Tuesday, June 05, 2007

"Should the last Ivory-Bills be collected?"

Here.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Note that when the Jocotoco Antpitta was first discovered, two PAIRS were taken prior to understanding how large the population was.

I believe most ornithologists involved in collecting are responsible individuals, but there are also those to whom collecting is a thinly veiled trophy hunt.

Anonymous said...

I believe Ivory-bills should be collected for a captive breeding program, and held in the same secret facility as the Bigfoot program.

Jochen said...

With today's technical possibilities, there is neither necessity not justification for collecting. Scientists who still collect bird specimen act irresponsibly.

Anonymous said...

"...to whom collecting is a thinly veiled trophy hunt."

We humans need to admit that we are still too evolutionarily close to our hunting-gathering roots for most any exercise not to be a thinly veiled trophy hunt. If you thought the CLO with their "rediscovery" announcement was doing anything different than the sort of posturing done by big game hunters you were not paying attention - except the big game hunter usually has a trophy to prove he actually shot something.

And of course there are lots of reasons to collect bird specimens. But this doesn't really relate to the IBWO issue since there are no specimens to collect.

Anonymous said...

Of course the last ivory bill woodpeckers should be killed. Not only that, they should be killed and destroyed so that no trace of them exists. After all, the worst thing that could possibly happen would be if we skeptics were revealed to be mistaken.

Thus ends another comment dedicated to the bizarre fantasies of the True Believers who really should spend more time worrying about the majestic Sasquatch.

Anonymous said...

Sure, go ahead. Find one. And collect it. I dare you.

Well? Got one yet?

Anonymous said...

Oops, I've been collecting them all along. Weren't we supposed to start already?

Sorry.

Anonymous said...

US F&WS policy allows the collecting of any specimen that you can find. Please do find one! Puhleeeeeeeeeeze!

Careers are at stake. Not to mention puny reputations.

Anonymous said...

A bigger issue - and one with more ethical implications - is:

Should the last True Believers be collected?

Or could there be some sort of captive-breeding program for them so that people keep believing in the IBWO well into the late 21st century?

Would Cornell fund something like that - or do they have such a program already and just label it with the euphemism "graduate school"?

Anonymous said...

Stoned on the 40th anniversary of Sargent Pepper, I too came to the realization of how many breeding pairs still existed.
Number 9
Number 9
Number 9
Number 9

Anonymous said...

Oh god. Do you pity those Red Cockaded woodpecker people? Having to share a session with these jokers.