On 4/16/2014 1:55 PM, Paul Laughlin wrote:
> I don't believe that the are native to the West coast area, but, during
> the depression, the southern boys in the Civil Conservation Corps
> brought them out here to keep for food. When they were mustered out of
> the CCC they just turned the critters loose, rather than take them home
> with them.
Possible, I only know they've been here since before me. :-)
I've always thought it a bit of hubris for people to decide that the state of
anyplace they first come upon is its
'native' condition, and that it should not change.
I don't know if the turkeys all over around here found their own way, or were
assisted. I'm thinking that the muskrat we
saw quite a bit outside its 'official'* range was part of an expansion.
Another interesting thing happening here in Calif. it the brown/black bear
range expansion. Before the white folks came,
Grizzlys inhabited the central valley, foothills and coastal ranges. When the
white folks came, they pretty promptly
killed off the Grizzlys, leaving an ecological niche unoccupied.
It's taken about 100 years for the other bears to noticeably expand their
range, beyond moving down into the foothills.
Indications are that they are slowly moving into the coastal ranges, and will
soon be yet another wild critter on the
edges of 'civilization'.
Wild Moose
* Muskrats subscribe to the "We don't need no ..." school of thought about
human rules.
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
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