Denise,
The reference to 'breaking their legs" probably relates to an old practice in South East Asia.
When the nestlings were discovered, their legs would be broken as it had been observed that they would heal very quickly.
The logic was that this was due to the parent Pheasant Coucal finding a secret herb & feeding it to the chick & that would effect the rapid healing. If the legs were subsequently broken again then this would doubly concentrate the 'healing essence' within the chick & so would be passed on to whoever harvested it & ate it.
Chris
On Wed Nov 4 2:06 , Denise Goodfellow <> sent:
<>Back in the late 1980s a Parks and Wildlife Ranger refused to grant Hilary
Thompson and me a permit to care for injured and orphaned wildlife. At the
time there were very few carers and so we were often asked to take injured
or orphaned animals.
We wanted a permit because half a cozen people we knew who had been told
they didn't need one, had later had their animals seized. Such people
included our school headmaster, who for years had been caring for native
birds, and was quite an authority.
The ranger refused on the grounds that we might, for instance, go out and
find a nest of Pheasant Coucal chicks, report them as orphaned, "break their
legs" (heavens knows why he added this), then when the legs had healed,
smuggle them overseas.
I decided it was not in our best interests to continue taking in wildlife.
We do collect roadkills, having been asked to by staff at the NT Museum, but
that's all.
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 3460 NT 0832, AUSTRALIA
Ph. 61 08 89 328306
Mobile: 04 386 50 835
Birdwatching and Indigenous tourism consultant
PhD Candidate
http://www.denisegoodfellow.com.au
http://www.earthfoot.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baby-dreaming
http://www.ausbird.com
http://birderstravel.com
http://www.theloveofood.com (Rowan Goodfellow Thompson)
on 3/11/09 5:36 PM, Tim Jones at m("hotmail.com','','','')","top.opencompose('tim_jones8");"> wrote:
>
> Peter,
>
>
>
> What do the 'fanatical Twitchers' do? I reckon this is mostly just
> sensationalised hearsay. I see so much prattle about the terrible harm they
> do, but I have yet to see a properly substantiated report of something which
> has had any serious effect on wildlife and I've been on many, many 'fanatical
> twitches' in my time.
>
>
>
> There are a few people who go a bit too far in their pursuit, but most
> 'fanatical twitchers' are also fanatical conservationists and also want future
> generations to share their joy of seeing wonderful places and wonderful
> wildlife.
>
>
>
> I just wish people would get things in proportion. This kind of statement tars
> us all with the same brush and just gets us all a bad name.
>
>
>
> NB I'm not arguing about the need to be judicious with information.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Tim
>
>
>
>
>> From: m("bigpond.com','','','')","top.opencompose('kbrandwood");">
>> To: m("nuw.org.au','','','')","top.opencompose('pshute");">; m("gmail.com','','','')","top.opencompose('carlsclifford");">
>> Subject: Re: [SPAM] [Birding-Aus] Australian Painted Snipe in Dubbo
>> Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:28:29 +1100
>> CC: m("unsw.edu.au','','','')","top.opencompose('d.eldridge");">;
>>
>> Hi Peter, my main concern was the Painted Snipe, and yes I do believe that
>> there are people who would take a Painted Snipe for their collection. Its no
>> different than collecting feathers a subject that as been discussed recently
>> on this forum. Collecting feathers appears to be a harmless pastime on the
>> surface but you can imagine someone who as all the feathers of all the
>> parrot species except for the Night Parrot. I could easily see such a person
>> trying to find out where to find one and going out and shooting it to get
>> the feather.You only have to see what some of the fanatical Twitchers get up
>> to at times to understand the need to be alert to whom you give information
>> to. Thankfully it is only a small minority that are involved in such
>> behaviour.
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