I become totally incensed by needlessly attaching tracking devices, or numbers, onto wild animals. This is a picture of some effing university scientist 'tagging' a whale shark.I have two questions. Why do these people think it so necessary to go around tagging every wild creature they come across? And secondly, who gives them the effing permission to do so?
Of course I can appreciate the desire to understand certain elements of migration, breeding patterns, and species quantities, but on the principal that wild animals either belong to no-one or to everyone, how come MY or YOUR permission has never been sought for tag-requiring-studies?
Why can't we just leave wild animals alone, it's the human intervention that does them so much harm. Our Zoos seem to be filled with named, tagged, and numbered endangered species; all there for 'conservation purposes'. A few years back some zoo-bred wolves and bears were 're-introduced into the wild', onto the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain (at huge expense). These human-trusting creatures survive by eating sheep, so the local farmers shot them. So much for 'zoological conservation'.
Yes Cro and so say all of us!.what are they thiking? and just what do they do with the information?,we all know the route the whales take every year so what more do we need to know? someone can sit upon a seaside hill and do a count that would be enough....anyway they only are a law unto themselves these people and our voice does not count, they are eternally doing that to sharks here and we go into their teritory to do this,we should let them be in their world.Carole
ReplyDeleteIt may just be a justification for a research grant, Cro - equally gratuitous. At least these creatures are only tagged - the Japanese have a licence to kill a few thousand a year for 'research' purposes, and these animals end up on the plates of fancy restaurants.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree.
ReplyDeleteIn Canada the Inuit have never approved of the tagging of the polar bears. Apparently the neck worn device is large and it prevents them from poking their heads far enough down ice holes looking for fish.
ReplyDeleteI can see one justifiable reason, and that is to keep track of certain species to monitor reactions to climate change and other environmental effect. I do believe they care about the animals and are doing it for their (the animals) ultimate benefit, but it is hard to watch, and it seems there has to be a less disruptive means to gather the information. I mean, what human wants to be shot with a dart, then probed by numerous creatures and left with a tacky earring?
ReplyDeleteOkay, you got me started.
The funny thing is, if you watch one of those National Geographic videos where they show a pack of deer that are starving mid-winter, the announcer will say, "Sadly, we humans could not interfere . . . the babies died two days later." Sure, they refuse to make contact then, but they can tag everything is sight whenever they want and collect a million on their videos.
Sadly, evidence of man's (woman's too) delusions of superiority. We think we know best. Disrespectful of the animals, I say.
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