BBQ baby bunnies?

Last Wednesday night, we spent two hours with the Beloit Parks Commission, trying to convince them to modify their scheduled prairie burns to occur prior to March 31. Their typical burn window is between April 1 and mid May. Most burns in this area occur during that time frame. Burns are necessary to the health of a prairie but do not need to occur every year. Every two to three years is better. The problem with the typical six week burn window that most people do not consider, is that it is the primary nesting time for many of our native animals, rabbits, ducks, chipmunks, frogs, etc.—residents of these prairies. These animals are also part of the prairie ecosystem and are necessary to the health and to our enjoyment of the prairies. Healthy, adult animals can run for their lives, literally, when a burn occurs. Nesting babies cannot. They are completely helpless during this six-week time period. They will end up suffering one of two heinous fates: they will be charred to death in their nest or they will be painfully burned and die slowly as a result. All burns negatively impact the habitat of these animals as well as destroy insects. While there is no way to stage a controlled burn in a prairie without some negative impact on other beings, that impact can certainly be minimized. Simply shifting the dates of the controlled burns and committing to burn as humanely as possible will prevent many, many painful deaths that are completely unnecessary. This is one of many small things we can do, as cohabiters of this planet, to minimize our very negative impact. While the committee thanked us for the information, they did not feel able to make a decision. The earliest that they will make a decision will be mid March. I’m guessing they will burn as normal, during the six-week nesting period, this year at least, given the late decision. We’ll see, but in AR one is generally right when one assumes the worst.

One of the committee members so “kindly” pointed out that they aren’t “endangered”, so it’s a small sacrifice for a healthy prairie. He’s the same ignorant ass who used his very special skills of deductive logic to project the following scenario: if they don’t burn during that window garlic mustard will take over the prairie (I’ll just add briefly that nobody anywhere ever said that burning would eradicate garlic mustard. It doesn’t for many reasons that are too long and boring to elaborate on here, but if you’re interested in the topic it’s easy to find info online.); this will destroy all native plants/trees (again, no); this will result in the loss of all of our native species, as they will have nothing to eat (again, hell no, not even close to being accurate!); thereby as a result of not killing out a few sacrificial nesting animals, we will be eradicating all of Wisconsin’s native animals. He lives in a really special kind of world--one in which science and adaptive evolution do not exist, not to mention compassion.

This was Mark's first time speaking publicly on behalf of animal rights, and he did a great job. He provided an expert opinion, as he is the horitculture director of a botanical garden. Of course he's a highly in demand and polished professional speaker, so it's great to have him on our side!

The city of Janesville burns during this extremely destructive timeframe as well, and preliminary questions have resulted in a very callous, close-minded response from them. We will be taking them on as well, but it’s clear from initial contact, as well as their violent and dishonest geese murdering methods, that they could not care less about any of the city’s residents except humans. Nice, huh.

Please contact Lee Fassett to let him know that Beloit needs to care for ALL of its residents and that they need to lead the state in humane ecology. His e-mail address is: fassettl@ci.beloit.wi.us.