04-21-2022, 09:44 AM
(04-18-2022, 08:05 PM)Ninurta Wrote: It's nothing short of amazing how often member of extinct populations show up alive and well, I suppose because no one bothred to tell them they don't exist any more.
Tasmanian tigers, Eastern timber wolves, eastern panthers (confirmed in Florida, but not limited to there, unless you ask your local game and fish commission about them locally), the list goes on and on.
When I lived in NC, a sheep farmer shot a timber wolf prowling his flock. game and Fish came in, but could not identify it, and brought in a local expert who identified it as a timber wolf... but there ain't no timber wolves left in NC, according to Fish and Game.
When I lived in the next county over, one morning on my way to work I saw a timber wolf in a meadow. Big sucker, he was about 5 feet long from the tip of his nose to where his tail met his body. But they don't exist there, either, so clearly I was mistaken, possibly misidentifying a cloud of swamp gas or a weather balloon.
On another morning, again on my way to work, I saw a black panther just a couple hundred yards from where I had seen the timber wolf. But, since according to Fish and Game, no panthers live here any more, and black panthers do not exist anywhere, i was clearly mistaken again. probably just more swamp gas or a misidentified weather balloon.
They did say the elk I saw there were real, though, not swamp gas or weather balloons.
People don't know what they don't know, and I would venture to guess that folks see critters every day that don't exist, and just don't realize what they are actually looking at.
In the end, the wild will win.
A variation of Hillary's quote, except it's from those who officially state these things.
'We Came... We Never Saw, It Must've Died'!
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.