Subject: Re: Unbearable futility, etc.
Date: Jul 25 08:31:41 1996
From: Dennis Paulson - dpaulson at mirrors.ups.edu


Tom Foote wrote:

> and in the same vein of removing potentially dangerous things
> from the environment perhaps you can tell me what possible good
> the folks at the Wildlife Refuge were accomplishing when
> I arrived with the injured bird and found them bottle-
> feeding two litters of very tiny little possums who will
> be rehabbed to get back out there and rob nests... I think
> picking up trash instead of that would be more constructive
> and helpful...and it could make them feel every bit as good.. :)

This is a subject that wasn't brought up previously. Olympic Wildlife
Rescue, in one of their newsletters, stated that possums were among their
most commonly received and rehabbed animals. I think this clearly points
out the ongoing tension zone between animal-rights activists (perhaps
simply expressed as animal lovers) and environmentalists (most of whom are,
of course, also animal lovers). Not only are opossums well-known nest
robbers, thus potentially (if not actually; I don't think we have the data)
affecting songbird populations, but they're not even native to this area,
so it's easy for me at least to argue that they should *not* be the subject
of rehabilitation efforts, any more than (I assume) Norway rats and house
mice are.

Of course, non-native starlings and house sparrows and native crows are
also rehabbed (correct me if I'm wrong), and there has been much discussion
in this forum about their effects on bird populations.

Rehabilitators: are there any species you receive that you routinely
euthanize because you *don't* wish to save them, presumably for some of the
reasons expressed above? I guess making these kinds of decisions is what I
was talking about earlier when I suggested realistic, reasonable, and
responsible rehabilitation.

Sorry, perhaps we're taking this thread beyond its useful limits, but I've
never seen a discussion of this particular topic.

Dennis Paulson, Director 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