bs kite wrote:
A RT Lemur running around in TX is a result of irresponsible and selfish human acts toward nature/wildlife.
Yes, of course it is escaped, but worse.....it should not have been imported to this continent in the first place.
Calling the lemur an “invader” is inexact and really unfair. It did not bring itself over here.
How would you feel if someone captured you and dropped you off in a land where there is not one single individual of your own kind....and you had no chance of getting home?
In its native Madagascar, the RT Lemur is endangered. Over 80% of its native forest habitat has been destroyed, and there is nothing being done to effectively slow the deforestation. In fact, Madagascar is one of the worst deforestation examples on the Planet.
The RT Lemur is headed for *certain* extinction in the wild.
This is another example of human selfishness/cruelty toward our fellow Earthlings. It makes me angry every time I see an example of it.
generally true; however, a captive breeding pgm ini a remote location is often used to preserve an endangered species and foster needed genetic diversity
I used to go threw there all the time when I was riding motorcycles.
Always stopped to view the exotic game on the ranch from the road.
Beautiful country also. The Texas Hill Country..
gkinard1952 wrote:
I used to go threw there all the time when I was riding motorcycles.
Always stopped to view the exotic game on the ranch from the road.
Beautiful country also. The Texas Hill Country..
Texas is home to all sorts of feral/wild non-native wildlife, mostly the result of commercial trophy "hunting" operations. More generally, though, the idea of restoring any ecosystem back to some Edenic "original" state is at best romantic and at worst willfully ignorant of how species travel around the globe in the age of human (and animal) mass mobility and transportation.
Some of the more imaginative rewilding folks argue we SHOULD move endangered species from states where they're facing extinction to states willing to protect them (e.g. elephants, tigers). That strikes me as little more than colonialism dressed up as environmentalism, but the idea that species ought to be restricted to some "native" range doesn't sit well with reality where lots of species have expanded their range, sometimes globally. For some species, conservation "in place" is the same as extinction (e.g. many elephant, primate, and large carnivore populations) because the animals simply cannot be protected from poaching or the habitat is being developed regardless of what some national law or international agreement proclaims.
So, lemurs in Texas? Seems like one place where they'd get to survive in the wild.
Oh, it's not just "the more imaginative rewilding folks" - this is supported by professional scientists and zoo directors (tho the latter may be a biased).
Hurricane Andrew in 1992 unleashed its fury over Florida and as a result a python research facility in the path of the hurricane was severely damaged with the resulting escape of Burmese pythons. The Everglades was a perfect habitat for the reptiles and it is now a serious threat to Everglades wildlife. Open season hunting of the snakes to cull their numbers do not appear to catch up with their reproductive output. Sadly, pet owners of these pythons who decided they grew too large to keep and maintain then released them into the Florida wilds, adding to the catastrophe. Could such also happen to these lemurs?
dalite wrote:
Hurricane Andrew in 1992 unleashed its fury over Florida and as a result a python research facility in the path of the hurricane was severely damaged with the resulting escape of Burmese pythons. The Everglades was a perfect habitat for the reptiles and it is now a serious threat to Everglades wildlife. Open season hunting of the snakes to cull their numbers do not appear to catch up with their reproductive output. Sadly, pet owners of these pythons who decided they grew too large to keep and maintain then released them into the Florida wilds, adding to the catastrophe. Could such also happen to these lemurs?...Show more →
