Man Kills Heron To Save Duckling

[Timbo]

Has anyone else seen this horror story? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43555366

[Londonlad1985]

People never cease to amaze me! I can kind of see the man's point of view if you anthropomorphise nature which people often do then you get a big bully heron picking on a defenceless baby duck. Perhaps he had his own problems too as the article says he was vulnerable. Very sad in all respects.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Timbo said:

Has anyone else seen this horror story? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-43555366

Nope n still wishing I hadn't really its barbaric and ridiculous  , does he kill herons when they eat fish ? , amazingly this story is from 2017 , all in all he got what he deserved , maybe he'll learn that animals eat other animals its the law of the jungle , OK its not nice but neither is slaughtering a heron , more education required I think but a sad story no matter which way you look at it .

[MauriceMynah]

Ahh ha,  here's one to get your teeth into, and Ricardo, I'm coming for you on this,  just for the fun of it. :-)

As soon as moral issues are raised, so are questions. Should I kill a worm to catch a fish which I immediately release? Should I set rat traps where I have an infestation, albeit where that infestation causes me no harm just mild inconvenience? Should I fish at all if it's not for the pot? And finally (for now) should not the RSPB be congratulating the man for rescuing a bird.

I can understand why rare birds, or any other rare life forms should be protected, but neither the duckling, nor the heron is rare. What of pigeons which are (with of course the exception of one) thought of as vermin. What of pheasant, grouse or partridge. are they not also often shot (or more often missed by CG, (You started it Griff :-) ) )   ....   ( not to mention, how many close brackets can I justify at the end of a sentence?)

So, Leaving to one side for the moment the "Vulnerability" of the man in question, was he actually wrong to take the action he did? Sheep farmers are within their rights to shoot any animal worrying their sheep, should we dress dogs in fancy coats thus anthropomorphising them?

I suppose part of my standpoint is that as a fish pond owner, I don't care much for herons, but I do like ducklings, but more importantly I don't like laws that are by their very nature hypocritical, I don't like the RSPB which is also hypocritical, and I don't like people in towns applying their moral standpoint to country situations.

If I had been in that mans situation, I would probably done the same!!! Oh and as far as I can see, it was the heron that was vulnerable, not the bloke!

[MauriceMynah]

Oh...   And another thing...

When I was living in my sisters house, I was never more than 25 metres from a public foot path. I had a cage style rat trap set near my store of used veg oil. I caught a grey squirrel in it. What could I have done that would have been within the law?

[Guest]

Love it MM n so glad this little fella ain't vermin  , animals will eat other animals but I'm not sure that the slaughter of a bird to attempt to recover another is ethical as the duckling may well have been already dead having been eaten .

To me we should just let them get on with their life's they do OK as it is without human intervention , even if we armed them they couldn't mess up as much as mankind seams to .

[grendel]

it brings up the question - people have all sorts of pets, some have mice, some rats, some ferrets (never heard of a pet squirrel, but I reckon somebody may have had one).

was the duckling the mans pet?

I mean, if one of my cats was attacked by a dog, I wouldnt hesitate to step in, hell if it was attacked by a rare eagle I would still step in to defend my cat.

I just say, that if the bird was a pet, that might justify the actions of the man more than if it was just a wild duckling.

[Vaughan]

This is why nature allows ducks to produce a clutch of about 12 young, of which only about 3 will become adults. They reckon that more newly hatched ducklings are taken by pike, than by herons. It's just that you don't see the pike doing it. One second the little duckling is there - the next second, it ain't.

And now of course, we have the cuddly otter to consider. What are they feeding on, I wonder?

[Londonlad1985]

4 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

And now of course, we have the cuddly otter to consider. What are they feeding on, I wonder?

Good points.

There was an incredible video on FB of an Otter biting a goose in Wroxham. I'll post the link if I can find it.

[Londonlad1985]

Otter eats goose.

I'm not sure if you need to be a user to see it.

[wombat nee blownup]

I think the chap was right. I can see a tall scrawny bird that also eats fish that otherwise we could have eaten. I can also see a lovely cute fluffy little thing that will make many go aaaah! Then it will grow older giving us plenty more little fluffy things for us to go aaaah! at. Its obviously female because its beak is open. Think of all the pillows they could stuff between them, then later on, gas mark 5 with an orange in its mouth? Its a no brainer. The old boy done good.  Theres pretty look you.

[Vaughan]

20 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

What of pheasant, grouse or partridge. are they not also often shot (or more often missed by CG, (You started it Griff :-) ) )   ....   ( not to mention, how many close brackets can I justify at the end of a sentence?)

Not quite sure how you justified the third one there old chap, but not to worry.   

I just wanted to mention that naturalists and countrymen consider that if pheasant and partridge were not deliberately reared by farmers for game shooting on their estates, then they would no longer exist naturally in the English countryside. Note English, not Scottish or Welsh.  

It is also true that farmland in rural counties such as Norfolk would not have the "natural" look that it does, if it were not for game shooting, since the hedge-rows, copses, spinneys and woods are maintained by the farmers as a habitat for the game birds. You might notice a wheat field with a strip of kale being grown at one end near the hedge. That's not just for eating - it is mainly as cover for the pheasants!

[ChrisB]

The feed put down for game birds also supports vast numbers of song birds during the Winter months.

[MauriceMynah]

(or more often missed by CG, (You started it Griff :-) ) ) 

First close bracket was the smiley, second was end of "You started it Grif" and third was the completed item as written above. :-)

However, back to the main point, don't get me wrong. I have no problem with anything being killed as vermin, a pest or for the pot. I'm pro game shooting, wildfowling and rough shooting. I had a friend who was a member of the BASC (or as I called it, British association for slaughter and carnage just to wind him up). and agreed with it's concept.  I was pretty much on the fence on fox hunting but anti hare coursing (waste of a good hare!)

Nature is red in tooth and claw, I know that, but in the case of man rescuing one animal by killing another is a far greyer area and it leaves me asking, Why are so many people so upset at the man who successfully rescued a duckling ?

[SANTED]

For M.M...

Re- your grey squirrel caught in a trap

Wildlife and country side act says it is an offence to release back into the wild any grey squirrel caught in a trap. It must be humanely dispatched as it is illegal to release it back into the wild

Some time ago the RSPCA successfully prosecuted a man who trapped and drowned a grey squirrel

[MauriceMynah]

Agreed SANTED, but how to humanely dispatch if not drowning. I can't shoot it, I'm to near the public footpath to discharge an air gun.

[SANTED]

They suggest that you take it to a vet who will dispatch it for you for a fee

[MauriceMynah]

Yeah, right!

[High6]

Yeah, right!

Cage, car boot, field, pop.

R. I. P.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

[Cockatoo]

On 29/03/2018 at 11:36, MauriceMynah said:

Oh...   And another thing...

When I was living in my sisters house, I was never more than 25 metres from a public foot path. I had a cage style rat trap set near my store of used veg oil. I caught a grey squirrel in it. What could I have done that would have been within the law?

I'd have handed it it at my local police station :)

[ranworthbreeze]

13 minutes ago, SteveDuk said:

I'd have handed it it at my local police station :)

I sadly had to report that I had knocked over a sheep in Derbyshire many years ago. I went to a police station near where I worked to report the incident, there was a lot of head scratching by the sergeant and the pc on duty at the desk whether it needed reporting or not. These days you can not even park at a police station.

Regards

Alan