The invasive species around here piss me off.
It hits big buttons for me.
Many of the invasive species, and most of the worst, around here got their start as pets, or intended pets.
They were released into the wild when their upkeep became untenable to the owner.
To me, owning a pet is a lifetime commitment. Yours or its.
You take on a pet you will see it to its end if you don't die first. You do NOT turn it loose to fend for itself.
Murderers are a step down from someone who abandons an animal.
Not least is the probability that your former pet will not last long in the wild and will suffer a lingering death from exposure and starvation.
Or the thing will thrive because the environment is ideal and there's no predation. This is where way too many of our non-native invasive species came from.
I've lost track of all the species we've lost to extinction because we imported cats and rabbits to the environment.
I'm watching other species, like iguanas and pythons screwing up Florida.
I just found out about lionfish. Again I am disappointed at our inability to find a way to eradicate a species we want gone.
One solution is to ban exotic pets, or so severely regulate them we can determine who released their pet into the wild. This keeps the population you're trying to get rid of from being renewed by the same pool that started the problem.
Ein Volk. Eine Nation. Keine exotischen Haustiere!
There simply isn't a path to the preventative measures that aren't so draconian that they cannot be used for other, oppressive, means.
What we can do is collapse legal barriers to killing non-native invasive wildlife where ever it is found.
For a state with billions to spend on all kinds of bullshit, this fishing event, should not be offering chump change as prizes. Free tank fills? How about a complete new rig, and classes, for you and 10 friends who only have to show one tail each to keep the gear?
Lift bans on shooting inside residential areas while cranking down HARD on backstop prosecutions. Tell someone who shoots an iguana off their neighbor's fence with a pellet gun, "good job," instead of, "here's your fine for..."
Add fines for nests of the damn things.
Get serious. If you're trying to eradicate something it should be 24/7/365 no-limit, no-license.
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I'm with you on this. Paying bounty on the carcasses might work, except the FWC did that for pythons. They even seem to still be doing it.
ReplyDeleteThen they brought in some special Irula snake hunters from India to get the pythons. (obligatory joke: a spokespython for the group in the Everglades said, "the Indians were delicious. Please send more.") The pythons are still there.
The boss of a friend did one of the python seasons and said that they FWC was out there so thick making sure nobody was hunting anything else, it got in the way of actually hunting the things.
DeleteThere's severe limits on entry into where the snakes are, thus shielding them from being culled.
There are only a few 'permitted' snake hunters.
DeleteScrew that. Open up to anyone and everyone. As a kid I would have loved to be allowed to hunt rats or other invasives for extra cash.
I agree. There is a species of pigeon around here, called a Eurasian dove. They've chased out all the mourning and white wing doves and the state game and fish has declared them an invasive species, with no limit on killing them. Yet, you can only kill them during dove season. That makes zero sense! They should be hunted and killed year round. Also, you cannot make them taste good, so they are worthless as a game bird. Had a buddy try to cook them every way he could think of, and he never could make one edible.
ReplyDeleteI've shot more than few off my chicken coop fence using a Gamo air rifle. They fall over dead into the chicken pen and chickens eat them.
Then there's wild hogs. At least you can hunt them year 'round here. They are listed as a non-game animal like coyotes and rabbits. But who wants to field dress a hog in the heat of the summer? The meat would be ruined before you got it cooled.