From tor.general Sun Sep 27 18:53:58 1992 Xref: utcsri rec.birds:6707 ont.general:4603 can.general:13007 tor.general:4489 misc.headlines:34584 news.misc:8663 soc.misc:3540 soc.women:58277 Newsgroups: rec.birds,ont.general,can.general,tor.general,misc.headlines,news.misc,rec.skuba,soc.misc,soc.women,talk.politics.misk Path: utcsri!rpi!uwm.edu!linac!uchinews!quads!r0th From: r0th@quads.uchicago.edu (Dr. Samuel Conway) Subject: Beluga whales at Shedd/Trapping of hawks Message-ID: <1992Sep26.212837.7739@midway.uchicago.edu> Keywords: Hysteria and overreaction will destroy the environmental movement. Sender: news@uchinews.uchicago.edu (News System) Reply-To: r0th@midway.uchicago.edu Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 21:28:37 GMT Lines: 57 Please forgive me if this is perceived as a flame, because I do not intend it to be. I should think that the Shedd Aquarium, which has a magnificent marine mammal presentation which shows the animals only in the most respectful fashion (unlike Sea World et al *shudder*), and which has a very highly-regarded research and rescue/recovery program, might know a tiny bit more than an armchair ecologist whose sole knowledge of the tragic event with the belugas comes from what was reported in the papers, and by some of the more reactionary environmental groups. Now, there's a Nate Hawthorne sentence for you. But it is true. The people who are screaming so loudly about the Shedd's "exploitation" of their residents have likely not ever seen the presentations. I have, and they are not in the slightest bit exploitative. To the contrary, they are very educational and particularly inspiring. I was tremendously impressed. The transport of the whales to Shedd was not to make them some "zoo attraction". Their deaths, too, were entirely unforseen. They were given a medication for a rampant parasitic infection, and suffered an adverse reaction. The same medication had been given to other belugas without problem in the past. Blame God, if you will, for not giving these whales little MedicAlert tags. On the topic of not removing birds from the wild "for any reason", please excuse me if I fall off my chair laughing for a moment. There, now that that's out of the way, I'd like to ask what you think of the work I did for four years, driving halfway across the state of Vermont and spending hours chasing a wounded broadwing across a field. I took such birds and their bloody, dangling wings back to a dreadful little building and put nasty bandages all around them and kept them in *gasp* TINY CRAMPED CAGES for weeks, and then cruelly released them! Honestly, I don't think any of them are complaining today. A closing note, to those who saw fit to flame Steve, my young falconer friend. Steve finally did catch a hawk -- a process for which he has had very careful and intensive training -- and in such a pursuit, spent nearly a week chasing a redtail with an obviously wounded leg. He finally managed to catch it, and transported it to a wildlife rehabilitation center. Maybe the leg can be saved, or maybe it can't. So whether the bird is released back into the wild or onto a controlled preserve for monitoring, it still has a chance of going free. So Steve has removed one from the wild, and subsequently aided in the return of another to the wild. No net gain, no net loss. And again, when the wounded hawk takes off again, I don't think it will be complaining. ---- Dr. Samuel Conway * "If the guest isn't singing, 'Oh What a Beautiful Roving chemist, wildlife * Morning' I don't immediately think, 'Oh, there's rehabilitator, and all- * another one snuffed it in the night!' Another around nice guy! * name in the Fawlty Towers book of Remembrance. r0th@midway.uchicago.edu * I mean, this is a hotel, not the Burma Railway!"