Scientists Want To Protect Wildlife By Opposing Border Wall In The Southwest.

The Center for Biological Diversity has released a statement condemning the Senate-approved building of a wall in the deserts of the southwest to keep out illegal aliens. I agree that what they are saying is of concern to me and it should be to all of us but there are at least two aspects in the debate that aren’t being discussed.

When some organization like the CBD issues statements saying:

“The only living things the walls won’t stop are people,”

we can only wonder what is really behind their public opposition to the wall. They then go on to tell us what dangers and damages will result if this wall is constructed.

Proposed border construction projects will severely harm some of the Southwest’s most significant lands and wildlife habitat, including wildlife refuges, national parks, forests and wilderness areas. More border walls further damage already-stressed wildlife and places, such as the Cactus Pygmy Owl and Sonoran Pronghorn in Arizona; Flat-Tailed Horned Lizard and Peninsular Ranges Bighorn Sheep in California; Jaguar and Mexican Gray Wolves in New Mexico; and the Rio Grande River, Ocelot, and Big Bend National Park in Texas. Walls harm wildlife by blocking critical migration corridors and destroying valuable habitat.

Nowhere in their statement do they discuss or tell of the serious damage being done to our environment and the habitat of these creatures they mention plus many more they haven’t, from the illegals taking up temporary residence in the open spaces and deserts all along the U.S. and Mexican border.

If you really want to know and if the Center for Biological Diversity wanted to know, they could reference articles such as this one, that tells of the immense destruction of natural habitat being caused by the illegals.

And then there’s this story that tells more about what really goes on in the deserts when illegals enter this country. Or this one, detailing efforts being undertaken by local hunting groups and concerned citizens venturing into the desert and picking up tons and tons of trash, filth and human excrement left behind by the illegals.

This activity by itself is destroying valuable habitat that migrating animals such as the CBD is talking about, won’t have to sustain during their natural migrations. I think history has shown that when loss of habitat occurs, animals change their normal routine to compensate for it.

So on the one hand you have a group, the CBD, condemning the construction of a wall, yet says nothing about what is and has been going on for years now to our desert lands in the southwest. It can only lead me to believe that the agenda of the CBD is either politically motivated or too narrowly focused that they can’t, won’t or refuse to see the big picture.

The second issue that isn’t being discussed by conservation and animal rights groups is, when does national security take precedence over protecting wild animals? As much as all of us don’t want to see lizards, owls and sheep die, I think the possibility of terrorists coming across our borders with the goal of killing infidels, may be more urgent than saving these animals.

The CBD offers some suggestions to make the wall more “animal” friendly. Whether this is even feasible we don’t know. If the CBD really cares that much about the impact this wall will have on the animals, why aren’t they showing the same concern over what has already happened that is destroying native wildlife in the desert southwest.

Maybe they should go talk to the residents down there and find out what is happening to their land and the wildlife that used to live there.

Tom Remington