This project was actually very carefully thought out, with years of planning and multiple habitat analyses prior to the reintroduction. Dozens of people from various agencies and hunting and conservation groups worked for years to make it a success.
Historically, before the Catalina herd winked out in the mid-90s, the sheep concentrated in the west end of the Catalina Mountains in and around the extremely rugged terrain of Pusch Ridge, which is actually rated as good to excellent habitat. The fair-to-poor areas of the Catalinas were not really used much by the sheep historically, for obvious reasons. And that's exactly what the reintroduced sheep have been doing for the past 8 years. In fact, they're using the habitat in some of the exact same ways that the previous herd did--e.g., using certain key areas for lambing, etc.
A total of 8 mountain lions were killed over the course of three years to give the sheep a head start and a chance to acclimate to the new habitat, to learn the safe places, the best defensible terrain and escape routes, etc. That compares to dozens of mountain lions that were killed legally by hunters in the same mountain range over the same period. The *annual* number of mountain lions killed every year in the hunt unit that includes the Catalinas often tops 20, so safe to say that the 8 that were killed over three years to ensure the success of this reintroduction had a negligible and temporary impact on the lion population, at most.
No sheep will ever be hunted in the Catalinas unless the numbers dramatically increase. Hunting tags for bighorn are doled out very frugally based on careful scientific analysis of population trends. Hunting is simply not a threat to the sheep--on the contrary, it was largely funding from hunting groups and individuals that made this project possible.
The success of this reintroduction is another win for a species that almost winked out entirely in the middle of the past century, when their numbers crashed by 99 percent across the western U.S. Reintroduction projects like the one in the Catalinas have brought bighorn back from the brink of extinction to robust and stable population numbers in many areas of the West.
That said, human impacts remain the biggest threat the bighorn face. We need to stop building McMansions right up the edge of the national forest where they live. We need to stop suppressing fires and let the natural fire regime take its course. We need to stop walking dogs in the closure area during the winter-spring lambing season, which can separate lambs from their mothers and lead to their deaths.
And most of all, we need to keep domestic livestock far away from sheep to prevent the spread of diseases that can decimate a herd in short order. Disease is far and away the biggest factor in bighorn sheep declines, as a single episode can reduce the population of an entire herd to the point where it is no longer viable.
In this world of mass extinction and vanishing wildlife, the Catalina bighorn sheep reintroduction is a source of pride and hope. Humans can coexist with wildlife, but it takes conscious effort and investment of resources.
Good question, and here's your answer: Asylum from the living hell that U.S. foreign policy has made out of their countries. Asylum from rampant violence caused by the fallout of decades of U.S. warmongering in their countries. Asylum from the repressive governments run by tin-pot de facto dictators that the U.S. has propped up with billions of dollars of military aid for decades in their countries. Asylum from gang violence that was imported into their countries from the U.S. Asylum from a violent, repressive "Drug War" that is driven entirely by U.S. consumption. Asylum from government policies in their countries that benefit wealthy, powerful U.S. corporations but punish the poor and Indigenous people who live there. Asylum from repeated natural disasters in their countries driven by a climate catastrophe that is entirely the making of wealthy nations like the U.S., but hurts poor nations in the Global South the most.
These refugees from the mayhem and oppression caused by U.S. foreign policy have a legal right to seek asylum here in the U.S. Moreover, considering the causes of their plight, it is perfectly logical that seek asylum here in the U.S. In fact, considering all of this, you could say that we owe them--the U.S. has a fundamental moral obligation to offer them asylum.
Downtown is a death trap for bicycles, because bicycles (and pedestrians) are an afterthought, because cars rule our transportation infrastructure and therefore our lives.
The engineers and cementheads who design and build roads see bicycles and pedestrians as an annoying side issue that must be dealt with in whichever way is least inconvenient for cars, safety be damned. This narrow, short-sighted, century-old mentality has killed untold numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians over the decades as they try to navigate roads that are increasingly dangerous to them, in that the roads are all about allowing more cars to go faster at all times at all costs.
Until we change that mentality and quit letting automobiles rule our lives, we will continue to see bicyclists and pedestrians injured and killed traveling roads that present enormous obstacles to safe travel with precious little margin for error. The standard "bike lane" is joke--a tiny space that actually makes bicyclists less safe.
The tyranny of automobiles did not happen by accident. It was largely created by the auto manufacturing and fossil fuel industries for their astronomical profits, to the harm and demise of others. Until we grow out of this infantile 20th-century mentality, we will continue to suffer all the other fallout from it as well--climate catastrophe, toxic pollution, oil wars, dysfunctional and corrupt politics, etc.
"I completely understand that no man should EVER tell a woman how to dress," sez Uncle Tom, but then he proceeds to not only tell Sinema how to dress, but to slut-shame her and question her intelligence and sanity in the way that men do when women either don't agree with them or do things that men don't understand.
Whatever Sinema's perspective on her own position is, her motivations are indeed clear, and so is what she stands for. She rakes in huge amounts of campaign money from the pharmaceutical industry, and then does what the pharmaceutical industry wants. Fill in various other corporate powers, and the equation is clear and consistent. She is playing the same game that the vast majority of other members of Congress play. Is that so hard to understand? It's standard operating procedure for corporate Ds in the Senate who are owned by the same powerful interests that own the Rs, which is the primary reason the Dumbocrats "can't get anything done", even when they occasionally manage to beat the scumbags and noodleheads that the Republinazis run against them.
And sorry to break it to you, little Virginia Danehy, but there is no Santa Claus. America is not in danger of "turning into something that’s not America". America was founded on white supremacy for the benefit of the few white, wealthy, powerful men who founded it, and it's been running on wealthy, patriarchal white supremacy ever since. The ideal "America" that everybody loves to glorify is the Biggest Lie of all. It has never existed.
The point is to make "America" something better than it's always been. And in that respect, while Kyrsten Sinema is almost certainly not stupid or insane, she is indeed a huge roadblock.
Well, Kari Lake clearly knows what she needs to do to win. Lock up the racist vote and the idiot vote, and the Republican nomination is yours. Seems like she's well on her way...
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Historically, before the Catalina herd winked out in the mid-90s, the sheep concentrated in the west end of the Catalina Mountains in and around the extremely rugged terrain of Pusch Ridge, which is actually rated as good to excellent habitat. The fair-to-poor areas of the Catalinas were not really used much by the sheep historically, for obvious reasons. And that's exactly what the reintroduced sheep have been doing for the past 8 years. In fact, they're using the habitat in some of the exact same ways that the previous herd did--e.g., using certain key areas for lambing, etc.
A total of 8 mountain lions were killed over the course of three years to give the sheep a head start and a chance to acclimate to the new habitat, to learn the safe places, the best defensible terrain and escape routes, etc. That compares to dozens of mountain lions that were killed legally by hunters in the same mountain range over the same period. The *annual* number of mountain lions killed every year in the hunt unit that includes the Catalinas often tops 20, so safe to say that the 8 that were killed over three years to ensure the success of this reintroduction had a negligible and temporary impact on the lion population, at most.
No sheep will ever be hunted in the Catalinas unless the numbers dramatically increase. Hunting tags for bighorn are doled out very frugally based on careful scientific analysis of population trends. Hunting is simply not a threat to the sheep--on the contrary, it was largely funding from hunting groups and individuals that made this project possible.
The success of this reintroduction is another win for a species that almost winked out entirely in the middle of the past century, when their numbers crashed by 99 percent across the western U.S. Reintroduction projects like the one in the Catalinas have brought bighorn back from the brink of extinction to robust and stable population numbers in many areas of the West.
That said, human impacts remain the biggest threat the bighorn face. We need to stop building McMansions right up the edge of the national forest where they live. We need to stop suppressing fires and let the natural fire regime take its course. We need to stop walking dogs in the closure area during the winter-spring lambing season, which can separate lambs from their mothers and lead to their deaths.
And most of all, we need to keep domestic livestock far away from sheep to prevent the spread of diseases that can decimate a herd in short order. Disease is far and away the biggest factor in bighorn sheep declines, as a single episode can reduce the population of an entire herd to the point where it is no longer viable.
In this world of mass extinction and vanishing wildlife, the Catalina bighorn sheep reintroduction is a source of pride and hope. Humans can coexist with wildlife, but it takes conscious effort and investment of resources.
These refugees from the mayhem and oppression caused by U.S. foreign policy have a legal right to seek asylum here in the U.S. Moreover, considering the causes of their plight, it is perfectly logical that seek asylum here in the U.S. In fact, considering all of this, you could say that we owe them--the U.S. has a fundamental moral obligation to offer them asylum.
The engineers and cementheads who design and build roads see bicycles and pedestrians as an annoying side issue that must be dealt with in whichever way is least inconvenient for cars, safety be damned. This narrow, short-sighted, century-old mentality has killed untold numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians over the decades as they try to navigate roads that are increasingly dangerous to them, in that the roads are all about allowing more cars to go faster at all times at all costs.
Until we change that mentality and quit letting automobiles rule our lives, we will continue to see bicyclists and pedestrians injured and killed traveling roads that present enormous obstacles to safe travel with precious little margin for error. The standard "bike lane" is joke--a tiny space that actually makes bicyclists less safe.
The tyranny of automobiles did not happen by accident. It was largely created by the auto manufacturing and fossil fuel industries for their astronomical profits, to the harm and demise of others. Until we grow out of this infantile 20th-century mentality, we will continue to suffer all the other fallout from it as well--climate catastrophe, toxic pollution, oil wars, dysfunctional and corrupt politics, etc.
Whatever Sinema's perspective on her own position is, her motivations are indeed clear, and so is what she stands for. She rakes in huge amounts of campaign money from the pharmaceutical industry, and then does what the pharmaceutical industry wants. Fill in various other corporate powers, and the equation is clear and consistent. She is playing the same game that the vast majority of other members of Congress play. Is that so hard to understand? It's standard operating procedure for corporate Ds in the Senate who are owned by the same powerful interests that own the Rs, which is the primary reason the Dumbocrats "can't get anything done", even when they occasionally manage to beat the scumbags and noodleheads that the Republinazis run against them.
And sorry to break it to you, little Virginia Danehy, but there is no Santa Claus. America is not in danger of "turning into something that’s not America". America was founded on white supremacy for the benefit of the few white, wealthy, powerful men who founded it, and it's been running on wealthy, patriarchal white supremacy ever since. The ideal "America" that everybody loves to glorify is the Biggest Lie of all. It has never existed.
The point is to make "America" something better than it's always been. And in that respect, while Kyrsten Sinema is almost certainly not stupid or insane, she is indeed a huge roadblock.