Culliing Grey Squirrels

BAC wrote:


> > Because if you do not, you lose species/races/sub-species/variants that
> are
> > specific to where you live or which are endangered globally.
> > There is not much that is endemic to the UK but what is, is precious.
>
> But why is it 'precious'?

Geographically specific biodiversity is precious in the same way as
one's own family and friends are precious. There are billions more
people in the world, but one only has one family and a few friends.
Once they are gone, they cannot be replaced and one's life is the
poorer for their loss.

Lunatic fringe groups such as AfA argue that because S vulgaris is not
endangered in Europe and Asia there is no need to protect it in
Britain. By that logic, we should refuse to intervene to prevent the
murder of our children because "H. sapiens is not an endangered species
globally, so the death of a few individuals in one small part of the
world is not important".

I'm off to check my squirrel traps.

BAC wrote:


> Would the genetic diversity of naturalised phenotypes of originally 'alien'
> species be equally 'precious'?

In short, no.

Few tears would be shed if the American mink which does so much damage
both to native wildlife and to domestic poultry, Japanese knotweed,
Himalayan balsam to name just three, were eradicated. These are all
introduced species which have no natural predators here and which have
thus been able to spread unchecked. I don't know how much of a threat
the two plants are considered to be to native biodiversity, but mink
(escaped from fur farms or released by criminally reckless or stupid
animal rights 'activists' who acted with no thought at all for the
impact of their actions on the native wildlife) are a major problem.

The underlying truth here is that species evolve to fill a certain
ecological niche. When they are transplanted from one ecosystem to
another they can, and often do, cause untold damage (pigs, cats and
rats in the Indian Ocean, for example the fate of the dodo). There can
be no excuses, we are intelligent beings who pride ourselves on being
able to think strategically and act in order to bring about certain
outcomes. We know (or at least, those of us who are awake know) that
AGS (American/alien grey squirrels) are a problem and a threat to many
native species, not solely S vulgaris (what an awful name for such an
attractive creature). It is now beholden upon us to act to mitigate or
even eliminate that threat as quickly, effectively, and above all, as
humanely as possible.