Harvey,
A few years ago while visiting my parents in Sydney, my mother showed me
a Spotted Turtle-Dove's nest, with the mother on the nest. My first
instinct was to destroy the eggs, but in the interest of keeping on good
terms with my parents, I desisted. In that part of Sydney (Glenorie, dry
bush) I hadn't seen any Turtle-doves before, and the native dove species
they would be competing with (Wonga Pigeon, Common Bronzewing) seemed to
be doing okay. I know that whatever the Turtle-doves subsisted on, it
wasn't from birdfeeders or chicken coops, as both were rare within a 5 km
radius. They may have been taking food that would have been the native
species' - I wouldn't know. For the very reason that it is difficult to
know what effect an introduced species is having on an ecosystem, and the
fact that introduced species tend to have deleterious effects whereever
introduced, I would destroy the eggs if in the same situation again
(surreptitiously, though).
If it eases your conscience any, eggs are not living creatures.
Rafael
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