Marmot activity in Sequoia and Kings Canyon Nat'l parks

[dguff]

Can't those pesky marmots chew through tarps if they really want to?

[Fred Trout]

Yes

That reminds me - Keas in New Zealand destroying cars is a favored pass time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMLpPoOeays

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBdvRCkCNfo poor police car - those parrots gonna get arrested !

[JuneBug]

Cute ? I suppose - they also carry bubonic plague which is endemic in western US so worse things than your car-damage can happen.

1-17 cases in the US per year. More likely to get hit by lightning. The plague thing is a bit tinfoil hat don't ya think?

Depends on where you live. A friend in northern New Mexico (near Santa Fe) was the first person in New Mexico that particular year to be diagnosed with bubonic plague. The likeliest point of exposure was a prairie dog colony he'd walked past on a hike and he did say he'd seen a dead prairie dog there. He was diagnosed on day three of becoming symptomatic. Plague is bacterial, so antibiotics knocked it out and he fully recovered. After the whole episode, he had a T shirt made with an emblem that said: New Mexico, Land of the Flea, Home of the Plague.

Hantavirus, on the other hand, is fairly terrifying. It is viral, is easily misdiagnosed, has no treatment other than palliative care, and has a high death rate. I lived in southwestern CO when hantavirus was first diagnosed on the Navajo reservation (1993) and was working on an excavation in northern New Mexico. We spent a lot of time spraying bleach on our excavation units that summer. Tourism to Cortez, CO (Mesa Verde National Park) and Durango, CO (hey, it's Durango!) dropped off drastically that summer, but that is all in the rear view mirror. Now it pops up infrequently, but it has been diagnosed on the coast of Texas, in Florida, and at some national park in Calif.

[Fred Trout]

Depends on where you live. A friend in northern New Mexico (near Santa Fe) was the first person in New Mexico that particular year to be diagnosed with bubonic plague.

Some people prefer to be ignorant and think of an insect bite or disease as meaninglessly insignificant. The fact is that we are totally dependent on a high functioning public health service but most people don't know it. Disease is nearly always nature's way to control too large populations and more people always die from disease outbreaks during war's disruption of public health institutions than from the war itself.

All diseases like plague start out as low probability events; the fact that in our species recent past, plague killed roughly half of the population of Europe alone should tell you all you need to know.

[JuneBug]

All good points.

... more people always die from disease outbreaks during war's disruption of public health institutions than from the war itself.

And especially true during civil wars (what a misnomer).

[samblam]

Can't those pesky marmots chew through tarps if they really want to?

That is what I was thinking! They'll figure that out eventually, I assume.

[Fred Trout]

Talk about coincidence, just saw this:

https://news.yahoo.com/california-child ... 13538.html

[Vedette]

We had one here on the Farm.....thought he was so cute??
But then there were two..(girlfriend moved in) and all hell broke loose (when the babies emerged from the den) but to my surprise Sandi gave me the go ahead to "get the gun". Well it didn't take long to shoot eleven of them and eradicate our problem.
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi