judas1

I really appreciate your words on the elite thread. Though I will probably post to it later I wanted to tell you personally that I agree with what you have said. And you are right, it would be horrible if humans as a whole went back to a more subsistence lifestyle as wildlife populations would certainly plummet. Fortunately, this existence is one that I have been able to actualize (not 100%, I just ate a tofu hero sandwhich--all store bought food) but it is definitely not appropriate for everyone.

You said that you are a scientist, and you have a grizzly bear in your profile. What do you do? I am a grizzly bear biologist, working mostly with coastal grizzlies here in Alaska but I have also done work on the Yellowstone population and a little bit in northwestern Montana.

Lots of connections with people in Ashland--I bet we know some of the same people.

what do i do... that's a good question. right now i am finishing up my last (5th, mind you) year of school, and as such full time student is about all i can handle. i'm majoring in biology, but i am having trouble figuring out where i want to take it from here. i'm interested in so many fields, and i'm supposedly specialising in vertebrates (not terribly specific), but i have almost no experience, and am therefore at a disadvantage. there are plenty of opportunities down here, so i should be alright, as long as i get my ass in gear. all i want to do is go hiking and read books though!

we probably do know some of the same people, especially if any of those people are in the biology department.

as for the bear, that's Kodie, a male kodiak (grizzly, brown bear, whatever!) who lives at Wildlife Images up in Grass pants. i took that picture while doing a little feeding behaviour study for mammalogy last spring. if you have never been to wildlife images, i highly recommend it. i kindof have mixed emotions about zoos and drive-through animal parks, but wildlife images just makes me smile all of the animals there were either rescued from abusive conditions, or rehabilitated after being found injured, and are treated very well. they only have two grizzlies, but about a dozen black bears! i love the noises those guys make.

thanks for the shout out, as i'm kinda new to this whole "cyberspace", message posting business. you are nice!