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I just read about on Renee Legro's unfortunate experience with the great Pyrenees sheepdogs from Sam Robinson's sheep herd. I'm disgusted.
No one deserves any such experience, and certainly Renee Legro, her husband and their family do not deserve any such experience.
But I find it appalling the lack of awareness and respect for the environment that so many urban transplants find themselves in when they head to rural areas that support ancient wildlife, and in this case support historic ways of life, which most certainly includes ranching and the ranching culture.
Renee and her husband are the intruders here, not Mr. Robinson's dog, his herd, or his way of life which has been going on for generations.
Fleeing from the stress of urban life, buying a brand new house and some nice new bikes, and starting a family provides you no entitlement nor does it relieve you from respect and awareness.
I live full time in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. As a Vail publication, I will assume you're familiar with our alpine climate, small, remote town and population and hundreds of thousands of acres of national forest and wildlands that surround us.
And yes, I'm sure you're aware of our skiing, our mountain biking, our horseback riding, our triathlons and everything else we do in our recreational playground.
Many of us here love Vail and travel to Vail whenever we can. And guess what? We live where we do in Mammoth Lakes knowing full well, and honoring full well, what we might just come up on out on the trail or in our own backyard, for God's sake, even our kitchens if we forget to lock a window or leave a door open.
I can encounter a mountain lion when I'm horseback riding with my dogs, a bear when I'm hiking the lakes, coyotes most certainly everywhere and all the time, a stray elk in the backcountry protecting her babies.
And yes, we too have sheepherders who use dogs to protect their herds everywhere from Bishop to our south up to Bridgeport and Topaz to our north. Those dogs have a mission and job to accomplish: keep the herd safe, fully accounted for, and healthy. They're no different than an armed guard protecting a gated community or a security system protecting a home.
The difference is that as dogs, they won't always know the difference between what defines a predator. People predate on animals all the time and there's nothing to stop a person from shooting a sheep for their dinner. Especially not these days.
I came to Mammoth to first ski when I was 6 years old. I appreciate and applaud Ms. Legro's passion for her childhood skiing home. I started living here part time seven years ago. I'm now a ski instructor and soon will be an equestrian instructor. Moving from the bustle and urban sprawl of Southern California, life has always been different here in what is truly the wild West, earthquakes and 400 inches of snow every year included.
But when I moved here I never expected the wildlife, the ranchers, or the Indian tribes who have all been here for hundreds more years than me to move over to accommodate my expectations of what I believed it would be to live the good life.
No. I lock my garbage, I have large breed dogs that can go face to face with a coyote, or when the three of them are in a pack, a mountain lion. I wear my helmet when I'm riding my horse or locked down on my skis. I don't backcountry ski unless its safe and I have a plan. My horse is stabled securely at the end of each day. And I always have a keen awareness of what lurks around the next blufftop, below the next valley, or over the next crest. This is wild country. Its my job to respect it. It's not its job to respect me.
Scott Corridan
No one deserves any such experience, and certainly Renee Legro, her husband and their family do not deserve any such experience.
But I find it appalling the lack of awareness and respect for the environment that so many urban transplants find themselves in when they head to rural areas that support ancient wildlife, and in this case support historic ways of life, which most certainly includes ranching and the ranching culture.
Renee and her husband are the intruders here, not Mr. Robinson's dog, his herd, or his way of life which has been going on for generations.
Fleeing from the stress of urban life, buying a brand new house and some nice new bikes, and starting a family provides you no entitlement nor does it relieve you from respect and awareness.
I live full time in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. As a Vail publication, I will assume you're familiar with our alpine climate, small, remote town and population and hundreds of thousands of acres of national forest and wildlands that surround us.
And yes, I'm sure you're aware of our skiing, our mountain biking, our horseback riding, our triathlons and everything else we do in our recreational playground.
Many of us here love Vail and travel to Vail whenever we can. And guess what? We live where we do in Mammoth Lakes knowing full well, and honoring full well, what we might just come up on out on the trail or in our own backyard, for God's sake, even our kitchens if we forget to lock a window or leave a door open.
I can encounter a mountain lion when I'm horseback riding with my dogs, a bear when I'm hiking the lakes, coyotes most certainly everywhere and all the time, a stray elk in the backcountry protecting her babies.
And yes, we too have sheepherders who use dogs to protect their herds everywhere from Bishop to our south up to Bridgeport and Topaz to our north. Those dogs have a mission and job to accomplish: keep the herd safe, fully accounted for, and healthy. They're no different than an armed guard protecting a gated community or a security system protecting a home.
The difference is that as dogs, they won't always know the difference between what defines a predator. People predate on animals all the time and there's nothing to stop a person from shooting a sheep for their dinner. Especially not these days.
I came to Mammoth to first ski when I was 6 years old. I appreciate and applaud Ms. Legro's passion for her childhood skiing home. I started living here part time seven years ago. I'm now a ski instructor and soon will be an equestrian instructor. Moving from the bustle and urban sprawl of Southern California, life has always been different here in what is truly the wild West, earthquakes and 400 inches of snow every year included.
But when I moved here I never expected the wildlife, the ranchers, or the Indian tribes who have all been here for hundreds more years than me to move over to accommodate my expectations of what I believed it would be to live the good life.
No. I lock my garbage, I have large breed dogs that can go face to face with a coyote, or when the three of them are in a pack, a mountain lion. I wear my helmet when I'm riding my horse or locked down on my skis. I don't backcountry ski unless its safe and I have a plan. My horse is stabled securely at the end of each day. And I always have a keen awareness of what lurks around the next blufftop, below the next valley, or over the next crest. This is wild country. Its my job to respect it. It's not its job to respect me.
Scott Corridan
