Save Bigfoot!
David Weigel | May 3, 2007, 9:53am
If Ron Paul runs on about free silver tonight and someone tells you "that's the stupidest thing I've heard a politician say all day," that someone obviously
doesn't know Canada.Canadian MP Mike Lake... has called for Bigfoot to be protected under Canada's species at risk act, alongside Whooping Cranes, Blue Whales, and Red Mulberry trees. "The debate over their (Bigfoot's) existence is moot in the circumstance of their tenuous hold on merely existing," reads a petition presented by Lake to parliament in March and due to be discussed next week.
"Therefore, the petitioners request the House of Commons to establish immediate, comprehensive legislation to affect immediate protection of Bigfoot," says the petition signed by almost 500 of Lake's constituents in Edmonton, Alberta.
A question - who, if he or she actually spots Bigfoot, would actually try to harm him? That person is obviously going to take some digital photos and sell them to whatever the Canuck equivilent of TMZ.com is.
Ronald Bailey saluted 30 years of the Endangered Species Act in 2003.
Ken | May 3, 2007, 12:17pm | #
I was glad for the link to Bailey's predictable dumping on the Endangered Species Act. I say predictable because the standard libertarian line runs "the animals are on x's property, he should be free to do whatever to his property." Of course that bright logic would invalidate bestiality laws as well. Any takers (single issue voter?)?
I'm always nonplussed by Bailey's environmental articles. His articles on neuroscience are very nuanced and thoughtful, a real treat. But these environmental ones are just awful (he denied global warming for what, a decade?). I imagine it has to do with pleasing industry supporters of the Reason Foundation or something. Here is a passage:
"That's good to know when contemplating the ESA. As we already saw, it has not slowed the listing of new species on the endangered list. Nor has it been particularly successful in bringing species already listed back from the brink of extinction. According to the FWS only 15 species have been delisted because their numbers increased sufficiently. These include American alligators, peregrine falcons, brown pelicans, Aleutian geese, gray whales, and gray wolves. The bald eagle might be getting close to stable numbers as well.
Even that short list isn't necessarily to the ESA's credit. It is generally acknowledged that banning DDT, which thinned bird's eggshells, brought back the bald eagle, the peregrine falcon, and the brown pelican."
Wow, that's just awful.
1. Saying the ESA is a failure because there are more animals listed on it than when it was started is like saying that violence against women acts are failures because there are more reported acts of violence against women now than before they were enacted. I hope I don't have to spell out the fallacy here...
2. Here we find Reason writers first kind words for the DDT ban, OK when used as a backhanded slap at another environmental law. I hope Mangu-Ward read this part (of maybe she just hates eagles and falcons).
3. ONLY 15 species have been delisted (and this is before eagles were delisted)? I guess that is supposed to sound like such a colossal failure, but reviving almost extinct populations is an incredibly difficult task. Also, how many listed species did NOT go extinct (though they may not be so populous to be delisted) is not mentioned.
I know in my job I have to at times do and say things that I think are nonsense. I always feel like a shower afterwards, but thats life. I just hope Bailey has a good stock of soap after writing these articles...
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