"I *warned* you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you *knew*, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little *bunny*, isn't it?"
Posted on 03/30/2013 1:14:02 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch
The New England cottontail was once so common that Massachusetts author Thornton Burgess adapted one named Peter for the children's stories he penned a century ago.
But the critter that inspired "The Adventures of Peter Cottontail" and the enduring song that came later faces an uncertain future. Its natural habitat is disappearing, and without intervention, it could be unhappy trails for the once-bountiful bunny.
[snip] As neglected agricultural lands reverted back to forest and those forests matured, the population of New England cottontails thinned. More than 80 percent of their habitat disappeared over the past 50 years, according to the nonprofit Wildlife Management Institute.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.excite.com ...
So, in the name of the environment, we were supposed to let farmlands revert to their "natural state"; but the "natural state" is "unsuitable habitat" for indigenous species, which are now declining.
Therefore, we now must "restore" the "unnatural" state of these "unmanaged" lands to "save the indigenous species dependent on the "unnatural" (cultivated farmlands) habitat!
Without "action", then government will impose, via the Endangered Species Act, even more stringent mandatory regulations to UNNATURALIZE the environment in the name of creating natural habitat!
EnvironMENTALists: you can't use it, and you can't un-use it!
There’s the problem with “natural state”...They’re picking the “time”. Why not wipe the little ba****** right out. That’s also a “natural state”.
How cruel of us! The bunnies are suffering!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Burgess
Turns out Beatrix Potter created Peter Rabbit, and Burgess consciously “borrowed” him.
"I *warned* you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you *knew*, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little *bunny*, isn't it?"
courtesy ping
I’m waiting for them to apply this to places like NYC, when they clean up the garbage, causing rats to starve.
Peter Rabbit and his family are not extinct! They have moved south and now live in the ravine behind my house. They are driving my dogs crazy because they can’t catch them.
We have similar stupidity here in Toronto. Some bureaucrat decided that the “natural state” of the ravines in the city consisted of hardwood trees and little undergrowth the proceeded to wipe out all the shrubs & plants. They didn’t take into account the fact that this “natural” state was the result of Indian hunters burning the undergrowth to flush out game.
Peter Rabbit and Peter Cottontail are different critters.
We must live next to each other. They’re not extinct on my property either!
Their close cousins live in & around the barns, helping keep the cat fit & trim as she keeps their population in check.
Not to worry. There are plenty of cottontail rabbits in central Minnesota. We could trap a few and give them to New England.
What, did the rabbits adapt to the unnatural state of cleared fields and pastures in just a few hundred years?
I must be on the wrong planet-the rabbits live in the woods/forest here-they avoid the open spaces in the full daylight because of these things called “hawks”, and a bigger thing called a mountain lion. I see them all the time when I’m hiking, staying under the trees-which happens to be where plants are growing on the ground...
They sure as hell ain’t extinct in my backyard and they are treating my lawn like they paid to have it installed/planted. Mr. Bunny, meet Mr. Pellet gun. Yes even the one with the bad leg. Little grass eatin’ varmints. To add to the misery, we’re in a “no shooting” zone. Now, where is that suppressor and some .22 bb caps or some sub-sonic rounds? The dog? If they’re out there when he goes out he just kinda looks at ‘em and says “Hey fellers. How’s it goin’?”
I always thought they were target practice, rabbits ain’t fit to eat!
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