Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 10:07:16 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bob Mumford Subject: Re: Interesting point of view... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A couple of comments on George Monbiot's very interesting pieces: 1. In fact, grazing by Masai people is permitted in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater, which I witnessed last February. So there is some sensitivity to Monbiot's complaints. Because of geometric population growth, there is tremendous pressure on all the East Africa national parks, which, of course, bring in a huge percentage of foreign money. 2. Even National Geo, another trusted name, fakes stuff. I learned in Churchill that the famous video, broadcast many times on TV, of two photographers in a shark-like cage, being "attacked" by polar bears, was a set up. The bars of the cage had been rubbed with seal oil (seals being the primary food of the bears), the scent attracted the bears, and they bit at the bars. Another pertinent fact was that the video was made in late October-early November, before Hudson Bay freezes over. At this time, the bears are ravenous from not eating much of anything since ice out in late May-early June. The upshot: the bears were not "attacking" the photographers in the cage, despite the allegations of their danger and viciousness. Bob Mumford Darnestown ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================