North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>]

Jackie,
   In my area Martens and Fishers and Badgers used to be quite common and 
now these animals are nearly extinct.  Not (quite) as rare are Mink and 
Weasels.  All of these animals used to exact a toll on the bird population 
(Did I miss any?  Skunks, maybe?)  What few of these animals are left don't 
habituate around people and used to prey upon alot more birds and bird eggs, 
in trees and nests on the ground, before there were so many of we people.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
www.bberryfarm.com
(218)568-8483 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]

I think one of the most important points is that the domestic cat is a
non-native predator.  There was not a similar predator before the
introduction of the domestic cat.  In other words, they aren't filling a
niche vacated by an extirminated natural predator.

Jackie