Non-controversial science news.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Australia to shoot 6,000 kangaroos
Killings intended to protect plants and insects; conservationists outraged

pdated 8:27 a.m. CT, Fri., May 8, 2009

CANBERRA, Australia - Australia's army has started shooting 6,000 kangaroos to thin their population on an army training ground near the capital, an official said Friday, outraging conservationists who have vowed to protest.

The killings are intended to protect endangered plants and insects that share the grassy habitat with the kangaroos. A much smaller slaughter of 400 kangaroos on another Defense Department site in Canberra last year was disrupted by protesters.

Civilian marksmen contracted by the department began shooting the kangaroos on Tuesday night at Defense's Majura Training Area, where an estimated 9,000 of the wild marsupials roam, Army Brig. Brian Dawson told reporters.

(Balance of article at link above.)

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Of course, if they rounded them up and sent them to an abattoir and 'humanely' killed them with a bolt into the head in order to be processed as meat - replacing the far less eco-friendly sheep( the methane farting bastits!), the same protestors would probably be creaming themselves with love-glitter and happiness!

(This from a (more or less) vegetarian that hates knee-jerk liberals far more than carnivores!) :pissed:

[Chinaski]

Switzerland keeps its deer population in check by sponsoring hunting clubs, combining sport and tradition with ecological stabilizing. Why doesn't Australia do the same? If there are too many Kangaroos, and they can be eaten...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Switzerland keeps its human population in check by sponsoring hunting clubs, combining sport and tradition with ecological stabilizing. Why doesn't Australia do the same? If there are too many humans, and they can be eaten...

[Chinaski]

Switzerland keeps its human population in check by sponsoring hunting clubs, combining sport and tradition with ecological stabilizing. Why doesn't Australia do the same? If there are too many humans, and they can be eaten...

What, you're saying a human's life has the same value as an animal's?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Switzerland keeps its human population in check by sponsoring hunting clubs, combining sport and tradition with ecological stabilizing. Why doesn't Australia do the same? If there are too many humans, and they can be eaten...

What, you're saying a human's life has the same value as an animal's?

Some people like deer meat, some people like 'roo meat, some people like . . .

[Chinaski]

Switzerland keeps its human population in check by sponsoring hunting clubs, combining sport and tradition with ecological stabilizing. Why doesn't Australia do the same? If there are too many humans, and they can be eaten...

What, you're saying a human's life has the same value as an animal's?

Some people like deer meat, some people like 'roo meat, some people like . . .

I'm gonna be a bigot here and say that a human life is more valuable than a kangaroo life.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'm gonna be a bigot here and say that a human life is more valuable than a kangaroo life.

You certainly have the right to say that, but on the larger scheme of things, if we "weed" a species because it's too prolific and is destroying its environment, becoming diseased, and being a problem for all the other animals in the area, the prime target for weeding would be obvious.

[Chinaski]

I'm gonna be a bigot here and say that a human life is more valuable than a kangaroo life.

You certainly have the right to say that, but on the larger scheme of things, if we "weed" a species because it's too prolific and is destroying its environment, becoming diseased, and being a problem for all the other animals in the area, the prime target for weeding would be obvious.

True. I haven't decided whether it's a sign of evolutionary superiority or disease-like parasitism.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

True. I haven't decided whether it's a sign of evolutionary superiority or disease-like parasitism.

We're a disaster for the rest of the planet, IMHO. If you get a chance, see the series "After Humans". It considers how the Earth will recover from our presence if we all disappeared at once. May be on Youtube, I haven't looked.

[Chinaski]

True. I haven't decided whether it's a sign of evolutionary superiority or disease-like parasitism.

We're a disaster for the rest of the planet, IMHO. If you get a chance, see the series "After Humans". It considers how the Earth will recover from our presence if we all disappeared at once. May be on Youtube, I haven't looked.

I know that, I just meant I don't know if our dominance over the entire planet is a sign of prowess or not. We seem to be the most evolved species on the planet so far.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I know that, I just meant I don't know if our dominance over the entire planet is a sign of prowess or not. We seem to be the most evolved species on the planet so far.

T-rex was highly evolved. But the sauropods weren't cheering when he came along.

[Chinaski]

I know that, I just meant I don't know if our dominance over the entire planet is a sign of prowess or not. We seem to be the most evolved species on the planet so far.

T-rex was highly evolved. But the sauropods weren't cheering when he came along.

Maybe the ends justifies the means Was T-rex more important to the evolutionary scale than his victims?

It's not really a fair analogy, though, as T-rex didn't follow the same patterns as human beings do.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Maybe the ends justifies the means Was T-rex more important to the evolutionary scale than his victims?

It's not really a fair analogy, though, as T-rex didn't follow the same patterns as human beings do.

Well, he didn't kill 6,000 sauropods at one time, so you're right, it's not fair to T. Rex.

[Chinaski]

Maybe the ends justifies the means Was T-rex more important to the evolutionary scale than his victims?

It's not really a fair analogy, though, as T-rex didn't follow the same patterns as human beings do.

Well, he didn't kill 6,000 sauropods at one time, so you're right, it's not fair to T. Rex.

I meant the T-rex species didn't multiply and expand at the same rate as humans. For example, he wasn't able to beat the climate, and was subject to nature-willed death as well as his sauropods. He occupied his ideal niche, something humans have learned to escape. Whether our ability to leave our evolutionary niche is indicatory of our prowess or not, I do not know.