| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Jamanda |
Re-wildingI learnt a new word today - Re-wilding - the reintroduction of species to areas from which they have disappeared .
The American pains aside, What do people think about this? I would have to be convinced that releasing wolves onto say Dartmoor, even within a fenced area, was a good idea. (The Whaling thing is a whole different can of worms of course) |
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| Slim |
Wild turkey have been almost too successfully re-established in Vermont. Moose have made their way back, and there are even some mountain lions making their way in. Could use some wolves though | ||||
| Ani |
I meant plains!!! Sorry, yeah ignore my whaling rants!!! Its just i quite like whales! No-one even knows where they go to breed isnt that cool! | ||||
| Jamanda |
They released something turkeyish back on to Salisbury Plain. Bustards? Going for a google - back in a minute. | ||||
| sean |
Great Bustards. | ||||
| Frewen |
have a hanky - bless you 
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| Jamanda |
Sounds cool...ish. How do the people who live there feel about wolves? Moose are good. |
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| Behemoth |
We've lost species due to changes in farming practices and we can change those practices to reintroduce those species. We've lost other species because of farming and human population pressures, trying to reintroduce those is not always wise. However when we import everything from abroad, wolves will have a place. | ||||
| sean |
There's loads of room for wolves. If foxes can manage in an urban environment I'm sure wolves could cope. We could vote for a city to reintroduce them to..
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| Behemoth |
Any wehre between Derby and Rugby I guess. | ||||
| Nick |
Swindon. | ||||
| Cathryn |
Telford, Swindon's got...something, Telford hasn't.
Red Kites. Back into all the towns soon enough I think. |
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| Jamanda |
Still no red kites round here - they have been such a success up near you haven't they?
We do see the odd peregrine falcon though. |
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| Cathryn |
Yes, two a penny now. 
Very few peregrines however. |
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| sean |
Henry VIII used to insist on using peregrines from Lundy apparently. | ||||
| Nick |
And people wonder where all tha sparrows have gone... |
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| Jamanda |
Eee lad. Weer ast all tha sparrows gone?
Isn't that down to some virus? |
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| Cathryn |
I was just thinking that there are pairs over every village around here but none over Aberystwyth yet. Do you think they are country kites?
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| Nick |
Course it is. All these Red Kites eat muesli bars. |
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| sean |
Barnstaple. | ||||
| Jamanda |
From the British trust for ornithology.
Regional Differences There are regional differences in the recent fate of House Sparrows. The latest Breeding Bird Survey figures for House Sparrows (1994-2002) are as follows. Note - this is only a short period. Most declines had happened before the start of BBS in 1994. England down 13% Scotland up 29% Wales up 63% Northern Ireland down 34% SW England stable SE England down 28% London down 71% East England down 22% East Midlands up 18% West Midlands stable NW England down 12% Yorkshire & Humberside down 11% NE England too few records received Not declining where Ruby and I live. We've certainly got a healthy population in the clematis outside the back door - much to the disgust of our dog who takes their existence as a personal afront. |
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| Cathryn |
They eat bits of raw meat that people put out for them. It's the local variation on peanuts. Seeing the sky wheeling with a hundred plus kites and two hundred plus jackdaws and crows is quite amazing. And they fight for the food. That huge wingspan swooping around on a point. | ||||
| vegplot |
I'm with you there! |
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| Brownbear |
A plan hatched in the Devon countryside by a few westcountry patriots, to release savage beasts of prey in order to discourage foxes, ramblers and other rural pests, backfired when tourists came along hoping that their children might be mauled by a puma and thereby enable claims for compensation and state benefits beyond the dreams of avarice.
There was a subsidiary scheme to reintroduce the brown bear to the wild, but as yet no decision has been reached. There is regard for the risk of unmanageable crowds amassing to watch the entertaining sight of ramblers, in their multicoloured cagoules, being pursued across the landscape by furious bears awakened from hibernation by flash photography and the offer of Kendal mint cake. |
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| Jamanda |
God help us if the Brown bear is ever released back into the Devon countryside. I'll be going back up-country.
Seriously, how do you feel about things like red kites being reintroduced? Would you consider them competition? |
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| Treacodactyl |
I tend to think we should concentrate on saving what we've got before re-introducing things. | ||||
| Brownbear |
Like anything else, it is a question of numbers. There are plenty of fish, game and pest species for there to be cormorants, kites, humans etc, all to enjoy a fair share. If one species takes more than its share, nature has a way of redressing the balance (overpopulated warrens are struck my Myxamatosis for example). I can't see what's wrong with culling kites if they are destructive of the ecosystem. With air travel and overpopulation, we can soon expect a plague drastically to reduce human populations too. |
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| Jamanda |
Very Malthusian. But I didn't ask if you had any objections to shooting them, I asked if you would mind them being reintroduced on your patch so to speak.
I like to see the kites when I go to Wales and the peregrine falcons up at Hartland, but I might not like them so well if I was trying to make a living from their prey. They are deliberately poisoned on the grouse moors in Scotland. |
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| gil |
Not just in the Highlands, but here in the 'Lowlands' of Scotland : the Southern Uplands, where there are conservation programmes to reintroduce/encourage them. At least sometimes people get done for poisoning them, but I should think it is the tip of the iceberg. |
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| Lorrainelovesplants |
Im all for reintroducing wolves - especially into prisons, city centres at night, and anywhere generally where there is a law enforcement problem. Get a great species back and save us taxpayers some cash housing scroungers and blights on society.
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| Jamanda |
I think I would draw the line at wolves. Is that stupid? I wouldn't be happy walking or camping somewhere where I knew there was wolves.
Not everyone in a city centre at night is a trouble maker. I used to stay out quite late my self in my youth - wouldn't have wanted to deal with canine wolves as well as the human pack animals. |
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| Andrea |
That's because you're not used to them I suppose. There are wild boar in Portugal. They scare the living daylights out of me. But you have to learn to live with having them around otherwise you'd never leave the house. |
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| Slim |
There are a lot of mixed opinions on wolves. I'm for them. Moose are getting too numerous, and there's no real predation on them from coyotes. coydogs, bobcats, or bears. Just hunters. Mountain Lions are still not here officially (though everyone knows they're here) so probably not making too much of an impact either. Deer numbers are way too high as well. (I may be a bit biased being a veggie farmer) and only during particularly snowy winters (harder to find forage, coyotes can run on top of the snow) do their numbers get reduced significantly. Some roving wolves wouldn't be so bad. Besides, my state is 80% wooded anyway, lots of room. |
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| Slim |
P.S. How many people are killed by wolves annually? Can't be that much | ||||
| sean |
Doesn't need to be very many if one of them's you though. | ||||
| Jamanda |
No - because they've been wiped out from everywhere people live now. |
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| crofter |
When I lived in Canada (there were plenty of wolves where I was) people said that nobody had ever been killed by a wolf, but I don't know if that is true... A quick google suggests that it is maybe wolves with rabies that are the problem: http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/a-wkp5-linnell-results.html |
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| gnome |
wolves are very misunderstood. but if there were wolves in national parks in the UK, how long before they get used to tourists feeding them bits of cheese sandwich and crisps? how long before poachers are stealing the cubs to sell to chavs who want something a bit more exotic than a rottweiller? how long before local farmers accuse wolves of killing their sheep (when in reality it's more likely to be a loose domestic dog)?
it's a nice idea, but will it work? |