Roundup

A day late and a dollar short-- well, usually more than that-- as usual, so, first, a roundup of the usual suspect subjects...

The Alpha Environmentalist has a good post up on coyotes. Look, I have no objection to ranching, period, or to killing coyotes that kill stock. But a Gummint Agency killing coyotes on either public or private land, using tax dollars, for the alleged benefit of private individuals, doesnt cut it ecologically, economically, or even on the grounds of common sense. One fact Jonathan mentions is that coyotes increase the numbers in their litters under persecution-- which may give the bureaucrats self- perpetuating jobs. Another, which he doesn't, is that ranchers dont even have to ask for help, and I am not sure they can even refuse it. My rancher friend Lee, on whose ranch we do most of our hunting, came over to to me the other day at the Post Office, a bit bemused, to tell me to keep my dogs off his (entirely "deeded", ie private) acreage for the next couple of weeks, because the Government trappers were cleaning out coyotes there. They hadn't even asked his permission-- just told him.

Shoot your own coyotes! Or better still course them, and keep them on their toes...

Matt has some good stuff up on his own blog re the latest animal "Rites" (I have noticed I must mispell this and "Peatah" else I get their ads on the blog!) nonsense.

Paul Domski and Matt both noticed this interesting piece about using pigeons to remote- monitor pollution-- though Paul wonders if it won't be considered "pigeon abuse"...

Several good pieces out on India's decision to ban Diclofenac, which has been responsible for the catastrophic decline of vultures there. Peculiar also sent this link. Vultures are not only (extremely) important to sanitation in the subcontinent; they have a big cultural role in the lives or rather deaths of both Tibetan Buddhists and Parsees. In Tibet, corpses are still cut up and fed to the vultures-- "sky burial". And Parsees, even in big cities like Bombay, still expose their dead on "towers of silence" lest they contaminate the four traditional elements of earth, fire, air and water. Vulture numbers had become so low recently that Parsees actually consulted with raptor expert Jemima Parry- Jones, then in England, to see if she could provide an answer..

I wrote about this for The Atlantic a couple of years ago, but now it is behind a subscriber's firewall. Can't even get it myself unless (if) I renew.

Finally, Matt sent me this
article: "Airline passengers reach record 4 billion"-- with a mordant comment:

"They will sieze and euthanize our birds, Steve, but the 4 billion-person airline travel rate will go unchecked. Which activity do you think has a greater chance of spreading bird flu: global commercial air travel or keeping pet birds?"

Actually i'm not sure I'd bet on either-- but if I had to pick one...