They were under attack and in retreat mode when he got off his shot for #23. It was discovered two weeks after he returned home.) He can accurately hit the heart of a target at 92 yards, the test he had to pass before they allowed him to bow hunt. He's incredibly talented.
I hunt....I kill animals in the wild....It is what defines my life for the past 30 years.....
You would enjoy meeting my husband as I can just hear him making those exact comments. If you're ever in or around lower Alabama, holler.
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