Oregon's Predatory Animal: The Rabbit

It's like a line from Monty Python.

But, in Oregon, the list of predatory animals includes coyotes, birds and rabbits.

In Alaska, the list is a little more manly. You've gotcher wolverine. Coyotes. And, wolves. Students of Russian literature will recall that the simple defense against an attack by wolves was to simply throw the youngest child from the sleigh and continue travel. You didn't want the wolves to get to your horses, or all was lost.

If you ranch in the West, you've seen the terrible, brutal way which predators take your stock. Look at what a rancher has invested in a calf by the time it is taken by a predator. You've committed to ten months of care and feeding for the cow. As well as additional costs for vet care. Structures investments, maintenance and repair. A ten month bovine investment which can be lost in moments after an attack from predatory animals. Coming across a carcass after such an attack is both sad and angering. If you take pride in your beeves the loss of a calf is an economic and emotional loss. Seeing the savage remains of a predatory attack is anger making. And as wolves become more likely in Oregon, since our brilliant leaders in Salem have determined that it is state policy to help increase the wolf population, the bloody carcasses of livestock seem to be the logical outcome of a policy that prefers predatory animals over ranchers. Not to mention naive lambs and calves.

Jack Southworth has an idea, though:

"That doesn't make it sound any better to Southworth, who is concerned for the local band of antelope along Shirttail Creek. Wolves, he fears, are another wedge between rural Eastern Oregon and urban Western Oregon.

"'My greatest frustration is the idea that Western Oregon is not wolf habitat and Eastern Oregon is,' he said. 'I think wolves would do great in the West Hills of Portland. I think there would be plenty of dogs, cats and maybe deer to eat. But that idea seems ridiculous. I feel the same way about wolves right here.'"

For anyone who has seen the carcass of a lamb, calf or antelope taken by a wolf, the image is disturbing. But lots of the images one gains from animal husbandry are disturbing. I would be lying if I told you that the day we slaughtered rabbits didn't and doesn't disturb me.

It has been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. But, I would suggest, that these same pictures can reveal a lot about the people providing those pictures. The image of a fetus within the womb can be such a strong image that it may not be shown. Below is an ad rejected by NBC:

Images are powerful things. But compare and contrast the ad you just watched with this attempt to use images to appeal to our emotions without the context of what it really means to advocate for a certain outcome for predatory animals without thinking about the victims of those predatory animals:

Ms. Judd is hot. Her mom is hot. She's an hell of an actress. But she hasn't much more than naivete and, perhaps, a political ax to grind in her presentation. And at no time in this video does she show you what happens to a deer, antelope, sheep or cow when a wolf attacks.

Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas. It's as big as, what, Texas, California and Montana combined. Perhaps Ms. Judd would support mobile SWAT teams of hunters roaming the tundra of Alaska on horseback? Or does she, in her naivete, simply reveal that for many Americans the idea that sausage-making is a messy business is today's latest, shocking discovery?

Common sense flies out the window when Lefties talk. In Oregon, people with little or no common sense pass laws. We call them legislators. Today they are taking up discussion for imposing Cap and Trade on the industries of Oregon. I'm sure they've been motivated by the images of the Gore "Truth" movie. Images. Pictures worth a thousand words. Which will cost Oregon thousands of jobs. It isn't settled science. It is settled images. We don't need to worry about the wolves in the Oregon legislature.

We need to worry about the rabbits.