He wrote [edited]:
>Being realistic, if such a "spray" was developed, there are enough
>common birds e.g. starlings in Europe, on which it could be tried out
>without deleterious effects overall whereas I would not recommend that
>the guinea pigs should be, for instance, Mauritius Kestrel or Hawaian
>Goose (Nene), even though their limited home ranges would make them
>relatively easy to track and monitor - just in case the boffins make a
>mistake (not unknown!).
"being realistic"? Because it is "common" therefore it loses the same
respect we give the "sexy" predator?! Such an argument was used by
germans to make things from and experiment on jews "for the greater good"
(ie, "aryans"). MGM just destroyed his own "moral argument"!
That said, I've always wondered when someone will develop a "reader" that
can recognize an individual bird's gene code -- not just the species.
Much like those used in science fiction to identify individual crew
members' health histories and genetic coding...
The trouble with a spray is it tells you nothing once the feathers have
molted...or if it is washed off by rain or bathing... Anything that
adheres to skin, by not being "of" the species would, given our human
propensity for blind foresight, probably prove detrimental when enough
egg shells were squashed during incubation. Perhaps we should experiment
on chickens, since they are no longer a recognized "wild species"...
It would not matter who [in the wild] it's experimented on, if one death
resulted, the moral argument goes, it is "wrong". However, since most
money goes to study "big, rare, or sexy", it is more likely to be
developed using "rarer" species. At some point, those who "need" to use
the technology will always have the final say.
>I would be interested to hear if others share my views in regard to the
>ethics involved i.e ringing (banding) should not be undertaken lightly.
I haven't seen anyone advocate light undertakings. Most people remain
silent, preferring either to protect their own research "tools" or
populations, while advocating that "others" curb their experiments or
management protocol [cowbird control comes to mind]. So the dilemmas are
rarely "moral", but rather political and personally economic.
**********************
Jim Greaves
greaves@silcom.com
1-805-563-2905
2416 De la Vina St. #2
Santa Barbara CA
93105-3844
**********************
"If we aren't supposed to eat animals,
why are they made of meat?"