AR-News: (US AZ) Humans vs. wildlife: living together

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

08:05 AM MST on Sunday, June 20, 2004 
By Thomas Stauffer / Arizona Daily Star 
Encounters between humans and wildlife will no doubt increase as development 
shrinks the buffer between city and wildland. 
How well we handle such encounters will be a reflection of how responsibly we 
grow, how well we educate ourselves and how engaged we become on wildlife 
policies, according to a panel of experts who met at the Arizona Daily Star this 
month. 
While incidents with individual animals make news and evoke emotional 
responses, the big picture demands a much wider lens, said naturalist and writer 
Jonathan Hanson. Biologically speaking, it's the health of the entire species that 
matters, not any single animal, he said. 
"If people would lobby their congressman for more mountain-lion habitat, 
they'd do far more good for mountain lions as a species than shrieking when one 
gets killed," Hanson said. 
As the "apex predator," what's good for mountain lions is good for the entire 
ecosystem below them, said wildlife biologist Lisa Haynes. 
"If we have a healthy mountain-lion population, we probably have a pretty 
healthy environment for both wildlife and for people," Haynes said. "The biggest 
threat to mountain lions in the future is urban sprawl. … The bulldozers are 
scraping away." 

full story:
http://www.fox11az.com/news/other/stories/062004cckkFOX11azlivingtogether.27da
68fda.html 



~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~
For more news items that Animalconcerns 
volunteers have entered on the site
click here > More Latest News Headlines.
Forum (discussion board), Events, E-Mail Lists, Jobs, and
Organizations!
To subscribe to AR-News, please visit www.AR-News.org
~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~*+*~~~
"When it comes to having a central nervous system, and the ability to feel 
pain, hunger, and thirst, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy." 
--Ingrid Newkirk 
/\  /\ 
>' .' 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/attachments/20040620/a45bc56e/attachment.html