Cougar at home

[flowerbug]

Wolves have already been reintroduced.

they have been in some areas and in some places they have wandered back in on their own. the only reason they are not here now are those big lakes all around us, but i hope eventually they will come back.

 

[flowerbug]

ve

IF you reintroduce wolves, which you don't have to do since there are probably a few living close to the Canadian border already, your livestock farmers will be up in arms, literally, shooting them to protect their pigs, sheep and calves (AND foals, since there are a LOT of horseman who live in MI.) Plus they will kill off domestic cats and small dogs. REAL BIG MESS.
There are other ways, like properly managed hunting.
I have a GF who has been bow hunting deer for at least a decade. It takes a lot of skill AND there is a lottery for all deer hunting licenses in IL. IT is very popular. The fines are big, too, for poaching and/or not reporting kills. WE live in a VERY LIBERAL STATE, and if any deer are found maimed it is a BIG, BIG local news story.
There are always outliers, but it was hunters who created our National Parks and now they aren't allowed to hunt in them. Big smack in the face for doing the right thing. pfft

properly managed hunting still does not remove sick/weak deer from the population. you need a predator species.

 

[thistlebloom]

they have been in some areas and in some places they have wandered back in on their own. the only reason they are not here now are those big lakes all around us, but i hope eventually they will come back.

Right. I see now that @ducks4you was referring to Michigan and not just generally.
We have them here. I don't see the need. But I won't argue with you about it. We have different worldviews.

 

[flowerbug]

Right. I see now that @ducks4you was referring to Michigan and not just generally.
We have them here. I don't see the need. But I won't argue with you about it. We have different worldviews.

of course. and i know the Bob likes to troll on this topic, but i'm quite happy to put it right back at him.

 

[baymule]

of course. and i know the Bob likes to troll on this topic, but i'm quite happy to put it right back at him.

If I had a 10 year old cousin killed and half eaten by a pack of wolves, I don't think I would feel all warm and fuzzy either.

 

[flowerbug]

i don't either. i'm also a realist. this world is not 100% safe. it never will be. the universe has no inherent plan to keep us alive - ignore the warning signs at your own peril. certain losses will happen. if you grow roses sometimes you bleed.

on the specific scale of life there isn't any certain means to control it. random mutations happen all the time and at the microbial level they are exchanging DNA/RNA/etc among millions and millions of species faster than we can ever keep up. the only reason we are still here and all of the larger life is that we've developed defenses that work well enough, but none of it is a sure thing. this works at many levels up and down the layers of life. your body is a communal organism but people live in this mythology that they are in control. sometimes you are and sometimes you aren't.

when you grow up with the attitude that that world can be exploited for greed to support a system which is by many signs destructive and aimed at failing, well eventually life/nature will be showing you the error of your ways and try to tell you that your expectations are false/wrong. adjust them or not but in the end reality wins.

 

[seedcorn]

I notice people want “nature” to flourish in someone’s else’s place, not mine... don’t correct or discipline people but I’ll live in gated community with my kids in private, protected schools.

Farmers deal with destructive animals costing them $1,000’s but DNR says, tough....let a coon get in a residential area, relocate it or destroy it.

 

[flowerbug]

I notice people want “nature” to flourish in someone’s else’s place, not mine... don’t correct or discipline people but I’ll live in gated community with my kids in private, protected schools.

Farmers deal with destructive animals costing them $1,000’s but DNR says, tough....let a coon get in a residential area, relocate it or destroy it.

i like nature to flourish where people weren't before. quit breeding like vermin and leave some wild spaces for the rest of the life on the planet. that's all. if you choose to go live in a wild area you should not be able to impose the desecration of life philosophy upon it. either live with it, accept the losses or don't move there. if you want to live in a fenced community where all wild creatures are subject to being killed on sight, go ahead. ghods bless you, etc, but i'd consider that a rather dull and featureless life akin to eating nothing but wall-paper paste for every meal.

 

[seedcorn]

“Where people weren’t before”, so what land does that leave? Or are we going to be selective? Person A can remove animals but person B can’t? Slippery slope you are on. Mice were there before us, so allow mice to breed in your house? Dang breeding vermin.....

 

[bobm]

Flowerbug ...By your way of thinking... why are you living in Michigan instead of the Rift Valley of Africa ????????