Cattle grazing and misplaced priorities (v2.0)
-- More Bull Shit --
Here is bull shit. I have put my lens cover on it for scale, in case
you have never seen bull shit before.
You will also notice sticking out of the
shit is a chewed bit of white plastic label that passed through a cow.
This was a tag from plant 47 of my
experiment. It had been one of the extremely rare, yellow flowered
plants found nowhere else in the world. All the seed this plant had
produced
for the year is now gone down the gullet of the bovine invader.
I think the above is fairly clear evidence of the cows eating the
experiment---in fact, I cannot think of any evidence that could be
clearer. However, the Forest Service sent one of their staff to the
site, who concluded,
"Based on my site visit, I was not able to
varify (sic) that the cattle were soley (sic)
responsible for destroying the pollen collection sacks.
However, there was light to moderate grazing around the edges of the
Pitcher Plant community."
"Around the edges"? No, the grazing was right through the
middle of the site! And as for the cows being the only culprits, it is
quite obvious they were! Five years of research, and the only damage to
the site occurred when cows wandered in and ate, trampled, and shat. Quite
clear.
There is one thing, barely visible in the right side of this photo which
gives me some pleasure. Let's look at it more closely....
