Hi Michelle rabble-rouser,

I've inserted some responses behind your questions in purple.

Larry Schwitters
Issaquah
On Apr 10, 2013, at 11:24 AM, Michelle Landis wrote:

> I hate to be a rabble-rouser, but I had a couple of questions while
> watching the Ted video. Passenger Pigeons existed in the millions
> perhaps the most numerous vertebrate in the history of the earth.
> before we did what humans do. The specific cause was market
> hunting. Same deal with the American Bison. In both cases our
> species felt the motivation to shoot every last one of them. If we
> brought them back, do we have the ecosystem for them to thrive in
> now? Their closest living relative is the Band-tailed Pigeon, which
> would be holding its own if we stopped shooting them. What do they
> eat? They don't eat anything. They just lie around in museum
> collection drawers. If it's seeds and grass, are they going to be
> spreading genetically-modified grains all over the country? Are
> they going to be low-level carriers of pesticides/herbicides? Are
> we going to use them for food for humans (again)? If we do...will
> we then be the top-of-the-food-chain consumers of the toxins they
> have eaten? Will we suddenly have a plague of pigeons the likes of
> which Madagascar is undergoing with locusts right now? Let us not
> forget that birds can be an important natural population control on
> insects. You need to talk to some Mormons about locusts and gulls.
> I'm sure people are thinking of these things, but I didn't hear it
> addressed in the talk. I would suggest that most people who are
> thinking of those things are the ones who hold the view that the
> earth is here for the benefit of our species. None of them crossed
> my mine. Of course, I was at work while listening to this, which
> means I'm chasing around eight puppies and it's entirely possible
> (highly probable) I missed something.
>
> Michelle Landis
> Lynden, WA
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