Is That a Lion in My Pool?

Where I live we have a plethora of rabbits which come out in the evenings and eat everything in sight. For many years we had coyotes around which seemed to keep the rabbit population in check, but thanks to development along the railroad right-of-way near our home, the coyotes have moved on leaving the rabbits to do what rabbits do.

I haven't heard anyone talking about reintroducing coyotes into the area, but there are some folks who would like to introduce a higher predator into the nation's Great Plains - African lions!

Lions in your back yard?
Elephants in the driveway?
Cheetahs on the terrace?

Well, maybe, if a group of prominent ecologists gets to establish a "Pleistocene Park" on the Great Plains.

Authors of the plan -- which appears in today's issue of the journal Nature -- say their idea to transplant African wildlife to North America could save many of the animals from extinction.

Josh Donlan, a graduate student at Cornell University and one of the plan's co-authors, concedes that skeptics may worry more about the people on the Great Plains who could become extinct at the mercy of the lions.

"Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue, especially when you talk about reintroducing predators. There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts. That includes realizing predation is a natural role, and that people are going to have to take precautions."

Why do I think they may have a hard time selling this idea? Maybe they need Jeff Goldblum to come and explain the "chaos" theory to them.

Update: People and wild animals don't mix well:

A Siberian tiger attacked and killed a teenage girl who was posing for photos at a family-run animal sanctuary Thursday in southeast Kansas, authorities said.

The Labette County Sheriff's office identified the victim as Haley R. Hilderbrand, 17, of Altamont.

A statement from the office said Hilderbrand was at the Lost Creek Animal Sanctuary posing for photos with the 7-year-old tiger, which was being restrained by its handler, when the animal turned and attacked her.