According to an article in Yahoo news, there is a group of econ-nuts who want to transplant Elephants and Lions from Africa to the fields of the Great Plains. This group includes the most out of place liberal on the planet... Ted Turner.

If they succeed, be ready to drive out of Dodge and dodge Elephants on the freeway.

What do you think? Frankly, I think this is stupid. That is why we have zoo's.

Two words: Safari hunt!

What difference does it make?

What difference does it make?

The difference is damage to a vehicle for hitting that Elephant in the middle of the freeway, and dying in the accident vs. the Elephant being safe in a zoo or on it's home turf.

Do elephants move so fast that a car can't maneuver out of the way? Are they so elusive that you won't see them coming?

How is this different than free-to-roam bison, like in the Wildlife Refuge near Lawton?

Do elephants move so fast that a car can't maneuver out of the way? Are they so elusive that you won't see them coming?

How is this different than free-to-roam bison, like in the Wildlife Refuge near Lawton?

Tighter speed regulationas and enforcement in the Refuge.

Same could be done in Kansas.

Same could be done in Kansas.

Not when they are free range and in no set refuge which is what the article indicated.

A thorough reading of the article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050817/ts_nm/usa_wild_dc;_ylt=As2tLxtGCaUHA6QQ0lxs2jJZ.3QA;_ylu =X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl) finds these important pieces of information:




The scientists say that not only could large tracts of North America act as breeding sanctuaries for species of large wild animals under threat in Africa and Asia, but that such ecological history parks could be major tourist attractions.
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They proposed a second phase that would include reintroducing African cheetahs, lions and Asian and African elephants to large private parks.


It sounds quite similar to Wichita Wildlife Refuge — free-roaming wildlife within a managed park.

Here's more information from another article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050817/ap_on_sc/wild_america;_ylt=Ar2ZERIoCdmkCYzOZH7xVnCs0NUE;_yl u=X3oDMTA3MzV0MTdmBHNlYwM3NTM-) on the subject.



Prominent ecologists are floating an audacious plan that sounds like a Jumanji sequel — transplant African wildlife to the Great Plains of North America.
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The authors contend it could help save Africa's poster species from extinction, where protection is spotty and habitat is vanishing.

They also believe the relocated animals could restore biodiversity on this continent to a condition closer to what nature was like before humans overran the landscape.

They suggest starting with zoo animals. The perimeters of newly created reserves would be fenced.

"We aren't backing a truck up to some dump site in the dark and turning lose a bunch of elephants," insisted Cornell University ecologist Harry W. Greene, one of the plan's authors.

While most modern African species never lived on the American prairie, the scientists believe that today's animals could duplicate the natural roles played by their departed, even larger cousins — mastodons, camels and saber-toothed cats — that roamed for more than 1 million years alongside antelope and bison.

Relocating large animals to vast ecological parks and private reserves over the next century would begin to restore the balance, they said, while offering new ecotourism opportunities to a withering region.