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Sugar Glider cull in Tasmania
#1
The Tasmanian government is proposing a sugar glider cull to help the Swift Parrots to survive.
Sugar Gliders are an introduced species. They eat eggs, babies and even adult parrots.
Many parrots are lost because of the sugar gliders.

The public is not too happy about the proposed cull. It presupposes that the sugar gliders are the only threat to the Swift Parrots.
Human activity like logging and dam building cause habitat loss which is a bigger threat to the parrots.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-30/go...s/10322548

The whole premise of the cull is that removing an introduced species, like sugar gliders  will save the parrots.
It seems to me that the biggest threat is from another introduced species, humans. We forget that we are an introduced in most of the world. We do more damage that any other introduced species anywhere.

Instead of culling the Sugar Gliders we should be controlling our own behavior. If we looked after the damage we do there would be no need to kill other animals. We introduced sugar gliders in the first place. Perhaps we should see if we can relocate them.
We caused the problem, we should have to find a humane solution.
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Catherine

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#2
I've always had a soft spot for Sugar Gliders....

I agree with every word you say Catherine. What right have we got to go about killing something when we were the ones to upset the balance in the first place -with no foresight? Couldn't someone have figured that out?? Or at least intuited something about introducing species to an area?

Sadly, just going out and shooting the poor little creatures will be massively more cost-efficient than trapping and re-locating them....unless a rescue charity can step in to help re-locate them?
However we have to consider where they would be located to, and whether that would cause "problems" a few years down the line.

Why is it that when we mess about with the balance of Nature, and introduce a species, and it survives, flourishes, and does very well...we then have to kill the population?
Some stupid thing very wrong there I'd say.
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#3
Since we as humans are responsible for a great many  deadly invasive species situations, we have a responsibility to fix the mess we made. Killing the poor animals that we released in the wrong place is not a fix.  Can the sugar  gliders be set up in a sanctuary, preferably back where they came from. Maybe some could be returned to their natural home.

Perhaps the world should call together a team of biologists/zoologists/ecologists, whoever would have ideas on the subject and seriously look for solutions to the many invasive species crisis the world is facing right now. They can start with the premise that a cull is not the right answer.
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Catherine

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#4
Because they are an introduced species to Tasmania, there is no way they could be relocated elsewhere in Tasmania. The logistics involved with trying to relocate them, capture, transport to the mainland, quarantine, finding somewhere suitable etc, it's not feasible when they're not a priority species unfortunately.
It is awfully unfair, they're just doing what they do to survive.

Considering they were introduced not long after Tasmania was colonised by the brits, I think any disruption to nature was the last thing on their mind.
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#5
(10-01-2018, 03:07 PM)Catherine Wrote: The whole premise of the cull is that removing an introduced species like sugar gliders will save the parrots.
It seems to me that the biggest threat is from another introduced species, humans. We forget that we are an introduced in most of the world. We do more damage that any other introduced species anywhere.

Instead of culling the Sugar Gliders we should be controlling our own behavior. If we looked after the damage we do there would be no need to kill other animals. We introduced sugar gliders in the first place. Perhaps we should see if we can relocate them.
We caused the problem, we should have to find a humane solution.

Absolutely right, Catherine! It is humans who have created this mess - but humans only look to killing innocent creatures, not to blaming their past behaviour. We are upsetting balances of nature all over the place, but the only answers we come up with is killing. What an appalling record! We humans should be ashamed of the way we are ruining the environment and the balance of nature. We are continuing to destroy rain forests - but no-one suggests killing the people who do that.....even though that is causing massive damage, threatening all life on earth. We have a warped sense of priorities.

It is a similar situation regarding grey squirrels having been introduced into England a couple of centuries ago. We humans did that - and are now culling the  grey squirrels because they have pushed out the poor red squirrels - which were indigenous to England since the year dot. That is so similar - and equally a crime where we fail to acknowledge our own horrendous mismanagement of nature.

Some people claim that humans are "superior". Sorry, I don't think so. In some areas, we are inferior. We do not live in harmony with nature. We disrupt it.
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#6
(10-20-2018, 09:47 PM)platy Wrote: It is awfully unfair, they're just doing what they do to survive.

Indeed. It is disgustingly unfair. Where are the humans beating their breasts in deep regret and self-recrimination? Where is the "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa"? It isn't there. We should hang our heads in shame. Having created this situation in the first place, we should find a solution other than just always resorting to killing. Humans seem addicted to that.....

(P.S. For those who don't understand the context above: Mea culpa is a Latin phrase that means "through my fault" and is a sincere and deep acknowledgement of having done wrong. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mea_culpa. It is often used figuratively, not in any religious sense).
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#7
(10-21-2018, 01:08 AM)LPC Wrote:
(10-20-2018, 09:47 PM)platy Wrote: It is awfully unfair, they're just doing what they do to survive.

Indeed. It is disgustingly unfair. Where are the humans beating their breasts in deep regret and self-recrimination? Where is the "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa"? It isn't there. We should hang our heads in shame. Having created this situation in the first place, we should find a solution other than just always resorting to killing. Humans seem addicted to that.....

(P.S. For those who don't understand the context above: Mea culpa is a Latin phrase that means "through my fault" and is a sincere and deep acknowledgement of having done wrong. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mea_culpa. It is often used figuratively, not in any religious sense).
There definitely is a group of dedicated people trying their hardest to put a stop to the habitat destruction though. And a lot of people are doing this work for free. It's not that they want to kill sugar gliders, but that swift parrots are critically endangered, not an invasive species in this particular environment and require protection. 

Australia is a disgrace when it comes to endangered species and us conservationists are always between a rock and a hard place.
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#8
It is not an easy situation and the parrots have to be protected. However reducing the habitat destruction would ease some of the pressure on the parrots. If they can spend the money to kill the sugar gliders then they can spend the money to catch them.
It would cost a lot to house the sugar gliders, but humans have an obligation to fix the problem without killing anything.

If you break it, you have to pay for it. Humans broke the ecosystems of many countries so we should have to pay to fix things.

We blindly released animals all over the world and now there are a great many places where introduced species are destroying things for native species. Maybe we need a global discussion on how to deal with this in a humane way.
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Catherine

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#9
It's become even more imperative that sugar glider numbers are reduced. Their predation has caused a shortage of female swift parrots creating a new threat for an already critically threatened species. 

Due to the shortage of females, the birds are becoming polyamorous as males fight for their affections.
These birds are usually monogamous, but now with 3 males for every one female, the nesting females are being constantly harassed by other males to mate.


All of this distraction by other males is reducing their ability to feed themselves and their young and it's dramatically reducing survival rates. The resident male is constantly defending his partner and the female is constantly fighting off other males. It's just one more thing this species has to deal with. And while researchers haven't given up, they are incredibly concerned that this species is another likely to go extinct.
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#10
I believe every word you say. You know a lot about such issues in Australia.

The point I am trying to make is more general - and involves humans recognising that they made this mess in the first place. Putting mistakes right is one thing; but the mistakes should not have been made in the first place. It is the fault of humans. We made this mess. The sugar gliders are innocent victims.

There are important lessons which could be learnt here. But we are not learning them. We go on making the same mistakes, without even bowing our heads once in regret. The quick and easy answer is always kill, kill, kill - then move on to the next "problem", without learning anything from the previous one.

We have a moral obligation to right this wrong without killing innocent creatures, no matter what the cost. I doubt, however, that the Australian authorities view it that way.
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