Animals

You know I could have told these people <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2211589,00.html">this</a>. As I always say, "it isn't rocket science." All the critters we share the earth with have a place and we have to be careful about willy nilly destroying them. Even in this moisture starved country i have a few beavers that I protect and am glad to see around the place.<br />n<br />nAbout every hired man I get wants to shoot the beavers, or the badgers, or the snakes and I have to give them my big lecture on how every thing is interrelated and you have to think very carefully about destroying them. I will take the badgers as an example. He wanted to shoot them because they burrow and make holes in the ground and "most ranchers say the holes will break the legs of livestock." I challenged him to find someone who had actually experienced a loss of a critter due to a badger or prarie dog or some other such hole. He has yet to have an answer. The I told him, "let's look at the good the badger does." He hunts small rodents and keeps there population down. One of these rodents is the mole that causes so much mischief in my alfalfa fields so by killing them it is a good thing. Also some of the small rodents he kills also support coyotes, so by killing these rodents he is helping us keep the coyote population down. I went on and on with examples. I think he is begining to understand my position better.<br />n<br />nNow having said all that, like all rules there is an exception to this one. That is the prarie dog. NO PRARIE DOGS ALLOWED. The reason is a little different though. They keep talking about making it an endangered species, and the last thing I want on my place is an endangered species since then the government will come in and place burdens upon my private property that would be onerous. So the answer is, sadly enough, to keep them out before it happens. Shows you what the Endangered Species Act (ESA) causes landowners to do though.<br />n<br />nLike I said, every critter has its place. We have to be stewards of the earth, not masters. But I would like to point out, with the ESA the government sets its self as master over the earth, which works just as poorly as if a private individual tries to assert mastery over the earth.<br />n<br />n<b>Nature does nothing uselessly. Aristotle</b>