This rationale harkens back to an America that never really was. Even in 1955 only 10% of the population hunted. The numbers have been withering. Now it’s down to 5%. The vast majority of gun owners don’t hunt. Meanwhile, 30% of the population owns guns. The bigger reasons people are protection, fun and crime.

Still, politicians cling to hunters. So why do so many Republicans get so gung-ho about hunting? Hunting is the most socially acceptable of the three traditional reasons people say they need guns: defending yourself, defeating tyrants and killing deer.

The number of hunters keeps falling, down 8% in the last five years statistics are available, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Only 11.5 million Americans (5% of the adult population) hunted in 2016; nearly eight times as many Americans thought it was more fun to see living wildlife, instead of shooting it. (The industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation claims 18 million Americans hunt, which is about on par with tennis, but far less than the number who practice yoga or weight-lifting.)

The hunter excuse probably feels especially outdate to the generation of kids that attended the Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Hunting was most popular with the Baby Boomer generation and has been dying off ever since. Less than 1 in 20 16-24 year olds hunted deer in 2011; the highest rate was for 55-64, about 6% the last time the government released stats. Wisconsin hunters expect their rates will fall off a cliff (drop 28%) when Baby Boomers hit age 65.

Self-defense far surpasses hunting as the reason people say they want guns. Hunting? About the same people own handguns for the quaint pastime of collecting as hunting, according to a National Shooting Sports Foundation report.  Self-defense isn’t a very defensible political boat to ride in because study after study shows you’re more likely to hurt yourself or your family than to live out some action movie fantasy and defeat some bad guy.

When I analyzed handgun sales and crimes for Lawyers, Guns and Money about a decade ago I found what other researchers have found: there is about one handgun crime for every five handguns sold. So about 20% of handguns purchased end up in crime.

But instead of having arguments about what people actually do with guns–have fun shooting in the woods, deluding themselves about self-protection, or rob someone–we have these absurd arguments over whether Ted Nugent really needs an AR-15 to kill a deer.

I was so delighted to find a pond where the rules were mainly about keeping dogs on leashes (and, fussily, how you have to pay if you want to take professional pictures there). I credited some kind of Southern conservatism that bucked unnecessary rules and interference with family fun. We had a fine time feeding the mallard, Peking and muskovy ducks. As usual there were Canada geese, but not an overwhelming number. The ground wasn’t covered in droppings or anything.

The place is delightful. It’s just a small pond in a residential part of Buckhead. The concierge at our hotel didn’t know of any toddler playgrounds in the area, but this space turned out to be pretty and fun.

But then when I went to look up the place, it turns out the Peach Tree Heights Neighbors just got together and decided they had too much goose poop and so would start spending a lot of money to evict the geese and will start sending out patrols to stop moms from feeding the ducks with their kids. Frown. The patrols will tell people that feeding the geese is costing the neighbors thousands of dollars. Sigh.

They plan on telling parents who happen to amble by with their kids the USDA has confirmed that the pond has “too many” geese. I’m sure that’s a great way to intimidate moms into doing what you want, but I’m not sure it’s really helping them understand the situation. That’s like arguing you should have a nose job because the cosmetic surgeon said it would look great. The USDA’s Wildlife Services unit is an infamous juggernaut of animal-killing that recommends its own killing and relocation services to anybody in the country with an animal problem. They kill about 5 million wild animals a year.

They’ll also throw out there the usual canard: that this is all for the health of the birds. This issue is 100% about people thinking goose poop is yucky. If the concern were about bread being bad for the goose’s diet, you could just suggest better foods (dog food, actual duck feed, grain or some fruits or veggies).

To its credit, the Peachtree Heights East group isn’t starting off with a mass gassing. They’ll do a little egg addling and plan to “relocate” many of their birds, despite the overwhelming evidence that this is a short-term solution at best and that they are unlikely to find anybody willing to take them.

The association cites rising costs of dredging (even though they only seem to have done it once in 2001) and $50,000 of sod in 2011. Seems to me it’s hard to pin 100% of the sod cost on Canada geese, which they claim are pulling up too many grass roots.  (Well, maybe people aren’t feeding the enough.)

Much cheaper options:

The pond already has tons of signs  and rules about off-leash dogs and is set to get more about how duck-feeding is an unnatural scourge. Meanwhile, the association is considering spending $1,500 to $4,000 to hire dogs to chase the geese away. I don’t want to sound too radical here, but wouldn’t the park be more enjoyable for everyone if they just let dogs go off leash?

If the Canada goose is the only species you want to get rid of (and if you’ve got a place called “Duck Pond,” I’d hope that was the case), just ask people not to feed that particular species. You don’t have to be an ornithologist to tell the difference between a mallard and a Canada goose. Just ask people not to feed the Canadian geese. Not that complicated.

Where to Go See Wild Animals in the US

Where to See Weird Birds

Narcisse snakes / Photo courtesy of Steve McCullough, stevemccullough.ca

How far would you drive or fly out of your way to see a bunch of snakes? In a roundup of the best travel possibilities for 2013, Lonely Planet editors picked the best 10 spots to see snakes around the world.
The Narcisse snake dens of Manitoba is their top pick. You may have seen this amazing spectacle on nature programs: in May tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes wake from hibernation, slither out of dens and mate in a writhing ball. This a destination snake spot, definitely not something you’ll pass on a roadtrip since it’s a couple hours north of Winnepeg.  But after the trek, it’s kind of tame. You can see these tiny snakes, often kept as pets, from the safety and convenience of a viewing platform.
Most of the other spots on Lonely Planet’s list are far more exotic cultural experiences, like a Hindu festival with cobras in India (though NPR says snake charmers are considered cruel and are fading fast from the scene), a temple for snakes in Benin, west Africa, and a snake pagoda in Myanmar.  A few are snake spots in name only, like the serpent mounds in Ohio, a mythical snake in Australia (but inexplicably, the list lacks Loch Ness, home to the planet’s favorite crpytozoological serpent).

While the list makes a fun read and may inspire some dreamy vacations, it could do with a few more natural locations, like the one they include in the Panatal, Brazil or Isla Pájaros in Costa Rica’s Palo Verde National Park, which has the largest concentration of boa constrictors.

To find spectacular snakes in the wilds of the U.S., head to Everglades National Park, which is the epicenter of the explosion of abandoned pythons not lucky enough to make it into one of the sanctuaries. They have so many, the state of Florida started a hunting season. If you go during a cold snap, you might find them stunned and sleepy.

Many of the big hot, dry parks out west have rattlesnakes, if that’s what you’re into. Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah notes that you may see them on  “Under-the-Rim Trail, Riggs Springs Loop, and the Fairyland Loop.”

For the United States, I would add a few good options for families and thrill seekers:

Snake Sanctuaries take in nonreleasable wildlife and forsaken pets, are a way to see snakes more intimately than a zoo and with less guilt about their captivity. Just as there are places that take in the wolves, big cats and monkeys some idiot thought would make an attention-getting pet, sanctuaries have sprung up to take in the unfortunate snakes that you might have once seen on some attention-seeker’s shoulders. Midgard Serpents Reptile Rescue & Sanctuary in North Carolina, the Colorado Reptile Humane Society, Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary,  Indiana Turtle Care, Inc., or VA Reptile Rescue. 

Lonely Planet wisely left out a couple of the most cruel and unseemly snake events, like the 3,000 year old Italian Cocullo Snake Festival, for which local non-poisonous snakes are rounded up and de-fanged and all of those Texas rattlesnake round-ups, which go down pretty much as you’d think.

But there are a few peculiarities of American culture that could have made the snake list. If you’re going to cultural attractions in India, you might be interested in a popular U.S. tourist destination that features snakes: South of the Border, the cheesy, ever-expanding roadside stop along Route 95. Better known for giant animal  statues, the place also has a real reptile house with an African black mamba.

And while you’re down south, maybe check out some Pentecostal snake-handling pastors. Now, I have no idea which is the most exciting or easiest to access as an outsider, but I’d love for Lonely Planet to find out by visiting La Follette, TN, or  Greenville, NC. If you’re going to see an incomprehensible religious spectacle that uses snakes as props, wouldn’t one in the U.S. be even scarier than those in India?

Lonely Planet mentions that this is the Chinese Year of the Snake, so I’d like more details about snake-themed festivities in Beijing for the New Year in February. But this is an excellent primer on where to see snakes.

More snake stories

Where to see Turtles or Weird Animals

Know what’s wrong with this squirrel?

From time to time we get random animal questions from readers. I figured I’d answer some of the fun ones here.  Got an intriguing animal query? Send it to editor@animaltourism.com.

Q Can you figure out what kind of squirrel this is or what is going on with his coat?

Kimberley Ashwell
Warrenton, VA

A. This is probably a grey squirrel, but maybe a fox squirrel. “Foxers” can be bigger and have a more orange coat. People  who have never seen a real red squirrel (which are tiny and extremely chatty) often call them red squirrels. You can tell the difference by looking at their bellies: gray squirrels have white or grey bellies. Fox squirrels have a nice light orange tummy.

As for what’s going on with that awful coat, it could be more than one thing. The white fur looks like this could be a partially leucistic squirrel, that is, one that lacks pigment in some of its fur, but has regularly colored eyes (as opposed to albino red eyes).

When squirrels are having a bad hair day, people assume it’s mange, but it’s  probably not. Most likely it’s a normal molting process. Squirrels shed their summer coat for a warmer winter one and vice versa. It could also be bad nutrition or injury–though it’s hard to imagine a squirrel getting injured over this much of his body and surviving.

Do you have any insight into this squirrel’s odd appearance? Leave it in the comments below.

Where to SEE SQUIRRELS

Lanny Chambers, who runs hummingbirds.net says hummingbirders have been debating what’s going on with this freakishly early migration of ruby-throated hummingbirds and the consensus is that most of the birds are still sensibly waiting down south to be sure they don’t get caught in cold weather. In many other species it’s the young male pioneers that are always the ones wandering out early and far, hoping to get ahead. All of the manatees caught way up north in recent years, for example, have been males.

In hummingbird world, the males head north first to stake out a good territory. “I would be surprised if people were spotting females north of their normal ranges,” Chambers says. They have no reason to go early. They don’t have a regular mate or family structure; it’s every hummingbird for itself. The females “pick males that are the orneriest, nastiest” birds defending good territory, he says.

Another hummingbird tracker, Learner.org, has done a very cool animation of the migration data. Even though they employs school kids as citizen scientists–and so have a completely independent set of information–they show the same thing as hummingbird.net: a very early start to a migration, but the bulk of birds still hanging back in the south until it’s a sane time to head north.

Chambers says that some hummingbirds probably try to head north early every year, but storms stop them. They just go hide in the bushes. Hummingbirds are tougher than their delicate frames suggest, he says. “They can take a night or two of temperatures in the teens,” he says. “Twenty degrees isn’t a problem. They may be uncomfortable, but they’ll be okay.” Their main food isn’t flower nectar (or the Kool-Aid like drink people put out for them); it’s bugs.

Don’t take their early migration as a sign of global warming, the apocalypse or even of a hot summer. Hummingbirds spend the winter in Mexico and Central America, so they have no notion of what the weather is up here before they take off across the Gulf of Mexico. Studies show they go by hours of daylight, Chambers says.  “Ruby throated hummingbirds have been arriving on the gulf coast exactly when they always do,” he says. “This is a pattern that just doesn’t vary.”

Read about the hummingbirds that came early or never left at all

Check out hummingbird.net’s very cool advice on attracting hummingbirds and using feeders

Where to SEE WEIRD BIRDS (All the interesting birds: pelicans, puffins, prairie chickens, vultures, hummingbirds)

SEE ANIMALS IN THE NORTHEAST (NY, NJ, MD, MA, ME, NH, VT, CT, RI, PA)

Hummingbird at American Museum of Natural History by By Ed Gaillard

Since December a rufous hummingbird has been hanging around the Museum of Natural History on Central Park in Manhattan, becoming a subject of fascination and fear of New York birders. Sure this delicate little bird would die, birders debated a rescue. But this bird seems to have weathered the mild winter. Now hummingbirds are flying into their northern breeding grounds a month, sometimes two, ahead of schedule.

In just the last week ruby-throated hummingbirds shown up in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ontario. Normally they’d just be flying through South Carolina and Oklahoma. Twenty two states got their first reported hummingbirds in March this year (as of March 24). They’re two months early for far northern locales like the parts of Ontario, New Hampshire, New York on the Canadian border and central Wisconsin. They don’t usually reach those locales until May.

The AMNH Rufous (as it’s known) wasn’t even the only one that overwintered in the north. Even though all hummingbirds are fragile, this species is known as kind of bold and bullying at the feeders. eBird shows rufous hummingbirds spending January across the north: Youngstown, OH; Pittsburgh; Oak Park, IL; Grand Rapids; Youngstown; Dinwiddle, VA  and Bennington, VT.

We’ve long known changing climates have changed the migration schedules by a week or two. But to have species off by a month or two in one year is truly stunning. We can’t know if the birds stayed around because they somehow sensed it would be a mild winter, have learned to depend on feeders or if these were individuals that didn’t have the wherewithal for the long trip and just lucked out. The males tend to lead the migration so they can stake out a good territory. Maybe the longer season will mean more hummingbirds have a chance to raise a second brood this year.

If you normally offer hummingbirds feeders or nectary flowers when it gets hot, you better just put out the spread now. Those little travelers will be hungry.

Check out hummingbird.net’s very cool advice on attracting hummingbirds and using feeders

Where to SEE WEIRD BIRDS (All the interesting birds: pelicans, puffins, prairie chickens, vultures, hummingbirds)

SEE ANIMALS IN THE NORTHEAST (NY, NJ, MD, MA, ME, NH, VT, CT, RI, PA)

The dates when the Ruby Throated Hummingbird First Sightings

This year's first sightings

Whooping Cranes at the their new home in AL

Weather, obscure FAA regulations and bird preference have conspired to make Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge the winter home to about a dozen endangered whooping cranes this year–and maybe for their lifetime. Nine whooping crane chicks–raised in Wisconsin by humans in bird costumes and led down south by an Operation Migration ultralight–ended up stopping near the refugeon January 5 to settle a dispute over FAA rules. Operation Migration got a waiver within a week, but then weather delayed the trip, a couple of the birds wanted to change direction. Eventually biologists gave up crated the birds and brought them to Wheeler, which a few other cranes had found three years ago.

Since they never made it to Chassahowitzka NWR in Florida they may think of Wheeler as their winter home. Joe Duff, one of Operation Migration’s co-founders, says that he suspects they’re go back and forth between Wisconsin and Alabama, but you can never tell. Whooping cranes (Grus americana) pair off about age 3, then mate at 5, usually in the male’s territory. The class started out with 10 birds, but now has five males and four females. Another four birds, including two raised in Wisconsin and released up there to learn to fly with adult birds, were already at the refuge.

Staying in Alabama throws off the plan to get the cranes to re-establish an old migration route down to Florida.  “Once we get past the short-lived self pity and look objectively at the situation, we see that it doesn’t matter much that we didn’t make it all the way to Florida. The birds will still migrate north. They may need a little assistance but they will still be a part of the population,” Duff wrote on the operation’s blog.

The only passengers on the Operation Migration ultralights.

But, it’s not the first time the cranes have messed up human plans to help them. Some birds just decide to stop over before Florida. And this year’s warmer weather seems to have really left them uninspired to make the long trip. More migrating whoopers wintered in Indiana than Florida. Two of the birds in the class of 2011 tried to revolt against their ultralight mother. They tried to turn the group north and nipped at the ultralight when the pilot tried to retake the lead of the formation.

Duff wanted to stress that the FAA wasn’t to blame for their delay or unexpected home. “They didn’t ground us, we grounded ourselves,” he said.

The agency was just investigating the complaint of a former worker. In 2008 the agency started enforcing rules that ultralight pilots couldn’t be paid. After a complain last summer, the group and FAA agreed that they met the requirements because flying is a small part of the work done by the bird trainers. Plus, the rule was meant to protect the public from dodgy carnival rides; the only passengers on the ultralights are stuffed animals from Disney (a sponsor). But a new complaint from the same former worker left the FAA wondering. So, Operation Migration stopped their work until they got everything cleared up.

The group got a temporary waiver and hopes to work out a permanent one.

Wheeler has a viewing area and lots of other migratory birds. (Including sandhill cranes, which could be a problem since hunters are allowed to shoot the gray sandhill cranes but not the white whoopers.)

In recent years Texas and Louisiana tangled over where a new, non-migratory population would live; the birds just moved to Louisiana. But the birds themselves (along with the migration specialists) may have just made Alabama is a new site to see them.

Check out the 16th Annual Whooping Crane Festival in Texas this coming weekend

Help Out Operation Migration

The history of hunters shooting whooping cranes

Where to SEE WEIRD BIRDS (All the interesting birds: pelicans, puffins, prairie chickens, vultures, hummingbirds)

Operation Migration likes to keep the public involved–as long as they don’t bother the birds. This year they found a new spot for birders to see the crew take off in Piatt County, IL. Here’s how the blog describes it: “The new flyover viewing site is on 1000N about 500 yards east of where it intersects with 300E.Directions: South on #32 from the town of Cisco; turn left/east onto 950N; at the ‘T’ in the road turn left/north onto 300 East, then turn right/east onto 1000 north. After about 500 yards there is a little rise in the road that will offer a bit of an elevated view.”

Courtesy of Journey North, which tracks all kinds of migrations

What’s odd about this movie is that it was seen as idiotic even in its time. Burl Ives plays Cottonmouth, the head Irish hobos in a gang that shoots birds to sell their feathers and wrestles for which hut they get to sleep in.  Christopher Plummer is the idealistic newcomer who gets hired by the Audubon Society to go after turn-of-the-century poachers. Trouble–and romance–ensue.

The movie was so implausible that it effectively ended writer/producer Bud Schulberg’s career, Turner Classic Movies says. Clearly, Schulberg had hoped this would be spectacular–with Nicholas Ray as director–would have some impact. But Ray showed up under the influence of drink or drug or a suicidal woman whose bra he wore to a meeting. So Schulberg eventually fired him.

At the time the conservation theme was controversial and you can imagine this movie could have been an environmental To Kill A Mockingbird.

But you can hardly notice the conservation issues behind all costumes and characters that would have fit right into Gilligan’s Island. A then-famous clown Emmett Kelly and a stripper Gypsy Rose Lee played parts. I swear, there’s a guy who wears a sailor’s dress uniform and drinks booze from a coconut. Some raw nature footage is dropped into the film–as if the righteous Christopher Plummer character  rows a canoe past a flock of roseate spoonbill, a swordfish, an otter, then frowns as he sees an alligator chomp down an egret. Heck, if wildlife so abundant we wouldn’t need to save it.

SEE ANIMALS IN FLORIDA

Newt and a bear named Mini, Grandfather Mountain, courtesy of zen Sutherland

You can question whether Newt Gingrich is committed to Christianity, as evangelicals define it, but don’t doubt his love of animals. He has a lifelong, extreme fascination with zoos. He’s occasionally used his position to help wild animals, pets and the environment. And now he’s formally starting a campaign about Newt and Pets.

Using animals in politics, especially presidential, is nothing new. See Checkers. Or Fala. Or any of the genre of Presidential Pets books.

Spoiler alert: otherwise untrustworthy or wooden politicians use animals to show they are totally trustworthy human beings. This would be a clever strategy for Mitt Romney–if he hadn’t blown his chances years ago when he drove to Canada with the family’s Irish setter, Seamus, strapped to a carrier on the stationwagon roof, a move only a cheapskate from another planet would try.

Newt’s going a step further. He’s not just showing up with an adorable puppy. He’s advertising his animal credentials. And he seems to actually have them:

• His first political act was (unsuccessfully) campaigning for a hometown zoo.
• He tells his aides he needs time to “visit zoos.”
• He wrote a forward to America’s Best Zoos.
• He chronicled his own favorite zoos.
• Newt has a picture on his website of a sloth climbing on him. He seems to use his position of power to gain access to the most interesting and adorable animals–and then touches and holds them. Whether he’s cradling a penguin or putting his arm around a bear, he’s grinning. Mitt would only grin that way if you posed him with a cut-out of Reagan. Just google images of Newt and zoos or animals. Geez, it’s like he’s stalking them.
• He fought for the Endangered Species Act (not that he doesn’t want to mess with it now).
• He helped keep dogs allowed in public housing.

Newt meets what? (hover for answer)

The Washington Post recently chronicled Newt’s zoo thing, noting how he finagled his way into a tour of Zoo Atlanta with the director, whom Gingrich wore out, then spent a couple more hours talking with animal caretakers.

Now, zoos aren’t my favorite way to see animals. But there is something childlike, sincere and fun about Newt’s love of animals. (Mitt would call it zany.) There’s no way he’s bluffing about it because–at least for now–there’s no profit in it.

Or maybe Newt is onto something. Wildlife watchers far outnumber hunters. Yet we still get the shaft in politics. John Kerry and Mitt Romney both still feel the need to pretend to be hunters.

What do wildlife watchers get from Obama?  Not much. He’s no help for wolves or polar bears. He’s soft on the cattle industry and smog. We all know he’s going to approve the XL pipeline. He pushed offshore drilling after the Gulf oil spill even though there’s little improvement in safety. Dog people cringed when he got Bo, a rare Portuguese Water Dog, with a dubious story of being “re-homed” through the Kennedys. Yeah, there’s a few pictures of them running around, but it’s mostly from when they first got Bo.

Animals and the environment feel like something Barack Obama does if someone convinces him it’s a necessary trade-off. With Newt, it feels like something he’d be willing to sneak around and do any way he could.

	Where to SEE WEIRD BIRDS (All the interesting birds: pelicans, puffins, prairie chickens, vultures, hummingbirds)
	Where to SEE ODD ANIMALS Coait, Prairie Dog, Otter, kangaroo, skunk, porcupine, salamander, snake, squid, pretty much anything rare

threatened American alligator

Visit South of the Border  its absurdist roadside extravaganza, stay for its surprisingly comprehensive crocodile exhibit. The kitschy South Carolina rest stop started yet another improbable attraction: a single story commercial building alongside I-95 building turned into a habitat for crocodiles, turtles and snakes.

How is this better than a roadside zoo? Well, it’s not, except they house unloved reptiles and donate money to crocodile causes. None of the animals are rescues, says Dr. Sam Seashole, a veterinarian who loves reptiles and has spent a career working with them. They just “came from other institutions.”  The 40,000 square foot reptile lagoon has a few endangered species, though, and they might one day take part in a breeding and reintroduction program–if that’s necessary.

The lagoon promises that “part of every admission goes to the Crocodile Conservation Institute, which helps save crocodiles and their habitat around the world.” That’s not exactly the reptilian version of Audubon. It’s a non-profit built to give money from South of the Border to croc causes. Animal tourists pay $5 to visit.  The Crocodile Conservation Institute’s online tax return shows a budget of only $35,000 for its first year; none of the board got paid. Dr. Seashole says they recently wired off a donation to a Philippine group.

SEE ANIMALS IN THE SOUTH (AL, AR, GA, KY, MS, LA, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)

Where to SEE TURTLES & TORTOISES