When you forget
I remember hearing a story. Something about if you want to continue a species, all you need is to go with the two by two rule. Without having spent years studying ecology I have learned that mankind is quite capable of forgetting that rule. This afternoon I learned that some entrepreneurial people went to a small island north of Hawaii. They had decided that they would take care of their food stores by bringing along a couple of pairs of rabbits. Now when their expedition ended they forgot to take the rabbits home with them. Seems like a minor problem until you learn that the island was overrun several years later with a new population. Rabbits, of course. And then the Navy had to send in special people to take care of the problem with a load of alfalfa and poison. For anyone that forgets one of these basic rules they should be given the job of cleaning up their forgotten luggage. This is one of those things that goes on and on. Literally. Have you heard of alligators in the city sewers? Or goldfish in the pond? All it takes is 2. You can have your own private zoo although it tends to be kind of boring because there’s not much variety. We have had a few of those incidents locally. The skunks are a local success story as are some foxes. Again I have not spent much time studying ecology but these moments in time stand out as what you forget will come back to haunt you. I rather like our local fox. He is always an interesting visitor in the middle of the night but I think we should be given more training in the stupid things he can do. Call them stupid pet tricks and send him away for educational purposes.
