Sunday, June 05, 2005

Bears in My Yard

From Leslie Stahl's report tonight of 60 Minutes.
"There's only room for so many out there in this area. And the food source is only going to support so many. It'd be like us putting 1,000 head of cows into a pasture that may only feed 500 head," says Bales.

Yeah well, that's exactly what ranchers DO do with America's public lands to the detriment of the land. As for the bears, they're a sign of a healthy ecosystem. Moreover if cows are killed the US government pays for them. It's standard policy.
"We've been told that outside the park no one in the state of Wyoming has been killed by a grizzly bear in 100 years," says Stahl.
"My response to that is, and I don’t mean to be flippant, but, so?" says French. "It doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen, that it’s not coming."

Argument from ignorance.


Cattleman Curt Bales says the bears will never drive him off the ranch, but feels something has to be done.

"You have to realize that there’s a place for everything, and the grizzly bear’s place is not everywhere that it ever once was," says Bales. "You know, California had grizzly bears. We could put ‘em back in California. It’d suit me just fine."

How about Central Park? "That would work, too," says Bales.

"You'd love to see that," says Stahl.

"We have to be realistic," says Bales. "You know, down in the suburbs of Cody is not grizzly bear habitat."


Well no history in New York but black bears are all over the suburbs into PA. Reintroduce grizzlies to California is fine with me as well. Cattleheads like this guy are radical extirpatists. What he won't own up to is the fact that he's a welfare case on the American taxpyer. The land he's recreated for us sucks. Welcome to reality buddy. Now get out or shut up.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know, there are very few words that you can search for on Google and get only ONE hit. "Extirpatists" is one of those words, and you coined it. Congratulations! Care to define it? While you're at it, I'd like to know why these "cattleheads" are welfare cases on the taxpayer.

3:45 AM  
Blogger Mark said...

It means ne that advocates the extirpation of endangered wildlife as a policy. They use/abuse the public lands at less than market value at the expense of the taxpayer: a classic special interest nod. Most of the beef comes from the fertile midwest not the Nevada desert. It's just another corporate welfare program.

9:32 AM  

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