I find what you're doing admirable. I have no knowledge in this area, but if the only argument against what you're doing is derived from a survival of the fittest mentality, then I would pay no attention. The only problem I can see with it is that if is the same birds coming back, they may become dependent on you. How likely is that?

My partner and I have a quiet park we go to for picnics and the birds there will approach him and take food from his hand. Magpies and noisy minors mostly. There are ibis too. I love to watch him feed them - it's a beautiful thing.

mantra wrote on Jul 14^th, 2013 at 11:39am:


Yes, that kind of conditioning makes sense. It's interesting - the birds seem to engage with him. Lots of eye contact and head tilting.

The naysayers will always be with us. It doesn't matter to them what generous actions you perform on behalf of defenseless animals ~ they'll always invent a reason why you should 'leave well enough alone'.

I remember the poor, sick, misguided souls who filmed the Meerkat Manor series. 

In one episode a little toddler meerkat had become lost as the whole group moved through the bush. This cute little thing was crying and calling and very stressed-out, but these Greenie trendies left her to die of despair and starvation all on her own ~ for 'authenticity'.

I personally would borrow Annie Anthrax's whip to give these wankers the hiding they so richly deserve.

Maybe parachute them into Lion Country and let them chance their luck trying to hike out. Give them mobile phones so we can hear their pleas for clemency, while all the while I'd be telling them ...

... "Sorry guys.. we've got to keep it real so the audience doesn't start doubting our authenticity. Yes, I hear you telling me a pack of lions have appeared on a ridge a half mile away, and they seem to be looking in your direction.

Stop whimpering, guys. I know this is a bad situation for you, but we promised the BBC Programming Department authenticity, and I've just got a call from Sir Davin Attenborough urging me to keep it real.

Stop shouting, guys. So the lions are coming down the slope in your direction. Panicking won't help you."

To be continued ... 

freediver wrote on Jul 14^th, 2013 at 5:17pm:


I'm aware of all this, but then in the scheme of things, helping an animal to survive for a while couldn't be worse than not helping it to survive at all.

Quote:


This is true and not just because of people who supplement their feed, but their habitat is being razed so quickly, that their very existence depends on help from humans.

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Ground predators are a real threat. A cat or dog is more likely to attack a small, weak animal than a large strong one - I assume. Helping larger birds to cope with the dangers in suburbia surely must be better than letting many of them succumb to the ravages of domestic predators.

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Of course your comments make sense and I hear them often and it makes me feel guilty, but when I see generations of a particular species thriving, which were once rarely seen, then I have to look at them as pets of a sort. While I'm alive and can afford the meat and seed bill - not only do the birds appear healthy, but it gives me pleasure.

Selfish I know and it can't continue indefinitely.

freediver wrote on Jul 16^th, 2013 at 2:35pm:


Sounds beautiful.

As long as they don't suffer, then I'm okay with a little extinction here and there because of the Europeanisation of the wilderness areas.

I personally place people's interest above that of endangered worms, wood lice, termites and leeches.

The Australian government agrees with this point of view, hence we had Gillard calling for a higher rate of immigration and refugees influx ~ as though they're all going to live up trees and not own pets or need concreting for their homes.

It's a very simple matter of protecting endangered insects and other species from extinction by creating Jurassic Parks for them on a few of Australia's thousand or so small islands. It's a no-brainer.

No endangered species need become extinct if the government sets aside certain islands as National Parks free of predators.

Why hasn't this been done?

Because the truth is NO creatures out there in our bushlands are heading for extinction due to pussy-cats and feral dogs. University zoology departments routinely bang on about 'threatened species' in order to ensure further grants from the government.

What does it say that no government has yet introduced heavy penalties for people neglecting to have their cats de-sexed?

In the Australian vernacular : They're not fair dinkum ~ and this is because their own research has told them that no species are heading for extinction.

And incidentally, it has been calculated that there are now infinitely more kangaroos hopping about in the Australian bush than when Capt Cook anchored at Botany Bay.

******

Don't let freediver make you feel guilty, Mantra.

While YOU are feeding the birds ... HE'S slaughtering the beautiful fish in our rivers and coastal waters.

Stabs them with spears. Hooks them cruelly in the mouth. Hammers their heads when they're gasping for air and flapping around on the tinny's floor. OMG I can't go on ... this is horrible. I think I'm going to be sick ...



Those dull flashes of light you see late at night on the sea's horizon?

freediver and his Vietnamese mates dropping dynamite in the water to stun hundreds of beautiful endangered fish which then rise to the surface for them to scoop up with nets for the Fish Market and the salt water aquarium shops.

freediver wrote on Jul 16^th, 2013 at 2:35pm:


Sometimes as individuals we convince ourselves we are doing the right thing. For more than 20 years I cultivated my large garden to be eco friendly. Hundreds of frogs, possibly thousands of skinks, blue tongues and other weird little creatures lived happily there in a mini-jungle.

I have some beautiful native plants which produce nector and occasionally a breeding pair of small rare honeyeaters or a variety of finches would build nests in the trees. They always disappeared within weeks - never to be seen again. My dogs would deter larger birds and predatory cats - but nothing helped because once they left my garden - there was nothing to protect them and they were killed.

I still have the frogs and small lizards - the blue tongues have been killed by neighbours' dogs and cats. There is a huge natural food source also available to passing birds and sometimes there are hundreds of birds sitting up in the powerlines and not just crows and parrots.

Perhaps I am making excuses for doing something the experts claim is wrong. It is hard at times to resist the variety of song I hear in my garden when I'm being summoned, but I try not to overdo it.

If the majority of people were prepared to make their properties friendly to native creatures - people like me would follow all the rules, but with our ever increasing population, mining, depletion of water supplies, predators and razoring of trees everywhere - those remaining animals need a helping hand occasionally.