Douglas F. Daily
ddaily at u.washington.edu


On Thu, 6 May 1999, Jacki Bricker wrote:
> Human beings are far more invasive than any other species; we litter and
> pollute far more (to an exponential degree). Look alongside the road as
> you drive to work. It's disgusting; much more so than some innocuous,
> biodegradable Canada Goose poop on a patch of grass.

Mass quantities of goose poop are not innocuous.

People can make choices (the fact that we may not make responsible
ones is a point but), geese don't have that option. We can make a
choice about our environment. Too many geese or too many people
are bad, if not managed properly.


> Why should it be any different, then, for any other species?
>
We should let malaria and tsetse flies propogate unopposed too?

> IMNSHO, we don't have the right to play God until we have our own act
> together. Vegetarianism isn't the issue here.

We're not playing God, we should be acting responsibly.

Do you not weed your garden? Do you not prune your trees?
Do you not brush your teeth? Do you not swat mosquitoes?
Do you not kill termites invading your house? etc etc etc

We live in our environment, we can make it good or bad. that is
one of the differences between animals and us.

As far as getting our own act together, I agree. How do we do that?
Like everything, practice , make mistakes, try again.
One part of that is managing rampant goose poopulations!

less lawn, shoot 'em for dinner, leave 'em be: lots of opinions,
no best answers. yet.