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Post by NAU Wildlife Society Admin on Nov 2, 2004 1:40:15 GMT -5
In todays culture of globalization and worldwide travel, we have inadvertantly released a catrastrophe in the form of invasive species...or have we? Each country has its own horror story about invasive and exotic species creating havoc in ecosystems not meant to support them. So what do we do? Management practices have ranged from the " do nothing" approach, to very extreme and controverial measures. Are they working? Have you seen firsthand a problem or a benifit related to an invasive species?
Please post here about this new problem facing all ecosystems world wide.
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Kitfox
Mexican Grey Wolf Member
Posts: 149
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Post by Kitfox on Nov 2, 2004 12:22:55 GMT -5
If human interaction is the cause for the invasion than I think it's our responsibility to return the environment to the state it was in before the invasion - if it's at all possible. Unfortunately this might involve killing the invading animal - but if that can be done without harming the environment or the other animals I think it's neccesary.
Of course, how neccesary it is depends on the specific circumstance. It's hard to talk in general about these things. But, generally, I'm not opposed to killing invading animals for a greater good. I'd be interested to hear from people who are, however.
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Post by Whiskey Jack on Nov 7, 2004 13:50:06 GMT -5
This is a damn tricky topic.....on one hand, invasive species have been known to completley devestate native ecosystems, the Brown Snake in Guam has almost single handedly wiped out all the native bird species there, the Cane Toad and European Hare in Australia have ravaged the native plants and small rodents in that ecosystem, and in Hawaii, man, did we screw up there....not only did we release rats (who of course screwed a lot of things up there) but then we released Mongoose in order to get rid of the rats, and the Mongoose (egg eaters) made the entire situation worse by almost destroying the population of Hawaii's endemic goose population. Some of these instances are so horrible that if something is not done soon, the consequences will be irreversable.
Now as far as killing them goes......well, I can't seem to get over one thing. It wasn't there fault exactly. Now then, that is probably an absurd reason, but its one I can't seem to get around.....anyone have any ideas on how I can see past that? (And cold, hard logic won't work this time around.) I found a young bird once that fell out of a nest while I was walking Cinder. It was so helpless and cold, so I took it up and brought it home to try to take care of it. Emily and I would take turns feeding it and having it perch on our finger, it was a very harmless and sweet baby bird indeed. Anyway, once we felt like it was going to be OK, we decided to call an animal rehab place so they could take care of it until it could fly. Most only had one question: "What kind of bird is it?". Well, it happened to be a baby House Sparrow, an exotic bird released here by a bunch of idiots back in the 1800's. There answer was simple, if you bring it to us, we'll destroy it (due to its exotic species status), finally, a private rehab place in Flagstaff took the bird in. This experience pissed me off to no end, and now, before I side with these goverment agencies on how best to manage exotic/invasive species, I picture that little bird and I picture their idea of management, and I turn my back on them as they did me and the bird. Extreme? Yes. But like I said, its something I cannot seem to justify.
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