If you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant, what would you do?

For example? Are there lists of endangered plants?

@gailcalled There are posted lists all over the Adirondack Park now. At the Cascade Lakes, on top of White Face. It’s kind of cool. And sad.

@gailcalled for example

Be silly, be serious.

@Adirondackwannabe; Those are the summit-protected plants.

http://adks.net/steward.htm

Are they endangered in general, or just from Big Feet stamping around them above 4500 ft. in the high peaks?

Thanks, @blueiiznh

Interesting list. I have some trillium, blood root and dogs tooth violets in my woods that are not supposed to be picked or harvested. In Lake Placid I had pink ladies slippers growing wild also. The park rangers would probably cut your hands off if they saw you trying to transplant them.

In all seriousness, back off and let it happen.

It’s likely that the animal is a vector in the plant’s propagation. And most animals don’t eat plants “to death”. Back off and observe.

Blow my nose on an endangered hankie.

Animals are seed dispersers and as @CWOTUS said, most animals are smart enough to not eat all of a given plant since they realize (unlike humans) they need to allow some to regrow or there won’t be any food next year.

Nothing. If the animal is eating it, then that’s probably because it’s supposed to eat it. Who am I to fuck with nature, and think I can actually settle it? And if it’s not supposed to be eating that particular plant but is doing so because it’s starving well, I still wouldn’t do anything. Either the plant dies and becomes extinct, or the animal dies and becomes instinct. Either way, I’d rather not the entire fate of a species and its demise depend on some direct action I did.
Not that it would really make a difference. If an endangered caterpillar is eating an endangered plant, I can stop that one caterpillar, but it won’t stop all the other caterpillars that are eating the same type of plant in other places. I mean, I’m not some kind of professional caterpillar hunter here.

PS; Vikings riding around on mammoths.

^^Psst. ...extinct…Instinct is a band, I think

I know…so are Vikings…

@Symbeline she meant you misspelled extinct, not that mammoths were….

Almost. She spelled instinct correctly…she meant extinct

There I fixed it, happy?

Now it makes sense. My happiness is irrelevant.

Man has so screwed up the balance of nature that what happens from here on in is irrelevant to me. I am still trying to figure out why whales can’t be killed and eaten but wolves can be killed (but not eaten) because they might kill a cow that we are going to kill and eat later anyhow?

Probably take a photo & post it on a social website together with some pithy comment along the lines of, “Like if you eat danger for breakfast…......roflmao!!”
I wonder if Plato would have a twitter account if he were around today?

Depending on my mood… I’d either run interference or take them both out and even up the extinctage meter.

<chimes in> Well, I’m not happy at all. I was perfectly content with the way it was. Unfix it please : )

omg… professional caterpillar hunter? that is way too funny! ty for that!! @Symbeline

@CWOTUS has it. Eating a plant doesn’t necessarily mean contributing to its extinction. Sometimes, the extintion of the consumer can lead to the extinction of the plant.

Generally I prefer animals to plants so I would probably just let the situation be.

@Leanne1986 That’s an interesting angle. I hadn’t thought of it that way until you mentioned that.

@Adirondackwannabe It’s not very eco-friendly of me, I know!

Haha…well, since plants can’t get up and run away, tough.
That which is mobile in it’s foraging wins the endangered game.
Endangered plants don’t have a chance over here, this is herbivore mountain, if the geese don’t eat them the sheep, horses, donkeys and deer will. lol

I would probably eat the animal with a nice side salad made from the plant and film myself doing it.

Not for the flavor nor out of cruelty. I just love seeing folks do their Macaulay Culkin, Home Alone impersonation.

I would scare the animal away and save the plant. In the meantime I would then be responsible for the death of the endangered species as I would attempt to scare the animal with a gun no description needed, and accidentally stomp on the plant…waaahhhhhh ;(

Animals (and birds) propagate plants by eliminating the seeds in their droppings. The seeds then sprout. Often there is a symbiosis between animal and its beloved buffet.

People are the culprits.

@gailcalled People are animals; we participate in this process, too. Ever had to remove a burr from your pantleg? Or eat berries? We are pretty effective dispersers ourselves.

@glacial: True but we rarely (or perhaps I should speak only for myself) poop outside in the fields or woods.