birding-aus

Re: Walking the dog is bad for birdlife

To: Birding-aus <>
Subject: Re: Walking the dog is bad for birdlife
From: "John Leonard" <>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:37:47 +1000
I think we are all familiar with the scenario of the mudflat covered in
waders and terns, the off-the-leash dog chasing them all away, and the
canicidal and homicidal thoughts that this engenders.

This would be a very good example of a dog-activity that lead directly to
bird mortality. if the waders were recently returned migrants, and were
unnecessarily disturbed, then mortality could ensue.

John Leonard


On 9/13/07, Chris Sanderson <> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I think those defending dog walking are missing the point of the original
> research.  The claim wasn't that any individual outing caused harm
> specifically.  The research was showing that, over the course of time,
> birds
> were less likely to use an area that dogs had been walked through.  Kurtis
> commented about native marsupials aborting their babies when they smelt
> dog
> urine.  Why would birds be any less sensitive about their breeding site
> choice?  After all they are more tied to a place where their nest is than
> say a kangaroo with young in pouch would be.
>
> So no one is saying that any particular dog walker's irresponsibility is
> at
> fault, just that birds are highly sensitive to the presence of dogs, and
> their passage through an area can have long lasting effects on the bird
> life.
>
> If you disagree with that, go do a proper scientific study complete with
> analysis, or at least go through the statistical proof used by the article
> and criticise their argument on that basis.  To use emotive or anecdotal
> arguments to try and refute what is a pretty solid scientific study makes
> no
> sense.
>
> Regards,
> Chris
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-- 
John Leonard
Canberra
Australia
www.jleonard.net
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