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From: Faure, Marin (no email)
Date: Wed Dec 01 2004 - 16:47:26 EST
>...they are one of the most destructive birds around - ask any tern who
is trying to raise its young. To say nothing of Eiders and other
species. So IMHO people who feed them should be shot at dawn...
While it would be nice to think we all just got along, the reality is
that everything eats something else. Take Orcas (aka killer whales
which are actually big porpoises, not whales in the traditional sense of
the word). They are described as "cute," "gentle," "loving,"
"intelligent," "friendly," "family oriented," and a host of other
endearing terms usually thought up by the evening news dweebs to go with
their helicopter footage of a pod of Orcas meandering its way through
Puget Sound. Ever seen an Orca take a seal pup? I have and it's not
cute, gentle, loving, or friendly. After they finish tossing it around
for awhile it's dinner. Orcas, otters, Koala bears-- all the animals
that are so often used as examples of friendly, furry folk, are in
reality cold-blooded killers (except the leaf-eating Koala bear which is
just plain mean).
I've filmed on some of the little islands that are restricted-access
bird sanctuaries in the Hawaiian chain (which stretches from the Big
Island of Hawaii to Midway). When you step ashore on one of these
totally remote and human-free islands, you find two things. A whole
bunch of seabirds trying to raise their young, and a whole bunch of
other seabirds trying to eat them. That's just the way it is.
If we didn't have seagulls (and crows and ravens and eagles) eating
things like dead pigeons, dead fish, dead crabs, dead sea lions and all
the other crap-- half of it ours-- that ends up on or in docks,
boathouse roofs, beaches, bays, and shorelines we'd have a lot more than
seagull poop to complain about. This is why there are no seagulls in
Hawaii-- the marine food chain is very short in that part of the Pacific
(which I learned in Oceanography 101 at the U of H is why the water in
Hawaii is so blue and clear). You don't get the huge volumes of seaweed
and plankton and other little critters that result in all sorts of yummy
dead stuff on the beaches. Not counting man's garbage, there is simply
nothing in Hawaii that meets the gulls' natural dietary requirements.
That plus the extreme distances from their traditional haunts is why
there are none there. I suspect if some were introduced into Hawaii
today they'd probably find enough McDonalds and Burger King remains to
survive.
As to people feeding the gulls, it doesn't bother me. We do it all the
time to get rid of stale bread and last night's leftovers when we're out
on the boat. We're not going to eat it so something might as well get
some use out of it. The gulls get first crack, and if they miss it's
the crabs' turn next.
______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
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