Do you FEEL safer?

[wolf]

Originally Posted by marichiko

I think it's their way of paying mankind back for hunting season.

It's their way of paying mankind back for reducing the numbers of natural predators and limiting hunting season ...

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by wolf

It's their way of paying mankind back for reducing the numbers of natural predators and limiting hunting season ...

Just think - every time you hit a deer with your car, you're evolving road-avoiding deer. Unless they survive - then you're evolving crash-proof deer.

Originally Posted by wolf

It's their way of paying mankind back for reducing the numbers of natural predators and limiting hunting season ...

Wolf! You and I are in COMPLETE agreement! (I know this news must be as unsettling for you as it is for me, but I imagine we will both recover in due time). I have distributed fliers on the West slope of Colorado with the headline, "BRING BACK THE COUGAR!" I ask people when was the last time they had to step on the brakes and skid out of control thanks to a group of cougars in the middle of the road? When did anyone ever have an accident where a cougar came flying through their windshield? NEVER! Cougars are useful animals which rid of the world of nuisances like deer on the road, yappy poodles and small children whose parents didn't want them, otherwise they'd never have told the kid to go play alone on a deserted mesa at twilight (prime cougar hunting time!). I was delighted to read an official notice from the the Forest Service which appeared some months after I'd papered the area with my fliers that a temporary ban on the hunting of cougars was being put into effect on the nearby Uncomphaghre Plateau. The FS is considering making the ban on cougar hunting permanent and wished for public response. They got a copy of one of my fliers by return mail! I adore wild predators (not human ones). We need more of them! Bring back the cougar! Bring back the wolf! Yes!

[Cyber Wolf]

[off-topic]

Originally Posted by marichiko

Bring back the cougar! Bring back the wolf! Yes!

Aroooooo, baby!

[/off-topic]

Originally Posted by Cyber Wolf

[off-topic]

Aroooooo, baby!

[/off-topic]

I have this beyond cool recording of wolf howls. Think I'll go play it in honor of wolves (and cougars) everywhere - in the cyber world, as well as the real!

[elSicomoro]

Originally Posted by marichiko

Wolf! You and I are in COMPLETE agreement! (I know this news must be as unsettling for you as it is for me, but I imagine we will both recover in due time).

WTF? I'm outta here...must be something involving the moon.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by marichiko

I ask people when was the last time they had to step on the brakes and skid out of control thanks to a group of cougars in the middle of the road? When did anyone ever have an accident where a cougar came flying through their windshield? NEVER!

Well, fine...but you have to look at the other side of that argument. When was the last time anyone was attacked and eaten by a hungry deer? :p

[tw]

Originally Posted by Elspode

Well, fine...but you have to look at the other side of that argument. When was the last time anyone was attacked and eaten by a hungry deer?

Most preditors are environmentally responsible. They kill only for food. Deer (much like rats) kill just for the dumb of it. They even leave their kill to rot.

Originally Posted by tw

Most preditors are environmentally responsible. They kill only for food. Deer (much like rats) kill just for the dumb of it. They even leave their kill to rot.

This is very true. I truely love animals and I cried when Bambi's mother got shot just like everyone else. Unfortunately, we have an ecosystem that's so out of whack in Western Colorado that the deer population has soared out of control without natural predators to keep it in check. What happens to many of these animals is that they starve during the winter. A death by starvation is far more cruel and drawn out than death by a hunter's gun or a predator's claw. The deer are attracted to the roadsides as a last resort because everything else has been grazed down to nothing. My encounter with a deer on the road last year was not my first. 15 years ago I was driving down the highway one evening outside of Durango, Colorado when a deer suddenly jumped in front of my car. I swerved to avoid it, hit a ditch running alongside the road and was in intensive care for 4 weeks afterwards. Many peope have had similar experiences and some have died as a result of them.

[elSicomoro]

Originally Posted by marichiko

Unfortunately, we have an ecosystem that's so out of whack in Western Colorado that the deer population has soared out of control without natural predators to keep it in check.

Plus, venison is so damned tasty...how could you not eat it?

[xoxoxoBruce]

a deer suddenly jumped in front of my car. I swerved to avoid it, hit a ditch running alongside the road and was in intensive care for 4 weeks afterwards.

That is why people buy Expeditions and Hummers. You also have to learn not to swerve.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That is why people buy Expeditions and Hummers. You also have to learn not to swerve.

Yeah, someone mentioned the not swerving thing to me when I was laying there in the hospital on a ventilator. It's hard to overcome the automatic response to steer out of the way of a sudden impediment in the road. I know of someone who DIDN'T swerve and the deer came right through her windshield - kicking hooves, antlers and all. Needless to say, she, too, was seriously injured. If anyone would like to make a donation to my "Buy Marichiko a Hummer" fund, please PM me and I'll let you know where to send the cash.