If you want to build it, they will already be there…
Headline: Shrimp to delay school’s opening.
The discovery of endangered fairy shrimp on a vacant lot in Otay Mesa will delay the opening of a school for at least a year, San Ysidro School District officials say
It is expected to take 18 months for the school district to come up with a plan that will protect the endangered fairy shrimp that were discovered in vernal pools on the land the school was to be constructed.
Vernal pools? Fancy enviro-speak for mud puddles. Mud puddles that are also breeding grounds for West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes. And all evidence suggests these “pools” are not naturally occurring but are merely tire ruts from off-road vehicles. See. Off-roading: good for the environment.
A biologist with a company that surveyed the site said that the fairy shrimps loss can “reverberate up the food chain.” Can you feel it? Its noted that neither the name of the biologist nor the company is given in the article.
Estimates to “save” this critter that at 8-16 millimeters, can’t even be of benefit to a cocktail is estimated to be $27 million.
And this fairy shrimp is so endangered, it popped up out at the proposed site for a military cemetery at Mira Mar.
But we aren’t holding our breath to see any placard-carrying protests like we’ve seen over the past few months over budget cuts that are supposedly going to axe teaching positions. It’s a lot easier to get upset at politicians than fairy shrimp that are just so darn cute.
…and speaking of axes…
You know, there’s a reason why we could never get into politics or city/county/state-level bureaucracy. We’d be in jail for a carnage of disembowlments and severed limbs in our wake.
“Your Honor, I guess we just got carried away when we said we wanted to “slash” our way through all the red tape and bureaucracy. Our bad.”
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
You Just Can't Make up This Sort of Thing
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3 comments:
So what you're telling me is that off-roading -- in addition to crushing habitat for creatures like the desert tortoise (not to mention the poor defenseless tortoise itself) -- also contributes to the spread of the West Nile Virus.
So cool.
- Mongo Applying Deet
Reminds me of this. I live in New York City and development of a new residential tower under construction next door was delayed for over 3 days because of a.... squirel. A fluffy rodent. Cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to find "fluffy" and steer him into the direction of Central Park... when I could've saved taxpayers that $ by stomping him with my shoe.
Mongo, Actually since the vast majority of off-roading is done in the more arid climes, i.e. the desert, where mosquitoes don't exist, your snark is rendered moot.
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