Post by Lydia Robledo on Jul 30, 2010 12:45:37 GMT
Here's sharing an inspiring story from a book Neon lent me today.
The title is The Future of the Wild by Jonathan Adams.
Part of Chapter 6- The Native Home of Hope p. 108-109
Late in the winter of 1996, rancher Warner Glenn found what he believed to be the track of a large Tom lion while hunting in the Peloncillo Mountains deep in southeastern Arizona. His six dogs chased the cat up and down the ridges and in and out of the canyons, leaving Glenn and his daughter Kelly, struggling to catch up on their mules and amazed that any lion could run that far, that fast, and not give out.
Finally, Glenn knew from the dog's short, choppy barks that they had bayed the cat in some large bluffs. After tying his mule to a branch, he walked around some thick trees to get a look at the lion that had led this chase. On top of the bluff , however, stood not a lion at all but a large male jaguar, in the prime of life and full of fight. Glenn was stunned "God almighty!" he said, out loud " That's a jaguar!
Glenn, a 4th generation rancher grew up helping his father hunt lions to protect the family livestock. He has a lion pelt, and other trophies on his wall. At that moment, facing the jaguar, he stood at a crossroads. Many ranchers, brought face-to-face with an endangered species, even one as beautiful and seemingly out of place as a jaguar in the dry Arizona mountains, would reach for their gun. "Shoot, shovel and shut up!", remains the operating principle here: jaguars have been sighted in this country only 64 times in the 20th century and 62 of those jaguars were killed. But Warner Glenn's love of the land and respect for wild things made it impossible for him to consider shooting that jaguar. "It was a jaguar," he says.
Glenn reached instead for his camera. He took a series of jaw-dropping photos believed to be the first ever of a jaguar in the United States. Looking at those pictures-a huge blow-up of one adorns a wall in Glenn's house, reminds you of why people care about preserving open space. More than that, the photos serve as icons fort he possibilities of conservation.
The title is The Future of the Wild by Jonathan Adams.
Part of Chapter 6- The Native Home of Hope p. 108-109
Late in the winter of 1996, rancher Warner Glenn found what he believed to be the track of a large Tom lion while hunting in the Peloncillo Mountains deep in southeastern Arizona. His six dogs chased the cat up and down the ridges and in and out of the canyons, leaving Glenn and his daughter Kelly, struggling to catch up on their mules and amazed that any lion could run that far, that fast, and not give out.
Finally, Glenn knew from the dog's short, choppy barks that they had bayed the cat in some large bluffs. After tying his mule to a branch, he walked around some thick trees to get a look at the lion that had led this chase. On top of the bluff , however, stood not a lion at all but a large male jaguar, in the prime of life and full of fight. Glenn was stunned "God almighty!" he said, out loud " That's a jaguar!
Glenn, a 4th generation rancher grew up helping his father hunt lions to protect the family livestock. He has a lion pelt, and other trophies on his wall. At that moment, facing the jaguar, he stood at a crossroads. Many ranchers, brought face-to-face with an endangered species, even one as beautiful and seemingly out of place as a jaguar in the dry Arizona mountains, would reach for their gun. "Shoot, shovel and shut up!", remains the operating principle here: jaguars have been sighted in this country only 64 times in the 20th century and 62 of those jaguars were killed. But Warner Glenn's love of the land and respect for wild things made it impossible for him to consider shooting that jaguar. "It was a jaguar," he says.
Glenn reached instead for his camera. He took a series of jaw-dropping photos believed to be the first ever of a jaguar in the United States. Looking at those pictures-a huge blow-up of one adorns a wall in Glenn's house, reminds you of why people care about preserving open space. More than that, the photos serve as icons fort he possibilities of conservation.