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Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

newyorker.com

101–110 of 136 posts

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its already a thing. I hunted feral cats in central Queensland along with rabbits and foxes.

I've heard bobcat and mountain lion taste amazing, any info on domestic? I have a deal with my pets, they eat rats, and I don't eat them. They have been doing there part so... Also, they keep my feet warm.

Can't say I've eaten them, but I have turned in some cat at a pet-meat butcher, they said that not all animals like to eat cat meat.

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#102
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans are as natural as any animal on this planet. Beavers build dams, flooding vast areas and it’s natural. When humans do it, it’s not. Makes zero sense.

Seems like a whataboutism. Is there any other animal outside of humans we see as a serious threat to our habitat, to the extent we are?

Isn’t that all a matter of subjective opinion? If a beaver floods a field and leads to the extinction of some small species, is that “unnatural”?

What if humans flood the same field?

An even bigger question - if humans didn’t exist, does the earth have any intrinsic value at all?

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#103
post #8

you haven’t had fun on this planet until you've gone hunting for invasive hogs in florida or texas. stars, night observation devices, suppressed semiautomatic rifles. regardless of your stance on guns or killing things almost as smart as humans, you should give this fun and useful activity a try sometime. you’ll learn some skills and make solid friends along the way.

You should kill pigs regardless of your stance on killing pigs?

I would say yes unless some other solution exists to keep them from destroying the ecosystem.

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're free do the research into what the Texas model is actually achieving. States with more amenable conditions for pigs don't have the problem that Texas has. There is a responsible way to manage a population. Shooting pigs to get a kick ain't it.

It’s also deeply concerning how he didn’t make one mention of how dangerous wild boars can be. If you don’t take it down it is 100% going to try and kill you. And they don’t go down that easy.

I just watched this video where the brother of one of the French kings, died by falling from his horse after tripping over a pig: https://youtu.be/fjalQSOLZE4?t=76

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#106
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you make sure the gene edits don't also wipe out the problem in their original habitat too?

This is relatively straightforward. First, introduced species tend to, by definition, not breed with the 'original habitat' population, simply because they're separated by sufficient distances. Second, these types of gene terminator approaches tend to work relatively quickly - several generations, I think, but I've only read about these in insect populations where generations are months not years. Anyway, the fallbac…

Why are the mosquitoes reintroduced? Wouldn't there always be the risk of parasite reinfecting the stock?

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#107
post #41

By any definition humans are an invasive species. Unfortunately killing our fellow humans has been a competitive sport from time immemorial.

Humans are as natural as any animal on this planet. Beavers build dams, flooding vast areas and it’s natural. When humans do it, it’s not. Makes zero sense.

Beavers don't build ships and move to other continents and then build dams there, wrecking the local ecology.

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#108
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I’m not an opponent of capital punishment for example but wouldn’t want a government executioner to get a hardon while he does it.

Totally opposed to capital punishment, but as long as the person who enjoys the work isn't the person who decides that it needs done it seems fine, maybe even better if they enjoyed it. You probably want the person who isn't going to get PTSD from it carrying it out if minimizing human suffering is the goal. I can't decide if doing the same thing with pedophiles and CP moderation is terrible or not. My gut reaction i…

Just pay euthanasia doctors, they don't seem to mind killing healthy people.

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#109
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is relatively straightforward. First, introduced species tend to, by definition, not breed with the 'original habitat' population, simply because they're separated by sufficient distances. Second, these types of gene terminator approaches tend to work relatively quickly - several generations, I think, but I've only read about these in insect populations where generations are months not years. Anyway, the fallbac…

Why are the mosquitoes reintroduced? Wouldn't there always be the risk of parasite reinfecting the stock?

They are ecologically significant, sadly. Things feed on their larvae, etc.

Re: Killing invasive species is now a competitive sport

#110
post #13

This makes me immediately think about the Cobra effect anecdote (or fable?). Basically, the Indian gov't tried to control the snake population by offering a bounty, and people started breeding snakes and killing them for bounty money. Better writeup here: https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/systems-thinking-and-the-cobra-e...

I think the key here is keeping it at hobby levels of funding: a few thousand dollars worth of prizes at sporting events is a motivator for amateurs, a few hundred thousand would bring out professionals.

And if the d*mn things are sometimes "bag 200 in a single dive" common in the wild, the cost/benefit ratio for breeding them may not work out regardless.
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