In what had to be the best, most effective, April Fools joke of the year, there was an article published saying that the Wyoming wildlife agency had released 90 kangaroos into the wild in an effort to see how they would adapt to the semi-arid climate.
Six days into the month, I saw a Facebook post this morning expressing dismay over the fact that the marsupials were being introduced in an area that had up to now hosted pronghorn and bison. The writer - who still hadn't got the joke - was outraged.
I think the joke worked so well because we have a history of screwing around with the environment, usually with disastrous results. Consider the introduction of Kudzu to control soil erosion in Georgia, or the introduction of Nutria to control weeds in Louisiana rice canals, or the Asian Carp originally introduced to southern fish ponds and that are now threatening native species as far north as the Great Lakes.
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