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How come wildlife has managed for hundreds of years on its own, yet now we supposedly need culling?
On Wed, 04 May 2005 18:46:02 GMT, "Crazy Aljy"
ifyouspammeiwillripyourheadoff@abcdefghijklmnopqr stuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com wrote: "Malcolm" wrote in message ... On Wed, 04 May 2005 03:21:16 +0200, Guardian Pegasus Pope.Been-a-Dick.Adolf.Panzer.Rat.Nazinger.Torquemada.II@holys ee.va wrote: On Tue, 03 May 2005 15:39:07 GMT, (Janet) wrote: No they're not. The numbers are kept artificially high so you can enjoy shooting. It's not culling its hunting. Stop the hunting and these so called mysterious high numbers of wildlife will revert back to their natural balance of living in harmony with nature. WE force the high numbers not the animals. A lurker slinks in hoping to inject some sense into the debate by pointing to Assynt, Sutherland. The landowners there will not allow a cull to take place. Hunting is limited almost to the point where it doesn't happen. Deer are still rampant and numbers are on the increase. Where's your evidence that "WE force the high numbers" there? Plenty. See below The area has few trees. The woodland that does exist is under threat because of the number of deer roaming the hills. The local human inhabitants are trying to rectify this by planting new trees, but to prevent the trees from being eaten before they're established, the land is fenced off, displacing the deer. Surely you're not saying the whole area is being planted. What % are you talking about? It leaves the animals with nowhere to go, so they are often to be found wandering along the narrow, single-track, unlit roads at night. They can't get to their usual food source, so they raid stores of sheep and cattle feed from local crofts. The crofters generally sympathise with their plight and let them get on with it. Deer will always like humans be opportunists where there is a handy meal. If the population is rising it must be sustainable. Now the deer are frequently to be seen in local villages where they can find food. They're more wary of Highland cattle than they are of humans. Urban foxes are at the same trick; encouraged by messy humans. Hunting, culling, call it what you will, is not increasing the deer population. The deer population is growing DESPITE that. No, see below. A few blatantly obvious points though, if you care to think about them. Not obvious at all. First, culling is only a short-term solution to a long-term problem. It's not helping the situation. Exactly right. Second, leaving nature to get on with it, as you seem to be suggesting, is no solution at all. We've wiped out all the predators that preyed on deer and destroyed their natural environments. Now the deer are destroying their own environments at an alarming rate. No. They're "destroying" what man wants. Deer populations will stabilise in accordance with their habitat the same as all other wildlife. Third, a solution. Rebuild what we destroyed and bring back the predators. Not a solution either. Predators would be shot by hunters for the same reason they kill raptors. Nature might know what she's doing, but she needs the tools to do it. It's probably the only solution, even if a helluva lot of people do have qualms about the reintroduction of wolves, bears, and the like. Not a solution. Maybe not. We could always go down the same road we did with the rabbit population and introduce yet another man-made disease into the environment. No thanks! Glad you agree that's not acceptable. Charities such as the Woodland Trust are using the services of known hunters to kill deer in their woodlands. So-called conservationists would have us believe that it is necessary to reduce deer numbers to an acceptable population level that doesn't cause ecological damage. When asked why the population has increased so rapidly, they tell us that deer reproduce prolifically and that there are no large predators, namely the wolf, left to control their numbers. On the face of it, that seems a reasonable explanation but it is more of a plausible excuse for hunters to enjoy their grizzly fun and conservationists to employ them to hunt in almost exactly the same way under the more respectable guise of culling. There is no doubt that wolves were predators of deer, but not for a very long time. The last wolf was killed in the UK around 1750, more than 250 years ago, and their numbers were in serious decline for many decades before that. So it is reasonable to assume that wolves have had little impact on deer for the past 300 - 350 years. With that in mind one could be excused for thinking that deer numbers would have escalated at an enormous rate over that period. But it is only in the last 50-60 years that their numbers have increased significantly, coinciding with a thriving hunting industry and reforestation that provides shelter. So is there a connection? Of course there is! To understand the whole sorry mess, one must examine the structure and covert allegiances between hunters and conservationists who, including the Woodland Trust, form alliances within "deer management groups" that are overseen by the Deer Commission to maintain an artificially high deer population to satisfy the requirements of hunting estates. But as deer know no boundaries, the population expands to other areas unchecked, where they can damage unprotected saplings, ground flora and ground nesting habitats. This is when the deceit of the conservationists comes to the fore. Having supped with the hunters, they now tell us they need to cull deer to reduce the increase in population that the hunters responsible for in the first place. This horrid cycle to continues year after year. So why don't the conservationists abandon their hunting friends and join forces with the animal activists who oppose hunting? Not a chance - it's all about money. The government via the Deer Commission wishes to maintain the hunting industry as an economic benefit for hunting estates and the conservationists depend on grants via the Forestry Authority to plant their trees. The conservationists won't bite the hand that feeds them and the deer are the losers. Make the CONservationists the losers by withdrawing your support. Angus Macmillan www.roots-of-blood.org.uk www.killhunting.org www.con-servation.org.uk |
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