birding-aus

Re: kindness and cruelty.

To: "Alexandra Appleman" <>, <>
Subject: Re: kindness and cruelty.
From: "Philip A. Veerman" <>
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 16:12:01 +1000
Nice story about the caravan park but I am wondering how you reach a conclusion that "Like most road-kills I have examined this one appeared to be deliberate with the driver veering out of the lane to crush its victim." I don't see any evidence of cruelty in your story, just another motor vehicle accident.
 
Isn't it obvious that a bird, dead on the road from collision or any other cause, is likely to be crushed by some later vehicle entirely independently, especially at night when one doesn't want to swerve out of the way of something already dead on the road. People would indeed be lunatics to deliberately veer out of their lane to crush something, especially for a night-time active creature, on what you describe as a busy road. I've made dumb attempts to hit foxes and cats out on bush roads that way. It has been pointed out that such antics are unwise as it is not worth risking personal injury or worse or car damage, just to knock off one feral.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Alexandra Appleman <>
To: <>
Date: Friday, 20 October 2000 8:53
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] kindness and cruelty.

I was called to a caravan retail outlet on busy Bowen Road (the main
arterial into Townsville, NQ) where a pair of Bush Stone-curlews are
presently nesting. They picked a very good spot, high fence giving safety
from predators, floodlit at night to attact insects which are the main part
of their diet, their hosts were even putting a bowl of water out for the
birds. There was only one problem: the owners had to move a couple of
caravans and wanted to know whether they could move the eggs. I advised
against it if at all possible and the owners are going to try to manoeuver
the caravans around ther birds.

On leaving the caravan outlet I saw a dead Stone-curlew just beyond the
intersection and stopped to investigate. The bird was by the side of the
road, head and body crushed and wings partly outstretched as it had tried
to take flight. Like most road-kills I have examined this one appeared to
be deliberate with the driver veering out of the lane to crush its victim.

I don't know how you educate thrill-killers, but I am buoyed that most
people show kniness and respect to native wildlife.


Alex Appleman
Townsville, NQ   



Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU