Suchergebnisse

During the past decade, India has done wonders in re-establishing populations of rare and threatened wildlife. Project Tiger, initiated in 1973, has stimulated a successful conservation movement in India. But tigers, like all animals, do not recognize man's property lines and, as populations increase in the forest reserves, more and more tigers forage outside of the parks, killing livestock and people. The current methods and regulations of dealing with troublesome tigers (and elephants) that stray from the sanctuaries due to overpopulation social pressures, lack of food, old age, or other reasons may soon become inadequate as the value of human life increases and for other reasons. Whenever wildlife fs being protected, the population must also be managed and controlled as needed.

Vertebrate pest problems are foremost economic, political and social rather than biological anomalies. Students are often turned away from vertebrate control, which is applied ecology, by professors who know only theory and do not understand the ecology of man-modified environments. Applied ecologists seeking alternative methods of vertebrate control benefit environment far more than the negative, anti-control approach based on half-truths that are used for self-serving purposes by many protectionist organizations and government leaders in CEQ, EPA and USDI. A healthy ethic, with deep ecological conscience, would be to appreciate the glory of death in nature, for death means life to other individuals within a species. A vertebrate control operation has benefit factors other than the individual or species being controlled, whereas the objective of wildlife management favors the well-being of local populations of the species in question. Since Land-Grant Universities are geared for research and extension support from the USDA, it is a mistake to have the responsibility for vertebrate pest control in the conservation wildlife-management oriented Fish and Wildlife Service of USDI.

Compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) is a uniquely selective predacide for controlling coyotes, compared to other predacides. In addition to discussing the biological aspects of 1080, the reasons for the current emotional-political status of 1080 are also reviewed because the biological rationale concerning 1080 has been largely determined by a conspiracy orchestrated in 1972 by an individual of the Council on Environmental Quality but assisted by others from the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency. Many of the distortions about 1080 can also be traced to environmental organizations which still use 1080 as an issue which they can be "anti" in order to solicit funds from the public. This paper is an attempt to clarify the true biological facts about 1080 and to expose the political conspiracies against 1080 by government and environmental organizations.