Timothy Egan, New York Times, on lawsuits over rogue mountain goats and other hazards of wild places:

My experience, purely anecdotal, is that the more rangers try to bring the nanny state to public lands, the more careless, and dependent, people become. There will always be steep cliffs, deep water, and ornery and unpredictable animals in that messy part of the national habitat not crossed by climate-controlled malls and processed-food emporiums. If people expect a grizzly bear to be benign, or think a glacier is just another variant of a theme park slide, it’s not the fault of the government when something goes fatally wrong.

More: Steve Chapman (most dangerous animal in the parks is the one “wearing your pants”); David Boaz.

Filed under: animals, environment, nanny state