Maybe I am spoiled because I live in BC, but I am happy with things the way they are. I don't have time to hunt all the species we already have!!!

I would definitely support JTG's BRILLIANT idea of re-introducing Wooly Mammoths to the north, however. Expansion of the bison population is a grand idea as well, but that doesn't count as an introduction either.

MHO,
Canuck

"that when native people, that is first nation arrived". Ted, have you heard about the "Kennewick man"?
Who are "first nation" by the way? Is that the new Politically Correct term for Indians?

Dear TJ,

First nation means Indians who are basically Mongolians. Like the rest of us they are immigrants but they get special treatmemt as a race because they got here "first".

The laws governing the use of game in Canada are based on race meaning it really is racists just like in the old south. Liberals and socialists ignore this fact.

But did they get here first?

Once the DNA mapping is complete we may find Canada's first actually nations come from Polynesia in which case, under current legislation, Polynesians would be able to hunt for sustenace all year long and the Cree for example would have to obey the game laws.

VBR,


Ted Gorsline

Addenda

When I hunted buffalo in northern Australia I was struck by the huge biomass of buffalo, pigs and other feral animals lacking a predator. What a great place to introduce a warm weather tiger like the Bengal tiger. The government would oppose it but maybe the Aborigines in Arnhemland have enough power over their reserves to be able to do it. Don't know.

India is in dire straits. There are too many people. About a month ago I saw a report saying the tiger is now extinct in one of the national parks designed to protect tigers.

I would love to see a good wild population of tigers, Indian rhinos, Indian elephants, gaur, kouprey, dhole, and true Asian wild boar in Arnhemland. The water buffalo are already there and the feral pigs, goats, horses, donkeys, and camels could gradually be replaced with the great game animals that lived in large numbers in India in the 1930's.


VBR,


Ted Gorsline

Hello Ted: Introduce the siberian tigers in your back yard not ours. Thanks

Dear gun bug,

I would put them wherever I could as there are not many left. I am sure the Russians would be able to tell you if they were any worse to have around than grizzly bears. Likely less trouble than black bears.

VBR,

Ted Gorsline

Help me out guys. I recall a movie some years (or more) back where they had put a lot of earth organisms on a space station to preservr them and at one point a desision was made that they were no longer needed so they were going to remove the staff from the station and destroy it. I think the staff rebeled and took the "ark" off into space and probably found an "earth like"planet to populate.

I can see that Ted is partly motivated by a desire to preserve critters on earth by putting them into places that they may have a better chance to survive than in their "home and native land". I can simpithize with this ideal. However I don't know if "invading" one ecosystem to preserve "refugies" form another crumbling ecosystem, is a good idea.

The most recent explanation for the extinction of dinosaurs is the change in the planets weather as the result of a meteor impact. One day the extinction of many many animals will be recorded as the result of the selfish domination of the planet by humans. (if there is anyone left to record anything)

Robin down under

Hi Ted:I would never want to live without our bears but they have enough competition for food now. Buy the way grizz can be a pest as well just make sure you don't leave any good smelling garbage in the back yard. Regards Dan

The big surprise for everybody will be the day in 5 billion years when the sun burns out.

If we haven't started moving alot of life forms around the solar system before then we are all freeze dried.

VBR,

Ted Gorsline

I see by the papers where some anthropologist in the Yukon says moose arrived in that area from Asia only 12,000 years ago and because they were more efficient at eating woody vegetation pushed the mammoth into extinction.

Looks like the Alaska/Yukon moose is a feral animal.



VBR,


Ted Gorsline

quote:

Originally posted by duffy4:
However I don't know if "invading" one ecosystem to preserve "refugies" form another crumbling ecosystem, is a good idea.

Except Australia is ALREADY invaded by a number of non-native prey species. Dropping a couple of good predator species in there would probably be good for the ecosystem and would definitely provide some interesting hunting. I'd vote to drop Bengal Tigers in without hesitation.

JMHO,

John

I always figured that because we have screwed up in the past is no excuse to continue screwing up.

We have in some cases screwed up in the past (starlings in Canada) and not screwed up in others (hungarian partridges in Canada in new habitat created by grain fields). Its a matter of choosing the right species.

A great many of these species were valid in their day. For example, pigs were stocked world widely so explorers in the days of sailing ships (from 1492 on) had something to eat on uninhabited islands. They enabled the western hemisphere to be explored and inhabited by the world's most widespread feral animal - human beings.

Camels were the 19th century four wheeled drives in remote Australia. They have no use now but they did 100 years ago.

The populations of a great many animals, especially large predators, like Siberian tigers are fairly easy to control. Others like rats are not.

Its a matter of being smart about what you introduce.

VBR,

Ted Gorsline

I would guess that every person who ever moved critters from one area to another, thought they were "smart" and doing the right thing.

Letting pigs loose all over the place has been a big error in the view of most people, I think.

Robin "leave well enough alone"

I am always happy to find feral pigs to hunt anywhere I go. I have shot them both in South America and Australia - same pig dropped off by the same exploreres. German hunters do not complain about the huge populations of wild boars over here now. They pay for the crop damage and plant rows of corn in the forest to hold them in the woods.

I am quite sure every user of the AC forum would rather visit an island in the south Pacific with pigs than one without.

VBR,


Ted Gorsline