Plague von Karma
Banned deucer.
Recently, I ended up on the weird side of YouTube and started getting recommended weird mouse trap videos. I decided to click on one out of morbid curiosity and was shown some pretty gory stuff. Like, electric traps that would send the mouse into a tub of water they eventually drown in. It was kind of unnerving, but also eye-opening at the same time.
So I ended up thinking it over a bit, and looking at the comments there was some pretty interesting debate. Some compared laws across different countries, others bought up animal rights issues. It ended up being a really interesting discussion, which is what eventually bought me here.
Here in the UK, there's a lot of controversy over the culling of badgers, which aims to protect against bovine TB, despite there being vaccines iirc? They've gone through all kinds of inhumane methods, such as free shooting and general maiming. The general public, at least from what I've seen, doesn't really understand why they're being culled at all.
Rat poison is particularly notorious for having unintended consequences on wildlife populations. The fact of the matter is, you cannot make a poison that kills one particular species of mammal, you'll always end up killing others. Many birds, particularly owls, end up eating poisoned rats and dying as a result of it. I've heard of cats dying or, otherwise becoming severely ill, from this sort of thing as well. Some rat poisons also have adverse effects on crops and flora.
There have been some ethical forms of pest control, namely relocation. This is done with invasive species in various countries, such as the green iguanas in Florida that ended up exploding in population. I believe that was due to escaped and abandoned pets? There's even been occasions where countries straight up fly invasive species over to their native countries to assist endangered populations. There's a lot of other "safe" forms of pest control that ensure animals aren't harmed, but that's just one really.
So those are a few angles you can take in the discussion, but I'm curious about other's opinions. Chuck some thoughts here, there's a ton of different angles you can take! How about the effects of industrialisation on wildlife and how it's caused creatures like cockroaches to adapt so well?
So I ended up thinking it over a bit, and looking at the comments there was some pretty interesting debate. Some compared laws across different countries, others bought up animal rights issues. It ended up being a really interesting discussion, which is what eventually bought me here.
Here in the UK, there's a lot of controversy over the culling of badgers, which aims to protect against bovine TB, despite there being vaccines iirc? They've gone through all kinds of inhumane methods, such as free shooting and general maiming. The general public, at least from what I've seen, doesn't really understand why they're being culled at all.
Rat poison is particularly notorious for having unintended consequences on wildlife populations. The fact of the matter is, you cannot make a poison that kills one particular species of mammal, you'll always end up killing others. Many birds, particularly owls, end up eating poisoned rats and dying as a result of it. I've heard of cats dying or, otherwise becoming severely ill, from this sort of thing as well. Some rat poisons also have adverse effects on crops and flora.
There have been some ethical forms of pest control, namely relocation. This is done with invasive species in various countries, such as the green iguanas in Florida that ended up exploding in population. I believe that was due to escaped and abandoned pets? There's even been occasions where countries straight up fly invasive species over to their native countries to assist endangered populations. There's a lot of other "safe" forms of pest control that ensure animals aren't harmed, but that's just one really.
So those are a few angles you can take in the discussion, but I'm curious about other's opinions. Chuck some thoughts here, there's a ton of different angles you can take! How about the effects of industrialisation on wildlife and how it's caused creatures like cockroaches to adapt so well?