Subject: parakeet removal (was starlings....)
Date: Jan 23 15:32:38 1995
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at ups.edu


Kelly Cassidy wrote: "At the risk of opening up a contentious can of
worms, I have to ask: With all this talk of invasive species and the
damage they do, why hasn't some conscientious naturalist or Fish and
Wildlife Service rep removed (i.e., shot) the Crimson Fronted Parakeets
that have evidently survived several winters in Seattle?"

Assuming Kelly is serious, and if I may be allowed to speculate, (a) the
USFWS doesn't for the most part concern itself with such things, (b) the
state Department of Fish and Wildlife probably doesn't either, unless it
were some rampant and dangerous pest, and (c) it is a lot less likely that
this species--native to low and middle elevations of tropical Costa
Rica--would flourish to the extent that it achieved pest status. Most
parrots in cities are confined to them by their need for human-provided
subsidies. Monk Parakeets, native to southern South America, are quite
cold-tolerant and could, as the story goes, devastate northern orchards as
they have apparently affected crops in their native lands.

They are in my neighborhood, and they delight me when I see them (in part
because they were also in my neighborhood when I lived in Costa Rica!), but
I wouldn't blink an eye if someone ordered them eliminated just on the
principle that they shouldn't be here. But, notwithstanding how much I'm
against introduced species, it's not going to be me (even though I'd like
to think I'm a conscientious naturalist) who does it, as I have a pretty
solid conviction that this species doesn't pose a threat to any native
species or natural environment in this area, and I have no desire to kill
an animal unless there's a good reason to do so.

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416