John,
I am curious to know if the birds are really existing in plague proportions,
or whether their natural food source has been so depleted that they are
forced to congregate in urban areas to find food? I feel that the
`congregation' of birds can create an illusion of a plague, when the problem
may well be loss of habitat (and that actually sounds more plausible to me
too).
Birds go where food is.and breed proportionally. I think a more humane and
effective approach to populaton control would be to control their food
supply. Maybe the Corella's in question have lost a lot of natural habitat?
Any thoughts?
On Jan 31, 2008 3:22 PM, John Tongue <> wrote:
> I also will 'stick my neck out' (like Greg) - and please don't get me
> wrong, I am all for conservation, and protecting endangered species,
> beach nesting sites, etc.
>
> HOWEVER
>
> It's interesting that many on this list are advocates of Myna
> control, and eradicating Canada Geese before they get established,
> etc. (both of which I support), but are not in favour of culling a
> native population to reduce local numbers to more manageable levels.
> Introduced pest species clearly do not belong in an area, and are
> only there because of human intervention - hence many feeling little
> compunction about control/eradication. However, as Peter Crow
> rightly pointed on this thread yesterday, the only reason these
> Corellas (and many other native species which achieve 'pest' status)
> have done so is also because of human intervention. For the sake of
> consistency (if nothing else), surely there can be a morally
> defensible case mounted for population control, through humane
> methods, to keep such 'pest' species at levels more akin to what they
> would have been without the 'positive' human interference which led
> to what is clearly sometimes a population explosion???
>
> I'll be interested to see whether I've stuck my neck out far enough
> for someone to want to chop it off!
>
> John Tongue
> Ulverstone, Tas.
>
>
>
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