Rick wrote:

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Kayaking does disturb wildlife and may well cause harm. Humans, by
their very presence, pose a hazard to wildlife. The bird may well
have been protecting a nest and while fleeing from the paddler was
unable to protect the offspring from the snake climbing the grass.
Most of the damage we do in nature is accidental (or poorly
considered). Your example trivializes an important issue, which is
that we do scare animals when we paddle and it is best that we take
care when we are in animal habitat.



Oh bull****. Maybe the snake would have died if he hadn't eaten a
cute little baby bird. Don't breath, drink, eat, ****, ****, pass
wind, pass go, or collect $200. Just sit there, grow old and die.
Don't get cremated because that will pollute the air. Don't get
buried because that will disturb the earthworms. Just melt away like
Fosty the Snowman. Be carefull not to drown the fire ants.


Tracy,

You are letting your ignorance show. Humans always have impacts in
nature. What those are go largely unnoticed by us, so we have a
tendency to believe thay don't happen. I've seen humans kill animals
in just this way, most commonly a young sea lion being trampled to
death when a kayaker wanted to get a picture of the animals from their
kayak at the rock wall protecting Monterey harbor. I have worked with
marine mammals, and their handlers, and have been battered about the
head and shoulders of "don't do's" for years now. I am not saying that
this "always" happens, just that it does. Our ignorance of our impact
is part of the paroblem

Personally, I take pains not to disturb animals in their habitat, you
don't.

I presume that you are a human.

"Humans, by their very presence, pose a hazard to wildlife." Those are
your words.

So your "pains" do not matter. You by your very presence as a human are
disturbing animals in their habitat. And yet you continue to invade
their habitat. You violate your own rules. You obviously do not feel
that it is wrong for you to violate your own rules. You only feel that
it wrong for other people, ignorant people like me, to violate your
rules. In your world, I am not one of you and therefore I must be
harming the animals. In your prejudice you have presumed that I have
harmed or that I will harm the environment and the animals that live
there. The animals are fine with me. I know, because when I return the
same ones are still there. The habitat is the same.

My point is simply this. You will not be setting the rules for me. I
will ignore your rules as you do.
You may go bite your lip and scream if you like.

The animals will have nothing to fear because I ignore your rules. The
reason for this is that I have my own rules, rules that actually do
good. I follow those rules.

The reason that I must press this in a very blunt and rather rude
fashion is because I have seen the explosion of hysterical rules.
Various groups are trying to stop the enjoyment of the outdoors by other
people. They are usually elitest types like you that think a paddle
placed too harshly will cause some irreparable and permanent harm. It
is a problem of degree. You don't know where to draw the line,
therefore you can't be trusted to set the rules. You draw the line at a
standard that can't be met. That's why you must break your own rules.

You are the insensitve one. You don't care about other people. Just
animals. You assume that only you care about habitat and no one else
could possibly care as much. Well your wrong. We cherish our wild
places. We're just not hysterical if someone eats a fish. We want
rules that perserve wildlife but allow access. There is a balance.
Reasonable people can find the balance. Hysterical ones must be ignored
because they set rules that will be broken.

The only way I can explain it to you is this.

When the speed limit was 70 mph, most everyone obeyed. When the speed
limit was set at 55mph, we became a nation of speeders.

Animals can't set rules (such as wipe your feet) in their environment,
so we have to do some of that for them.

Your insensitivity and closed mind does not speak well of you.

My words speak for me.



Rick



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Your rights stop where my freedom begins. And Vice Versa.
I know its hard sometimes. I hate Jet Ski's and Cigarette boats.
They have their places, we have ours. Leave them alone. Besides,
one day I may try one out for a couple of hours.

Professional Target wrote:

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