Since my last entry the listserve I copied the criticism of Steve Irwin from lit up with discussions. The vast majority were in favor of Steve's behavior however, even some of those folks said he might have gone a bit too far now and then. There has also been many tributes to him. His great big heart was in the right place and he did do great things. Although, I still believe he went over the line grabbing critters just to show the camera. Even researchers regularly harass and harm wildlife- supposedly for the benefit of the population. How did Adolph and Olaus Murie study all those critters without radio collars, etc? I still think everyone who deals with animals of all species should handle them with great respect and for a darn good reason!

Life has been hectic. I am now applying to be on the Washington State Wolf Working Group. Seems the state is putting together a management plan for the day the federal government delists our wolves. Since no one knows how many live in the state, I would hope that delisting won't occur for quite some time. The committee will be made up of all facets of the public. It will be a challenging and exciting opportunity. Someone needs to speak for the wolves. My ego is fairly small so I tend to not get caught up in the grandiose beliefs of some of the larger enviro orgs.

When I worked on protecting the old growth forest and spotted owls I had my run-ins with those who lost sight of what we were doing. They were no longer speaking for the trees or the owls but themselves. It was sad to watch. Unfortunately, all that work and it appears spotted owls are slowly dieing off as are the marbled murrelets. Some of us predicted that we were too late. How many other critters will die because we are too late?

If we take a chance that we have time to implement changes for our actions such as global warming, will we already be too late? I believe we are already there. I hate to sound negative but the reality is we just don't know. We leave it to later generations to suffer through and deal with. Of course, this doesn't mean we can't start changing things now. No matter what it's important to do the right thing. As one of my favorite quotes says "Live simply so others may simply live."