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[RC] Wolves,bears,snakes,public lands/yippee - Ridecamp GuestPlease Reply to: Ray O'Donohue rno2m@xxxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== My opinion is that there are too many people and cows in the world and not enough animals that eat people.Having said that,one of course defends his livestock when neccesary.Just some perspective here:re wolves/grizzlies preying on elk herds on public land: do those public land elk exist only for the hunter or the hunting guide who makes a living hunting them? Of course not. MY interest in OUR federally owned lands is not the same as that of the hunting outfitter,who IS being subsidised by the public. He is also a taxpayer,in turn subsidising my interest in having grizzlies and wolves around. Re livestock predation:again,some balance here is called for.How much of western livestock ranching depends to some extent on MY subsidising it?How much of the west IS cattle country,absent federal/public subsidy of some sort?There are cattle all over Virginia,generally a profitable part time operation on small parcels of land.Absent grazing subsidies,can western cattle raising profitably stand in competition with areas of abundant rainfall? No? The guys in Virginia who raise cattle are not subsidised to my knowledge,and they damn sure are not getting any sort of cultural cowboy fantasy kick out of it.So...let's be moderate,and avoid extremes here. ===========================================================You don't have to be a 100-mile rider or a multi-day rider to be an endurance rider, but if you want to experience the finest challenges our sport has to offer, you need to do both of those. ~ Joe Long ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ===========================================================
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