In the 1800s, the Texas Bighorn sheep numbered about 1,500 in the remote, craggy Texas wilderness. But by the 1940s, their numbers had dwindled to around 35 and they were looking to join the ranks of the dodo bird. However, conservation efforts and personal motivation tapes pushed the Bighorn sheep to clamber and hoof their way gradually back up the rocky, precarious cliff to population rebound, and at the windswept peak the Texas Bighorn found the ultimate reward:
Their growing numbers are reflected by the 12 hunting permits for bighorns issued statewide this year, the most since efforts to rebuild the population began in 1954.
Woo-hoo! We're expendable again! Actually, it's those hunting permits, sold at a premium, that have funded the successful return of the Bighorn. Turns out the hunters are the most concerned with preserving the species. Ah, that good ol' Texas tough love.
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amc89 Posted 7:23 am
11 Oct 2006
Doesn't sound like recreational hunting will be very good for this population. I wish wildlife agencies would give species even more time to rebuild before (if ever) they start issuing permits at a premium.
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caniscandida Posted 5:23 pm
11 Oct 2006
At least in the case of the bighorn sheep, an animal native to this region of west Texas was reintroduced, and is thriving, so that is a clear derived benefit.
But Texans, and others, have introduced exotic animals from Africa and Asia, presumably to hunt them; in a few cases the exotics have thrived, which is good for them, but is unlikely to be good for their new ecological neighborhood. The gemsbok, or oryx, a stunningly beautiful desert antelope from Africa and the Arabian peninsula, has been so successful establishing itself around White Sands National Monument in New Mexico as to be considered a nuisance. The blackbuck, an elegant, spiral-horned antelope from India, is apparently free-ranging over much of Texas. The smallish, subtly antlered sika deer, from Japan, has established itself in Texas, as well as Wisconsin, Virginia and Pennsylvania. (Why anyone would want to introduce an exotic deer to the latter states is rather hard to understand.) There are populations of the aoudad, or barbary sheep, from the Atlas Mountains of North Africa, with handsome horns and profile, in California, New Mexico and the Texas panhandle. And there are a number of other interesting examples.
(How does that old song go, Amazing?:
"Way out in the west Texas town of El Paso, /
I fell in love with a Mexican maid ... "
Which I suppose is a bit more family-friendly than falling in love with, say, a Mexican poolboy.)
Chickens are our cousins!
So are other sensitive animals!
Enough is enough!
No more factory farms!
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