  Soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous x-ray pulsars (AXPs) are young
(<100 kyr), radio-quiet, x-ray pulsars which have been rapidly spun-down to
slow spin periods clustered at 5-12 s. Nearly all of these unusual pulsars also
appear to be associated with supernova shell remnants (SNRs) with typical ages
<20 kyr. If the unusual properties of SGRs and AXPs were due to an innate
feature, such as a superstrong magnetic field, then the pre-supernova
environments of SGRs and AXPs should be typical of neutron star progenitors.
This is not the case, however, as we demonstrate that the interstellar media
which surrounded the SGR and AXP progenitors and their SNRs were unusually
dense compared to the environments around most young radio pulsars and SNRs.
Thus, if these SNR associations are real, the SGRs and AXPs can not be
``magnetars'', and we suggest instead that the environments surrounding SGRs
and AXPs play a controlling role in their development.
