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Article: Warm, fuzzy and very expensive; Saving the Vancouver Island marmot from extinction might not be worth the effort.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Report Newsmagazine
- Article date:
- October 8, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 United Western Communications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For the past 21 years, environmentalists, animal-lovers, government wildlife experts and, more recently, corporate philanthropists have worked to keep the rare Vancouver Island marmot from going extinct. After pouring millions of dollars and countless hours into the project, however, they have all but given up on their immediate goal of increasing to healthy levels the species' wild population. And one of the reasons is telling: Mother Nature, in the form of marmot-munching predators, just will not co-operate.
When the marmot was first identified as being endangered, only 100 or so lived in the wild. The loss of its alpine habitat was blamed. Preservation efforts ...