A message from the bighorns

Dear Editor:In reference to the bicycle path through Filoha Meadows – there are voices coming from the wilderness …”So here we are standing on a craggy precipice, looking down at the steam rising from the river and looking at the grass that we need so badly. And we quiver with excitement knowing that we will soon have our first healthy meal of nourishment – the first since last year.Then we hear the news – the people news – and we gather around and talk about what might happen. Over on a ledge, one of the rams mentions a path. And we say, a path? A path for people? A path for people who want to do what? (So there’s lots of whispering going on …)We talk about how we’ve seen mankind and smelled his polluted air, but for the most part none of us have ever smelled him, or his things, and we get crazy even thinking about his presence in our little world.So last night we had a meeting and the council members voted, and we’re sorry to announce to you that the path for your species, lost. No hard feelings. It’s just that we are afraid since we already have diseases from your animals, so we voted in great numbers against the invasion of our borders.And we ruled out, the smelling of rubber tire tracks, the smelling of lost clothing, the smelling of a hunk of spit, and maybe even oil-droppings, and you.Now we don’t mean to hurt your feelings in any way – it’s just that we are very sensitive to human encroachment and get easily stressed. It affects the health of the few of us that are left in this country. (Why else do you think we live in inaccessible places?)And just to let you know, our cousins the elk and deer, they nodded in agreement about our homes remaining free of human disturbance.We would like to mention that in the 19th century, we numbered over a million and a half and that there are only 40,000 of us left. And our brothers and sisters in California are in big trouble. We’re afraid they will be gone in the blink of an eye.We also thought about how things evolve and progress, and that if you invade our small, already fragmented habitat today, that 20 or 30 years down the road, the bike trails might lead to foot paths for rock climbers, and then it will all be over.So we are counting on you, and we ask with deepest askance, that you not encroach upon the little bits of land we have left in these United States.We really are magnificent creatures in this world, and we know a lot of you feel the same way about us.Signed with hope for our future,We bighorns, and other critters of the wilderness…”Carolyn Cary HallCarbondale