** Michael Price writes -

<lotsa snips>
> What may be more useful than defensiveness here is to consider this a
> challenge for researchers to devise non-lethal ways to gather their data.
> For example, would it not be possible to model a virtual museum from
> existing specimens in current collections? Or virtual specimens from live,
> anesthetised birds in the field? There's blood-work and photography,
> laser-scanning, microchip, MRI and PET technologies and lots others just
> *aching* to be applied to this field somehow, both in the museum and in the
> field. Of course money is a problem, but when hasn't it been?

Yes, we outside the research community must take some of the responsibility for
the current situation. After all, I became incensed about the nutcracker when I
read about it in the latest "Birds of North America" monographs. Those
monographs could not have been published if there were not a market for them. In
other words, if someone had convinced me at the time of reading that the bird
had survived its experimental ordeal, then I likely would not have started this
latest thread. Instead I would have walked away happy to learn something from
someone else's efforts. When our innate curiosity starts to overrule our innate
compassion, that is when I start to worry, and that is how the monograph entry
grabbed me.

> >Sorry to take up so much space on something so far removed from bird
> >finding.
>
> Are you kidding, Dennis? This is a great issue to chew on! It's fascinating,
> as it requires examining (maybe again) and retesting some basic principles.
> I hope there's more!

It must be said that pressure to end traditional forms of collecting natural
history data is not only coming from outside the research community. Some on the
inside have been questioning various practices for quite a while now. I echo
Michael's statement that if there is anything that anybody on the outside can do
to improve the sitatution, please let us know what we can do to help.

- Jack


--------------
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca