Fwd: [BIRDING-AUS] collecting birds

[Russell Woodford <>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Goodfellow <>
> Date: Thu Jul 31, 2003  7:34:21  AM Australia/Sydney
> To: Frank O'Connor <>, Russell Woodford 
> <>, Tony Russell 
> <>, Syd Curtis <>
> Subject: Re: [BIRDING-AUS] collecting birds
>
> > I mentioned some birds having been collected in the Kimberley.  This 
> > did
> > include a couple of birds that I would have found very very hard to
> > justify.  A big moral dilemma is that you know that the person who has
> > taken the specimens is one of people doing the most to understand the 
> > life
> > of birds, and contributing a great deal towards their survival.
> >
> > This made me think about why I don't feel anywhere near as indignant 
> > as
> > Tony and others.  The main reason that I can think of is that I am 
> > aware
> > that far worse happens for mammals, reptiles and insects.  It is 
> > common
> > practice on many environmental surveys to take "type specimens" for 
> > the
> > locality.  This is probably because the taxonomy is still very fluid?
> Russell, would you please put my comments on Birding Aus?  I still 
> can't
> get through.
>
> Syd, my thoughts exactly.
>
> I've never collected birds except for the occasional roadkill.  But as 
> a
> biological consultant I often collected (and killed) mammals, reptiles,
> fish and amphibians.  Such a specimen was proof for that a species
> existed in the area companies wished to mine or otherwise 'develop'!  
> One
> example was of a dunnart caught near Katherine in 1989 which turned out
> to be an undescribed species until then only known from what is now
> Kakadu Stage 3.   On that occasion my field assistant refused to let me
> kill the animal.  Luckily I found a dead specimen in a Ghost Bat roost.
>
> But like Syd and my Aboriginal relatives I have many, many more 
> problems
> with habitat destruction than with collecting the odd bird or whatever.
> For instance huge tracts of land up here have been cleared for mango
> orchards.   Okay clearing a block of land whether for a house or an
> orchard or a road might be easier for many people to deal with than
> shooting an animal or whatever.  But just think what it means in terms 
> of
> overall survival of various species.
> Best wishes
> Denise
>
>
> Denise Goodfellow  (Lawungkurr Maralngurra)
> 61 (0)8 89818492
>
> http://www.denisegoodfellow.com
> http://www.earthfoot.org
> http://www.laurelhillpress.com
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