A Bit of a Rant...

AGGGHHH!!

Damn, sometimes its hard to think good thoughts about some of our fellow passengers on this spaceship Earth. This evening, the dear friend who actually named the Midnight Gardener sent me a link to a movement to save an over-population of Canada geese from extermination at the hands of local politicians in Scotia, NY. Apparently plenty of wildcare professionals have offered to relocate the geese at no charge...but they’re charging ahead with their dastardly plan for kidnap and murder. Here’s the link to the website, which features some interesting links: Save the Geese.

Isn't it amazing how people are so species-centric as to think that wild creatures and landscapes have only value in the quantities and locations they think best...when really, they just think less. I don’t take any comfort from the fact that the Coffee Cup Throwers probably aren’t doing it maliciously. That they are nearly completely without thought when they toss (...unless a momentary sense of guilt, quickly forgotten...) is no comfort at all.

I hope they're able to stop these idiots in Scotia. Sure, nobody likes to slip in goose poop (you could easily suspect these heavy-handed guys actually have, and probably in front of the press, as a justification for their singular focus.)

Right now there's talk of actually creating a hunt on the coyotes who are becoming legion on Cape Cod. They are, of course, just about everywhere out here these days, but that is also very much the result of habitats lost to development. And there've been enough confrontations of species, usually ending in the loss of smaller pets...but a few good sized ones, as well...and attacks on humans have not been unknown. That’ll happen when any two species rub elbows, of course.

Rabies is unfortunately a problem out here, too...and spreading further and further out to the Cape's tip, (I think Eastham is the boundary of known cases, anyway) and I think that helps focus people’s attention on over-population issues.

So naturally there's concern. An interesting story in the news recently, though, as a scientist who's actually studied the species announced that a hunt would actually increase the population, as deaths often result in the realignments of territories of the deceased, with younger coyotes taking divisions of the late coyote’s domain. Fascinating, these beasts, eh? Sound a bit like the human race, at that.

I just don’t see the wisdom in a hunt that’s just about shooting for the sake of killing. Especially on such a relatively narrow spit of land. On some level, I can see the justification for such things, when a good meal (or rather, a winter’s worth) can be gained from the pursuit. But I don’t think coyotes are known for their yumminess, or their plush coats, even. Not that I ever feel real good about hunting for purposes of display.

I don’t know. I certainly don’t have the answers for a planet over-stocked. But I do still maintain that the whole coyote situation, at least, could be brought under control if we left a few rocket jetpacks and a box of Acme fake holes lying around.

Anyway, I guess I'm just rambling. And while I feel a diatribe coming on about how hurricanes and famine and bird flus and wars are just the natural result of a planet We are too many for, and perhaps we ought to whine less, and work harder toward real solutions to problems...I think it’s better just to stop now.