AP: Grape-eating wildlife becoming troublesome for some vintners

Grape-eating wildlife becoming troublesome for some vintners

ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 27, 2005

NAPA – Grape-munching bears have caused bunches of trouble in Northern California wine country.

Some winery owners have summoned authorities to trap and shoot black bears – as well as wild pigs, deer, turkeys and mountain lions – that plundered their vineyards. The killings have sparked debate over the future of wildlife in the nation's famous wine-growing region.

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With premium Cabernet grapes that can be produced only in mountainous regions selling for $5,000 to $7,000 a ton, vineyards have sprouted on slopes and ridgetops where animals make their homes. The state is required to issue extermination permits if property owners show evidence of damage caused by wildlife, he said.

Between August and October, animal control officers caught and killed four black bears – two males and two females – at the Aetna Springs Vineyard in the rugged Pope Valley. Winery owner Paul Maroon said he had tried scaring off the bears, but resorted to getting rid of them for good because he feared they might hurt his field workers.

But some of Maroon's neighbors are outraged. Ann Curtis, who runs a golf course near the winery, called the controversy "wine for blood, life versus profit. . . . to come into a wildlife area and then kill off the wildlife is wrong."


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051227/news_1n27grapes.html

In my experience the most ecologically destructive animal is a wild pig/boar. Let the vintners take them out. I may have problems with killing the others except deer.

let's not be anthro-centric when it comes to appreciating wine.