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Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Interestingly enough, Salon has an interview up right now with David Quammen and his new book "Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind." He argues that we need to be eaten every now and then in order to remember the order of the food chain. http://www.salon.com/books/int/2003/...men/index.html
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I heard him interviewed on NPR.* Paigow wouldn't be too happy to hear that his other thesis is that reintroduction of endangered species to populated areas is a real, honest-to-goodness hardship to humans, mostly to poor people. Reintroduction of the saltwater croc to sparsely populated northern Australia is one thing, but when India's reintroduction program for the same species meant that people randomly started losing toddlers in the mangrove marshes of western India --- after having hunted the same predator to virtual extinction to avoid just such a problem --- it's people like that wot cause unrest.
Long story short: rural inhabitants have always "managed" deadly predators. It's easy for urbanites to pontificate about peaceful coexistence among all species, but if there were grizzlies in Greenwich Village, American environmentalism would be a somewhat different science.
*Warning: This post contains 23% misinformation.