Custer State Park may just start over
Park officials consider killing off entire bighorn herd
Kevin Woster – Rapid City Journal
Update 3/3/10 GF&P secretary: Killing off bighorns not a serious option
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Ken Cole
Ken Cole is a 5th generation Idahoan, an avid fly fisherman, wildlife enthusiast, and photographer. He is the interim Idaho Director for Western Watersheds Project. We do not accept unsolicited “guest” authors or advertising.
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Followed today by news that it isn’t an option?
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/article_a85d4356-26f4-11df-b0d4-001cc4c03286.html
Is there no genetic diversity between bighorn populations that would warrant trying to save at least a few from these populations? oh, sorry, they are “game” animals, so that wouldn’t likely apply.
This seems pretty stupid to me. If the last remaining bighorn survived, there’s a reason. Why would you kill off a population that has shown a good response to this illness?
I spent some time in Custer this fall and was able to film a few bighorn there. I consider myself very lucky. On top of that I consider it incredibly arrogant and short sighted to kill off the animals that survived. Nice reward. What Custer State Park may want to do is not let the sheep into the park like they do. They also may want to stop building stuff. The park is highly overdeveloped.
It’s still beautiful though.
I guess this will be Custer’s last stand …again. Without a deliberate decision to change direction, bad karma never seems to dissipate once it gets dug in.
It seems pretty stupid to kill off the survivors who obviously have some sort of resistance.