Unusual situation

[RoyW]

I saw my own "Manxie" in an unusual situation today - on a reservoir in west London (the first time I've seen one inland). This one seemed to be in reasonable health, and was staying out in the middle of the reservoir + flying and diving without any problems.


As for the RSPCAs actions in the case of the west Wales birds, if the 100 weaker individuals, or even all 500, had been left on the beach it is actually likely that only a small percentage would have been taken by gulls, and in all likelihood none would have been fed on by skuas (which are more likely to be feeding offshore when they are not breeding, with relatively few exceptions).

It is true that when all the shearwaters that were left died, some of the corpses that would have been left strewn around the beach would have been picked at by gulls, and they would have gone back into the food chain when eaten by crabs and other invertebrates, or eventually when after being decomposed by bacteria, but to suggest that all of the 100 that were euthanised would have been eaten by other birds is nowhere near the truth.

If the RSPCA had simply rescued the ones that they thought stood a chance and left the rest to nature, the negative press that they would have got would have been likely to reduce the amount of funding that they could raise for cases like this though - so it really is a case of they either do nothing at all, or you accept that some will be euthanised (saved from a lingering death, but removed from the natyral food chain).

[captaincarot]

Originally Posted by John

Thank you for supplying that link but what it has to do with backing up your postings on this thread

John

i really do rest my case on that one,

then you claim i'm beginning to look foolish,

my suggestion would be you read my reply to the other respondent to which you referred as it really does apply to you also

[John]

You really are on your own planet aren't you. You quote the first line of my reply then completely ignore the extract I gave you from your own link which totally answers what I was on about namely killed or euthanised.

The whole argument between you and me was your terminology. You say killed and I said euthanise and I will add again that extract from your link.

"Unfortunately we had to euthanise 100 Manx shearwaters due to injuries or low weight, one fulmar and two gannets, which we euthanised at the beach," said Mr Hogben"

You are either being pig headed in not seeing what is in front of your eyes or just being plain argumentative for argumentative sake. Either of them is beyond me so there will be no more replies to you from me on this thread.

I was thinking of asking the Mods to end this thread because with you it is going nowhere but that wouldn't be fair to other WAB members who may want to chip in with their two pennyworth, or indeed contribute on the the thread in general.

John

Originally Posted by captaincarot

i really do rest my case on that one,

then you claim i'm beginning to look foolish,

my suggestion would be you read my reply to the other respondent to which you referred as it really does apply to you also

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by captaincarot

while utterly removing any chance of any possible benefit that the ecosystem as a whole may have recieved in the death of that particular entity.

Complete nonsense. The Earth's ecosystem is closed. This means that unless the 100 euthanased birds were launched into outer space the only place they can go is back into the food chain. Does the RSPCA have a space programme?

Dave P.