USA: Bush’s mega Berlin wall threatens wildlife

This video from Texas, USA, is called Blue Variant of the Green Jay.

From the Athens Banner-Herald in the USA:

Fencing border would be problematic

Chris van Dyck demonstrates against a proposed border fence last week in Roma, Texas. About 75 residents of the Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico were protesting a fence they say will undo years of work creating an internationally acclaimed bird watching and wildlife corridor.

Story updated at 9:40 PM on Saturday, July 21, 2007

Building hundreds of miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border would be extraordinarily expensive and a diplomatic disaster. It would be detrimental to cross-border commerce and wouldn’t provide any guarantee of stopping illegal immigration.

But there’s another important reason that the border fence is misguided: It would be an environmental and aesthetic tragedy.

This is especially true in the Lower Rio Grande Valley area of far south Texas. This fast-growing, impoverished region is home to exceptional wildlife refuges, a sizable ecotourism industry and large-scale farming interests that rely heavily on the Rio Grande for irrigation.

These elements make it a haven for more than 400-plus bird species (including the exotic green jay and chachalaca) and approximately 300 kinds of butterflies. Animals from the endangered ocelot to the white-tailed deer occupy these protected areas, which also are home to diverse plant life ranging from prickly pear cactus to rare sabal palms.