Like a Redneck Sport
The barred owl blasting we predicted [here, here, here, here, here] has already begun. Self-described and alleged “biologists” and “researchers” have been driving around Northern California shooting owls with shotguns from the back of pickup trucks.
From the Oregonian yesterday [here]:
Shooting one owl to save another
A scientist says it’s an easy, inexpensive way to get rid of barred owls and help spotted owls
Michael Milstein, The Oregonian Staff, Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Biologists grappled Tuesday with the realities of shooting barred owls that invade the older forest habitat of federally protected northern spotted owls, a strategy critics say the Bush administration employs to help spotted owls while also trimming away at their preserves in an effort to open up logging.
A scientist who experimented with barred owl control in Northern California said it proved relatively easy, at least in limited areas of accessible forests, and removing some adult barred owls before nesting season could control the broader population and open a window for spotted owls to come back.
The cost would be relatively minor, Lowell Diller, a biologist with Green Diamond Resource Co. in Northern California, told researchers meeting Tuesday in Portland. He cautioned he wasn’t trying to make light of it, but said, “This is almost like a redneck sport — you do it from the tail of your pickup.”
A redneck sport! Not to make light of it, but what color is your neck, Lowell?
Tailgate hunting is frowned upon by most of the rednecks in my neighborhood. Another rule of redneck hunting is “Eat what you kill.” I hope you biologists and researchers followed through in that regard, since you were in emulation mode.
More from the article:
Larger questions also emerged. Eric Forsman, a longtime owl biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, said it will never be clear whether the barred owls moved from East Coast states to the West naturally, or whether human activities encouraged their spread. If they spread naturally, he said, many scientists might argue with trying to halt that process in order to save spotted owls.
“We’re saying the (Endangered Species Act) trumps natural selection, which is problematic for a large number of scientists,” he said.
But Steven Courtney, vice president of SEI, who led Tuesday’s meeting, said it would be up to federal policymakers, not the scientists, to deal with that issue.
Should the ESA trump Darwin? Not a scientific issue, politicians will decide!
I don’t what to think. What has the world come to? It’s great for “scientists” to blast owls with shotguns from the back of pickup trucks (like rednecks), but fundamental questions of natural science are the exclusive purview of politcos?
The Decline and Fall of Common Sense is a terrible thing to watch, but it’s hard to look away. It’s like a train wreck in that regard, and in some other regards as well.
