I guess it’s just my week to be cranky. But actually, the first page article in the Observer has me far beyond cranky. “Feds target 400K barred owls to save spotted owl.” Jeezusly-old-blue-shitwine! The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, no less. What is the matter with those people? Too much testosterone? A firm desire to support the NRA no matter what? Have they learned NOTHING from other extermination projects gone awry?
At least the introduction of the mongoose to kill the rats in Hawaii was not done under the aegis of the government. The mice and rats arrived inadvertently with shiploads of people and the sugar growers imported the mongoose to take care of the problem. If you don’t know the result, Google it. It’s a classic.
And then there was the near extinction the the bison or buffalo. According to site after site on Google, their destruction had two important consequences: It left the vast grasslands open to the herds of cattle moving north from Texas. Now cattle ranches appeared in the north. More importantly, though, it robbed the Plains Tribes of the one resource that allowed them to move across the plains and continue their nomadic lifestyle.
Presumably, we are smarter now. Studies are made. Many studies. Taxpayer dollars are spent. Many dollars. But, I can’t really imagine that we can choose the way we feel Mother Nature should stay in balance and then attempt to keep her that way. No life form is static. If the barred owl needs new habitat and it impinges on the spotted owl, perhaps we should let the the spotted owls figure out what to do about it. Isn’t that the way nature works? Survival of the fittest and all of that? Perhaps they will surprise us with their ingenuity.
Meanwhile, the extermination of 400,000 barred owls just doesn’t seem prudent. No matter how I look at it.