It would probably be similar to what we are doing with the wolves. We have spent millions of dollars to bring them back and are now killing them all off.

Diane Weinstein
Issaquah

From: Larry Schwitters
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 5:47 PM
To: Michelle Landis
Cc: tweeters message
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Passenger Pigeon coming back?

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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