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Alan, you seem to be missing my point a bit. I have no objection to
the collection of birds provided they are already dead. It's the unnecessary
killing of this one that I and others are objecting to. I think
laws which allow the killing of birds for collection purposes are outdated and
misguided and, as others have said, existing permits should be rescinded and no
new ones issued.
It has also been demonstrated by the collector's own record in the SA
Ornithologist that this collection was not justified as SA Yellow Chat skins
already existed in the SA Museum. Legally it's not the fault of the
museum, the problem lies with the issuing of collection permits by DEH
(here) which still allows killing . By all means collect the already dead
specimens.
Vendetta ? It's very disappointing to find that the SAOA, of which I
was vice president for some years, has , after nine months, still done nothing
by way of lobbying the SA Govt and/or it's departments, and said nothing
about the callous actions of one of it's members. Rather, it appears
to give credit to the incident by printing it in it's major publication.
I want to force all this out into the open and get some changes made.
I may not succeed, but at least I'll know that I for one didn't sit on my bot
saying nothing for fear of causing a stir. It's not that I have anything
else against this fellow , I hardly know him, but he did a morally and
scientifically unsupportable thing and needs to be told.
I agree with the thrust of your last paragraph.
I hope this clarifies my position for you.
Tony.
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