Mutton is used in a lot of the native dishes here, so they wouldn't last long, and that would be ba-a-a-a-ad. Sorry about the pun, but ewe know I can't help it, right? Trying not to make a pun is sheer torture. I could fake it, but I doubt I could pull the wool over your eyes.
like the puns:) - mutton is goat, though:) - however, i don't think sheep would last that long either - lamb is tasty, unfortunately for them, especially NZ lamb - we just got back from a trip and it's been lambing season here in NZ and i cringed every time i see the tiny things frolicking around (which was, like everywhere - relentless cute, cuddliness!) - why do they have to be so tasty! - why!
huh - didn't know that - but then, very few people would have touched mutton in Ohio (where i grew up), methinks, than the other East-Indians we knew:)
I can send you some deer from my place, Paxton. In Northern California we are overrun with them. Deer on my lawn are a daily occurence, not to mention the devastation they cause to the vegetation. The problem is that environmentalists (and I use the term loosely) have eliminated all the deer's natural predators and outlawed hunting them, but not before hunters added a non-native species of deer who are stronger and faster than native deer. Native deer suffer even more than the bigger deer, because they are in a battle for food supply. (Point Reyes, a beautiful preserve, has actually been destroyed in some part because the deer have eaten it down to nothing) When the deer population got to the point where deer were walking even in the center of the streets, and caused a few cases of Lyme disease,people decided they weren't so pretty anymore, so they put up fences. Now, with a soaring population and not enough food, they are not only pitiful, they're dangerous. Dangerous because when the population becomes too dense, they get a wasting disease, which can in fact, affect the human population. In a way, this response to what apretty deer' is somewhat like your blog on the oceans. No one seems to be able to calculate what any environmental decison can cost us down the road. We really need to develop some critical thinking when it comes to our impact on nature.
Southern New Mexico has oryxes, another non-native species. I don't know that they are damaging the environment, but you are right that the introduction of non-native species can be very damaging to an ecosystem.
I'm curious how environmentalists eliminated the deer's natural predators in Northern California. My understanding of the problem was that deer have very few natural predators to begin with - pretty much just wolves and mountain lions - and for the most part those predators have lost their habitats to human encroachment and hunters, and then the deer populations run wild (literally!).
You know, that was a carelessly phrased comment on my part, but as usual, you answered it like a gentleman, with a gentle rebuttal, phrased as a question.You're absolutely right. The environmentalists did not drive the predators of the deer out- we did. And did so just as you say. What I meant to say was now that the deer population is out of control, the environmentalists want them left to their own devices. I know they mean well, but this seems myopic to me to not only let them slowly starve, because there are so many, but also to let them destroy natural preserves. One recent suggestion was that the doe be airlifted one at a time, by helicopter, then sterilized. I was astonished when I read this. I am imagining the cost of such an undertaking, in addition to the fact that it does nothing to lower the current deer population. We'd have to wait several years to see any results frm that endeavour. I am also imagining what the heck it would feel like to an animal that is mostly prey to be captured, then airlifted? On a helicopter? Will they tranq them first? Will the deer die of shock whilst in the air? I know I would. The latest suggestion had a bit more merit- bring in sharpshooters to cull the deer. People here still find this distasteful, but how distasteful was it for me to watch a doe drop down dead in my backyard, right after she'd given birth, because she didn't have the stamina she needed due to lack of food? Anyway, I'm starting to rant, now, so I'd best stop. You got more than you bargained for, from me, just by posting a photo, didn't you my friend?
You got more than you bargained for, from me, just by posting a photo, didn't you my friend?
Ha! That's okay. I like it when a simple post generates an interesting discussion.
I occasionally hear of bull moose being airlifted to safer habitats. I think Colorado does it, and yes, they do tranq them. Airlifting deer, when there are so many of them, doesn't seem practical or cost effective.
I agree with everything else you've said here, and it's why I'm not against hunting, though I am not a hunter myself. I, personally, could never shoot an animal for sport. It's just not in me, and I'd rather buy my meat in the store. On the other hand, overpopulation and starvation seem like a crueler way to die than a quick bullet to the head. I don't like bow hunting; it doesn't seem like much of an improvement over the deer's current living conditions to die slowly from an arrow through the belly.
At any rate, I wouldn't shoot the poor guy in the picture here. I mean, he's looking at me, and besides, he was mowing my yard. Also, I would go to jail, since discharging a firearm in city limits is illegal. :->
Three things they say come not back to men nor women--the spoken word, the past life and the neglected opportunity. - Will Dearth, Dear Brutus by J M Barrie
Comments
Woohoo! I won the popular, prodigious, prestigious, pom pom award! Good think for me it wasn't posthumous.
Mutton is used in a lot of the native dishes here, so they wouldn't last long, and that would be ba-a-a-a-ad. Sorry about the pun, but ewe know I can't help it, right? Trying not to make a pun is sheer torture. I could fake it, but I doubt I could pull the wool over your eyes.
Southern New Mexico has oryxes, another non-native species. I don't know that they are damaging the environment, but you are right that the introduction of non-native species can be very damaging to an ecosystem.
I'm curious how environmentalists eliminated the deer's natural predators in Northern California. My understanding of the problem was that deer have very few natural predators to begin with - pretty much just wolves and mountain lions - and for the most part those predators have lost their habitats to human encroachment and hunters, and then the deer populations run wild (literally!).
You got more than you bargained for, from me, just by posting a photo, didn't you my friend?
Ha! That's okay. I like it when a simple post generates an interesting discussion.
I occasionally hear of bull moose being airlifted to safer habitats. I think Colorado does it, and yes, they do tranq them. Airlifting deer, when there are so many of them, doesn't seem practical or cost effective.
I agree with everything else you've said here, and it's why I'm not against hunting, though I am not a hunter myself. I, personally, could never shoot an animal for sport. It's just not in me, and I'd rather buy my meat in the store. On the other hand, overpopulation and starvation seem like a crueler way to die than a quick bullet to the head. I don't like bow hunting; it doesn't seem like much of an improvement over the deer's current living conditions to die slowly from an arrow through the belly.
At any rate, I wouldn't shoot the poor guy in the picture here. I mean, he's looking at me, and besides, he was mowing my yard. Also, I would go to jail, since discharging a firearm in city limits is illegal. :->