Rewilding

I have been seeing more and more articles over the past few years about rewilding. For those of yall that don't know what that is, it is attempting to restore the habitat to what it once was and a key component of that is restoring populations of animals that have been extirpated from areas, and some articles are even suggesting a restoration of fauna that was present in the ice age, or at least substitute similar animals for those that are extinct, like elephants in place of mammoths, etc... On a more reasonable scale they are talking about restoring jaguars and ocelots to the southwest along with grizzlies and mexican wolves.

I was curious, if we could rewild ga. what would yall like to see restored? I would like panthers/cougars, the ivory billed woodpecker, the carolina parakette and the passenger pigeon. Most of what I would like seeing is extinct now, but with genetic engineering etc....I would love to see the animals that are extinct because of us as opposed to changing environmental factors we had no control over. I would also like to see bison and elk in Ga. like there were during the 18th century.

It would be interesting to see the impact of top predators on the deer population in Ga, such as a healthy panther and bear population state wise. I think it would actually make for a better deer heard, kind of like wolves did in yellow stone, beaver are coming back, elk are acting like they are supposed to, and the coyote population has decreased, leading to more smaller herbavors.

You can buy and farm Bison these days, the meat is sort of a yuppy delicacy. I wouldn't mind seeing more birds, but predators I can do without. And can you imagine how big a freezer you would need to hold an elephant?

I wouldn't mind see Wild Bison, Elk, Cougars, and Wolves in Georgia but the really wild one would be the extinct 14' tall Sloth that once roamed in GA. Also how about the Caribbean Monk Seal that once were found on the south east coast they were around until the 1952. That was the last confirmed sighting.

I want to see mammoths, mastadons, giant ground sloths, sabertooth cats, short-face bears, megaceros stag-moose, giant armadillos and giant beavers, tapirs, camels, horses, dire wolves, giant lions, American cheetas, four-horned pronghorn, long-horned bison; plus some elk, buffalo, and panthers to start with and work from there. The short-faced bears and sabertooths would also help keep down the numbers of rich yankees building condos and gated developments in every holler.

NCHillbilly said:

The short-faced bears and sabertooths would also help keep down the numbers of rich yankees building condos and gated developments in every holler.

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I like the way you think

See my sigline.

No cougar, wolf, or coyote that I see will flourish on my farm. There is a very good reason that my forebears saw to their removal once.

JustUs4All said:

No cougar, wolf, or coyote that I see will flourish on my farm. There is a very good reason that my forebears saw to their removal once.

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Yeah and they did a good job with the Eastern Buffalo, Caribbean Seals, Eastern Elk, along with many others animals as well. Almost got the otters and beavers too. Everything has its place sometimes it's next to my mash potatoes , but prey needs predators to all survive in the long term. Are those the same guys that tried to drain the Swamps in South Georgia and Florida aslo Don't get me wrong I'm no tree hugger and I can understand taking care of pest that feeds on your animals but in todays world it could all be managed with a little effort.

jonkayak said:

Yeah and they did a good job with the Eastern Buffalo, Caribbean Seals, Eastern Elk, along with many others animals as well. Almost got the otters and beavers too. Everything has its place sometimes it's next to my mash potatoes , but prey needs predators to all survive in the long term. Are those the same guys that tried to drain the Swamps in South Georgia and Florida aslo Don't get me wrong I'm no tree hugger and I can understand taking care of pest that feeds on your animals but in todays world it could all be managed with a little effort.

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Yep. You can have the seals and the Elk, but I forgot about the beavers. Beavers will not thrive on my farm, and if the buffalo start tearing down fences they will have a problem too.

i too would like to see elk back here in GA, i wish to see black bears in my area again. would love to see ivory billed woodpeckers back too, theres lots of animals i would like to see come back.

i like this thread, it makes ya think of what life would be like if these animals really were back.

Yeah, our forebearers were great conservationist. They had reasons for doing what they did, they also had reasons for wiping out the indians too. Just because someone has a reason to do something doesn't make it right. I understand not wanting your livestock killed, but in reality, the impact isn't that great, that is why you have insurance, and quite frankly, deer do more damage crop wise and auto collision wise than any predator has ever done. I ain't no tree huger, I love to hunt, trap and fish, but I also would love to have those animals that were here in 1492 to be here now.

As for livestock, well, there has recently been a big stock kill off because feed costs have been so high and beef prices didn't keep up. The beef producers go through cyclic "kill offs" due to price and the few calves taken by a panther, wolf or bear aint gonna make that big of a difference. Oh yeah, for a good part of my life I have been a member of the Ga. Cattlemen's Assoc. I love working cows too. You know, cattle production is why alot of the deer in the SE were killed off, they thought there were diseases that cattle got from deer. (I know if Fla. that was the case).

The gentleman from Athens indicated above that I was crazy for not wanting to share my land with other top level predators. He might be willing to give up livestock, pets, and grandchildren, but I am not.

CBC News in BC is reporting a cougar attack on a child, several attacks on dogs, and 30 cougar encounters within the span of 10 days in a suburban area of Vancouver. Conservation officers shot and killed two cougars they located in the area with dogs.

Cougars and wolves were removed by sensible humans from the areas where they planned to live and raise livestock and children for the simple reason that they did not want to loose either to a predator. This was and is both sound and sensible.

I would love to watch top predators in the wild just like I love to watch a squall line approach. I do, however plan to take sensible precautions against being harmed by either.

Don't miss quote me. Thats not what I accused you of. I accused you of thinking your "forebears" did a good job by whipping out entire species of animals and decimating the herds to a points that they may never recover from. The people who came before all us did not have a good since of conservation or understanding of wildlife. Instead they would label a whole species as viscous and seek to destroy them all, just look at the European wolves. There is also documented cases as to were whole herds of Buffalo were killed just to kill and nothing was taken or used. So if that what you think of as good work then yes I would think you are crazy and it that not the case then we will probably agree on many things that deal with hunting and fishing. Also I would not condone someone for protecting property, family, or animals from a predator rather its a human or a animal.

Predators are always a sticky subject, you either love them or hate them, I don't reckon there is too much inbetween. As for wolves, I am of the firm belief that the big southeastern coyotes are more red wolf than coyote and that is the native wolf here, coyotes dont get as big out west as they do here and looking at the red wolves in the captive breeding program that they have about 7 or so miles (if that) from my house I cant tell the difference between them and the coyotes I trap or shoot now.

Vancouver Island and California have had a from zero to sixty jump in cougar attacks, but it aint as simple as they are there so they attack. There are too many on vancouver, and not the deer to support them, most all the attacks there have been adolesant males pushed out of prime habitat and they dont let you hunt for them there. In california, they outlawed hunting them, the population of both cats and people were growing in leaps and bounds, no hunting=no fear of people, I believe being here in ga if there became a sustainable population, there would be legalized cat hunting, in states that have huge cat populations but allow hunting, you dont have attacks. They have made it imposible to trap coyotes in cali too, and you have more coyote attacks on folks there than you do cougar attacks, you dont have those in places that aint populated by tree huging, animal are people too, types, out side of atlanta, you dont have many folks in ga that are out right ignorant about wild animals. I believe that all animals need to be hunted to some extent or other, simply because we have altered the environment too much not to hunt them simply by creating farms, towns, subdivisions and cities. Ironically it is the very folks that do the most damage to the environment, city folks, who are the biggest antihuners, but then again, life is full of little foolishnesses.

jonkayak said:

Don't miss quote me. Thats not what I accused you of. I accused you of thinking your "forebears" did a good job by whipping out entire species of animals and decimating the herds to a points that they may never recover from. The people who came before all us did not have a good since of conservation or understanding of wildlife. Instead they would label a whole species as viscous and seek to destroy them all, just look at the European wolves. There is also documented cases as to were whole herds of Buffalo were killed just to kill and nothing was taken or used. So if that what you think of as good work then yes I would think you are crazy and it that not the case then we will probably agree on many things that deal with hunting and fishing. Also I would not condone someone for protecting property, family, or animals from a predator rather its a human or a animal.

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I don't know that anyone set out to exterminate any particular species. I will not set out to exterminate any particular species. I will definitely set about eradicating the ones that I have listed above from my farm, as did my forebears. I do not kill just to kill and I know few sane people who do.

having Buffalo around would be a cool sight. Maybe a few grazing along the perimeter may slow a few people down. I agree with JustUs' line of reasoning..animals like cougars and mt lions would not be welcome around my farm threatening family and livestock/pets and would have to go.

As far as predators go, I would rather have coyotes, wolves and cats, than sexual predators. Why can't we shoot them instead?

slip said:

i too would like to see elk back here in GA, i wish to see black bears in my area again. would love to see ivory billed woodpeckers back too, theres lots of animals i would like to see come back.

i like this thread, it makes ya think of what life would be like if these animals really were back.

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Well, with black bear populations in Middle to South Ga, it's possible we could see them move another 80 miles north in our life time. Armadillos did it, pigs are doing it, maybe bears are next!

Mountain lions....... The wildlife observer in me says yes, the part of me that likes roaming the woods without much to worry about says heck NO! I like being at the top off the food chain, thank you very much!

If I get bit by a rattle snake, I can call for help in most places thanks to modern technology. If I am being dragged into the bushes by my head by a 200 lb cat, it's going to be hard dialing. I'm just sayin'........

drippin' rock said:

If I get bit by a rattle snake, I can call for help in most places thanks to modern technology. If I am being dragged into the bushes by my head by a 200 lb cat, it's going to be hard dialing. I'm just sayin'........

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You are doing way better than I am. I turn my head a 1/2", and I lose a call. What service you using up there?

I don't know, maybe it is me, I have hiked and camped solo in girzzly country (Glacier NP), I have lived in the Alaska bush and neither bothered me, the fact that there were bears and wolves (at least in Alaska at the time) was actually neat to me. I have hiked and camped solo in Rocky Mtn. NP where there are tons of mountain lions, that didn't bother me. I have spent most of my life on waters in South GA. that were and are ate up with alligators, that didn't bother me.

When I was in Alaska for a year I trapped in the winter and prospected/hunted gold when the water was open, I was very young and might have been considered dumb by folks' standards today. Now those summer time Californians are what scared me, they were really freaks all of them were tree huggers or hippy/Jesus freaks, back then pot was legal in Alaska. The other thing that scared me were the drunk native americans of all type, they wanted money and you couldn't walk down the streets in Anchorage or Fairbanks without running a gauntlet of them, they would get down right upset if you didn't have any money to give them.

What I was leading up to is that if there are animals in the woods that might be bigger or badder than you and you are scared, stay out of the woods. To me, I like the fact that it is wild enough in some places to actually be a little dangerous, that is what makes it WILD. Heck, being in woods where your biggest danger is a snake or being bite by a chipmunk just aint being in the woods, I am sorry for those of yall that don't like the idea of bigger and badder animals out there. A wise man once said that it is the prospect of death that makes life worth living, it is true. More folks get killed in Atlanta traffic every year than folks who live in bear country, mountain lion country and alligator country and get killed by those animals combined in the US and Canada. Statistically it is much more dangerous to be in Atlanta traffic. I heed my advice, I try to stay out of Atlanta traffic if at all possible.

It constantly amazes me the number of folks who type about if they see a panther when they are hunting, it is gonna be dead cause it might get them, what really amazes me is that they call themselves outdoorsmen, I really feel sorry for them, if a predator wants you chances are you aint gonna see it in time to shoot it. Unfortunately the most dangerous thing in the woods even if panthers do return, bears become common and any other top predator makes an astounding comeback are the folks in the woods, with guns that are scared, they will be shooting at anything of any size they see....NOW THAT IS A SCARY PROSPECT.