Invasive species are no joke. Sure this reaction seems overboard and bizarre enough to be newsworthy but that shouldn't delegitimize the importance of strict biocontrol.
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?
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?
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.