Australia to kill US pigeon that crossed Pacific
bbc.com
bbc.com
Joking, but only kind of. I guess the fear is inter-species breeding?
That's basically what happened millions of years ago with Hawaii's native birds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drepanidini
Also, all native Hawaiian bee species are decended from a single female bee that landed there millions of years ago. Same thing with their native fruit flies. All from one pregnant female.
What makes the current inhabitants of Australia the only rightful inhabitants of Australia? Why is one mix of species better than another? If no animals had been able to migrate long distances throughout the history of the planet, would it have been better?
It is one thing to regulate what animals or plants people can bring, but if an animal undertakes this trip and succeeds, why is it right to kill it instead of letting it be in its new home?
Zero tolerance is only effective if it is _zero_ tolerance.
Invasive species have huge economic impacts, to the point of causing the extinction of local species, and acting as transmission vectors for disease in humans.
For example, the Asian Tiger mosquito:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus#For_humans
This is as much about advertising the "zero tolerance" part, which hopefully results in less meat/fruit smuggled across the border by visitors.
Yup. All the pigeons of the world will now know not to migrate to Australia.
For funsies, read up on African swine fever - it was imported into Portugal on infected airline food.
Give these a read/listen:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/03/its-not-...
https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/39h3xow/did-the-cia...
https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/emhd6j5/did-the-cia...
Believe you me I didn't doubt that ... I am pointing out that there is no moral argument for why it is right to kill a little intrepid bird and the practical dividends you think it will pay by being a warning sign are fantasy.
This is just monstrous people being monstrous.
We had people prevented from attending their dying parents, and seen tears from mothers kept separated from children, millions of dollars in fines handed out for merely walking in the wrong place or not having a face mask. And now we are flying people out to remote mining camps to do their quarantine.
But very, very few COVID deaths, and zero new local transmissions in the last few days - despite the UK strain being loose for a short while.
In others areas, they took a scorched earth policy to citrus canker https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Sen... ("the disease took 11 years to fully eradicate and resulted in the destruction of every citrus tree north of latitude 19 degrees south"), and completely shut down prawn farming in my area (sending everyone broke) in response to a white spot imported from Chinese pawns.
So yeah, when it comes to quarantine we are monstrous. Pig headed and completely ruthless as well.
Conveyed there by humans ... Or, do you have a system for tracking any mosquitos which the wind may have carried from other places?
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/current-alerts/queenslan...
Indicating concern over animals conveyed by humans (wittingly or unwittingly) which is a different category than animals traveling without assistance.
How do you know that the system is at equilibrium ("at rest") now? Why is the current ecosystem the most right ecosystem since the birth of the universe? Why should there be no disturbance of the current equilibrium?
And, if we value equilibrium so much, shouldn't we undo the previous disturbance and remove most of the current inhabitants of Australia?
AU has a history of species being imported by humans and then overtaking native species so it's understandable they'd be concerned.
You do make a good point about animals naturally achieving this on their own. Is human vs animal transport an artificial distinction of its own?
> Some internet research led Mr Celli-Bird to discover that the bird, which is registered to an owner in Alabama, was last seen during a pigeon race in the western US state of Oregon.
> It is not clear how the bird managed to make the 8,000-mile journey from the west coast of the US to southern Australia, but officials believe he is likely to have hitchhiked on board a cargo vessel.
> Actors Johnny Depp and his then-wife Amber Heard had to issue a video apology after illegally bringing their dogs Pistol and Boo into the country on their private jet in 2015.
It's served us well over the years though, many common virus/bacteria/insects that are prevalent in the rest of the world have been kept out of Australia.
This seems most likely to me. There are plenty of penguins over the years that have been kept as "pets" by sailors, then released or escaped in other parts of the world.
One of our most prominent politicians threatened to euthanise the dogs personally if they didn’t “bugger off back to the United States”.
I'd give it to Taronga Zoo. The birds there don't really look much more special than pigeons, and are cared after in a controlled environment. Plus the story might make it interesting.
The problem (in this case) isn't the bird breeding, it's infections that it might carry. I can imagine it's possible there's a tonne of diseases it might carry that could be passed to the local native & agricultural bird populations that they have no exposure to.
Australia's relative isolation means that there's many diseases that local animal populations have no immunity to.
They could, ya know, return it. Or hold it for the guy to pick up.
Out of curiosity, are they willing to pay him for the seizure of property, or shall we make an international incident of it?
The owner of the bird is responsible for the bird. Therefore, the owner is responsible for the bird illegally entering Australia in violation of local customs laws, just as a dog owner would be responsible should their dog bite somebody.
I'm all for returning the bird to the owner but from Australia's perspective, the owner committed a crime. It's ridiculous to suggest that the owner should be compensated for the consequences.
The bird should be returned upon payment of a fine and reimbursement for the costs of finding, capturing and transporting the bird back to the US.
Causing an international incident would be considered a bonus for the publicity it would create.
(not condoning this, just making the observation)