August 18, 2005

Group Wants to Transplant African Animals to the Great Plains Of course, parallels were drawn between this and how Australia has suffered because of relocation of animals, but the foreign, distructive, animals in Australia were taken there for entirely different reasons.

On looking at resources within Africa, the African Wildlife Foundation has a commendable project called the Laikipia Predator Project in which farmers are trying to co-exist with predators in Africa, which looks promising. However, "During the mid-90s, people killed about 30 "problem" lions a year in central Laikipia alone in the wake of livestock loss. That would amount to killing about 20 percent of the area's lions a year." So much for that one. Humans have a long history of displacing animals, from large scale projects like the one proposed now, to misguided efforts to rid countries of pests as was done Australia, to removing unwanted wildlife from our back yards. Could this actually save some species that are in danger of extinction, or will it turn out to be just another failed attempt to "save the animals" in a manner most convenient to humans?

posted by minda25 18 years ago
  • It's a fascinating idea. Too bad we can't just spend the money on protecting the animals where they are.
  • Sure, with all the moaning that cattle farmers who use public land to feed their animals put up about reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone, I'm sure that we will be introducing Lions and other African animals...
  • I must have missed something. There have been hyenas and jackals in my neighborhood for years now. (urban pioneer angst)
  • This story puts that in a project in a good light jccalhoun.
  • It sounds very silly to me. And faintly kleptomaniac - "Nice animals, Africa - Yoink! Hey, they were dying out anyway. Er... can we patent them now?
  • This would be so great! Elephants wandering the Texas plains, pulling up mesquite trees! Scratching their butts on telephone poles and pump jacks, leaving car-stopping piles of poop! I can't wait.
  • Considering the fuss Europeans made about re-intoduced bears/ wolves etc over a few sheep, I can't see this working. Heck, the Scots even moaned about getting a little extra beaver action.
  • Gorillas and chimps can't live outdoors anywhere that humans beings without shelter can't. The Great Plains get really cold in the winter. Blizzards. Creatures and birds which are suited to tropical and subtropical environments are not necessarily going to make it in the Great Plainsa, and in fact I think putting any animal that can't grow a heavy coat into the Great Plains is tantamont to a death sentence. I see many difficulties. Not the least of which is the issue of the native wildlife and plants of North America. Makes far more sense to me to allow the buffalo and wolves to return, and re-establish the tallgrass community -- if that can be done -- than undertake this project, which seems well-intended but astonishingly ignorant.
  • Wha a stupid idea. God damn hippies need to stop smoking the pot and coming up with stupid ideads like putting these animals outside their natural habitat of the zoo. Maybe you hippies should just make some new animals out of hemp. Get a job.
  • Monkeyfilter: astonishingly ignorant Monkeyfilter: Get a job you stupid hippies Monkeyfilter: The Scots even moaned about getting a little extra beaver action
  • I agree with bees that this is a rather ignorant proposal. I also agree with yentruoc that it's a fascinating idea. Also, aren't we more sensitive here in the U.S. towards animal rights & protection? If there were a feasable way to get them here without the trauma, expense, and uncertainty, they'd certainly have more protection than where they're at now. Really, though, the answer is in global attitude change. We need to realize we're a part of nature, not outside of it. When a people is living off the land without some form of dollar or international trade, we consider them third world & try to "fix" them. If we'd just leave good enough alone, they'd not be in such desparate conditions because they know how to live in harmony with their surroundings. I guess it's too late for that, though. I'll stop there before I get too off topic. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't believe there's a future for the animals. Radical "fixes" like this one only serve to make us feel better about trying to do something good for them.
  • I'm with him ^ Good comments, Bees.
  • aren't we more sensitive here in the U.S. towards animal rights & protection? Hell. No. We are callous bastards when it comes to animal rights & protections. Drooling, snarling, cartiledge munching Neanderthals with business suits and atomic weapons. Perhaps a grade above backwater China, but not by much. Overall. Rescue groups excluded. At a theatre near you. Does not include tax, title & license. YMMV (Your Mutt May Vary)
  • I don't know about YOUR great plains, but mine has cougars (John AND regular) and coyotes, and they're enough. Predators bigger than that we don't need many of, since the large herbivores are gone. Although a few might be ok to eat the scads of deer we've had some trouble with. Back when I hunted, I ran into a cougar in the woods once, and it can be a pantsshittingly frightening experience. They are pretty big (think: a feral cat about the size of a Labrador) and move incredibly fast. Very different sort of experience from the lethargic peanut-targets behind the big fence and giant ditch at the zoo. They also look at you like they can see through your skin into your flibbertygibbetting heart, which is involuntarily tasty-fying your meat with loads of fresh, delicious adrenaline. But yeah, I think this is some kook looking to write a "what if?" paper for Nature. I can't imagine that someone has a serious proposal on the table to do this, and the first unattended toddler that ends up on a lion's plate is going to make the dingo-ate-my-baby story look like something from Winnie the Pooh.
  • Wow. I stand corrected, petebest. The New Scientist has picked up on this one, too. From the article: "They propose introducing the animals over 50 years, starting with horses, asses and camels, working up to elephants, and finally bringing in the big cats. So, there's the plan. Also, I was a little off in their reasons. Not only is this to "help save Africa's poster species from extinction", it's also to "recreate North American landscapes as they existed more than 13,000 years ago, when humans first encountered them". Riiiiiiiiight.
  • "recreate North American landscapes as they existed more than 13,000 years ago, when humans first encountered them". All that work, down the drain!
  • Hm. I was searching for the original article (Nature.com requires a paid subscription to read it), and found The Rewilding Institute. I won't be able to take a critical look at this until I get home, but from what I've read so far they seem to have this same kind of thing in mind. Without the African transplants.
  • heheh - you said "asses"
  • Uh-uh. I didn't say asses, they did. I just quoted it. However, I've now said asses. Asses asses asses. So there.
  • That's some nice asses you got goin on there...
  • Tiger Kills Teenage Girl In Kansas http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/18/national/main787073.shtml
  • Our last large-scale importation of living things from Africa against thier willmworked out great for everyone, so why not try it again??
  • "against their will worked out"
  • /A-wimoweh
  • drjimmy11, I'm afraid I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. If not, do you mean the zoo animals we've got that have no place being in America? If so, what happened? I've never heard about any of that, but now that I think about it, I can imagine it was lethal for most of the animals, since the technology to transport them safely & compassion to see that it's done correctly hasn't been around for too terribly long.
  • It's true that both the technology and the compassion were inadequate at the time. We could be so more more efficient today!
  • Damnit! I'm such a... a... a... blonde sometimes!
  • *adjusts shoulder pads in solidarity* Also, 'Wimoweh'? I always thought it was 'A-wing-a-wock.' /mondegreen
  • Nice recovery, Minda. In public, too. "They propose introducing the animals over 50 years, starting with horses, asses and camels, working up to elephants, and finally bringing in the big cats. So we ditch the buffalo, wolves, and prairie dogs. Gotcha. How big a cat are we talking here? Saber tooth? Can we have itty-bitty horses like Eohippis? If parties favoring this project would look around, we do have horses, as well as asses, here already. The feral horses in the West often get penned up for a life-time of misery because the asses in Washington know nothing about managing Western rangelands.