KW sez a protected endangered wolf was killed near Custer:
Brad Merrill, a special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service in Pierre, said that he couldn't discuss specifics of the incident, which remains under investigation. Merrill said wolves are still protected in most areas, including western South Dakota. And the gray wolf is on the state list of rare, threatened or endangered species.And:
For most of us, such an act would be unthinable [sic]. Yet, it happens. It always happens, inexplicably. A guy with a gun and an inclination toward idiocy takes aim and pulls the trigger. At something illegal. That’s how two bull elk ended up dead in Wind Cave National Park earlier this week.South Dakota is home to more idiots than its neighbors.
Istáwicayazan Wi – Moon of Sore Eyes (Snow Blindness)
It's not always an idiot with a gun. While I was a naturalist at Richmond & Mina Recreation Areas, we had a litter of fox cubs in the Forest Drive area of Richmond. They would often be seen gamboling about the drive, and we invited visitors to come watch them. However, some people invited themselves to run the cubs down with their cars. All were found smashed on the roadway, which was in the park and was for the purpose of observing nature.
ReplyDeleteOur other massacre was of beavers. People would shoot them and then leave them on the causeway over the Richmond dam so the rangers would pick them up and dispose of them. At first we thought they had been hit by cars, but inspection under their fur revealed gunshot wounds. The residents along the lake had some reason to resent them because they chewed up their ornamental trees, but we had a program where the rangers would come and put hardware cloth protectors around the trees if asked.
Some people just prefer to kill.
what's up with the reference to a couple Elk going down in Wind Cave?
ReplyDeleteHave a news link?
KW has a piece, Duff.
ReplyDeleteBummer
ReplyDeleteSomeone missing a chip - lot of that goin around
Hang-em high