road kill

[Nathaniel Porter]

"Graeme" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Rabbits are also a non-native species (introduced by the Normans, or was
> it the Romans?) so, in my books, are prime candidates for eradication.
> For one thing, it has been said that if it weren't for the large areas
> of short grass and numerous holes they left around the Scottish
> countryside, then the game of golf would never have been invented. So
> they are indirectly responsible for Pringle jumpers, boring televised
> competitions and Jimmy Tarbuck et al. Those are grounds for
> extermination if ever there were!
>

Be careful what you wish for - do you *really* want more DIY programming on
BBC2?

 

[Tony B]

> Rabbits are also a non-native species (introduced by the Normans, or was
> it the Romans?) so, in my books, are prime candidates for eradication.

Hopefully you don't cross the species barrier with that philosophy, no doubt
there will be a few peeps with French/Italian surnames hiding from you if
you do...

Tony B

 

[[Not Responding]]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 11:40:29 +0100, "Colin Blackburn"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:25:25 GMT, elyob <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>> "Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>> james wrote:
>>>
>>> > What would anyone else have done
>>>
>>> Exactly what you did.
>>
>> Grey squirrels are vermin.
>
>Odd term. Vermin describes animals that are destructive to crops, game
>birds and domestic animals, ie animals that farmers and gamekeepers don't
>like. Not sure the grey squirrel qualifies.

In my garden I have a row of hazel and a couple of walnut trees. I can
assure you that grey squirrels qualify as vermin by this definition.

My definition of vermin also covers grey, bushy tailed, sharp toothed
creatures that climb into your attic and proceed to remove every last
square millimetre of electrical insulation from your lighting circuit.

It also covers aforementioned vandals that go on to die in said attic
and then decompose into maggot heaven; the residents of which then
fall through the ceiling onto your bathroom floor. In the morning.
When it's dark. And you have bare feet.

By God, I hate squirrels.

 

[Dave Kahn]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 11:35:29 +0100, "Simonb"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
>
>> Plus it might have been one of the Evil Squirrels from the Nut Mines.
>
>Bury the body or burn it? Or hang it high as a lesson to others?

Make it wear a helmet and apply a rotational force.

--
Dave...

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. - Mark Twain

 

[David Martin]

On 11/6/04 2:48 pm, in article [email protected],
"[Not Responding]" <[email protected]> wrote:

> In my garden I have a row of hazel and a couple of walnut trees. I can
> assure you that grey squirrels qualify as vermin by this definition.

<snip>

> By God, I hate squirrels.

I fortunately have moved to the land of the red squirrel which is much
cuter.

I have been somewhat antagonistic towards squirrels since walking in the US
a while back. One chewed through my pack. Another was bold enough to try to
steal my porridge. It was still on a lit gas stove at the time.

Definitely vermin. Unfortunately vermin with good PR. I have run over a rat
before though.

BTW [N R] : How did you get on yesterday? Sitting, standing or resting?

...d

 

[Simonb]

Dave Kahn wrote:

> Make it wear a helmet and apply a rotational force.

Surely not! We all know it is virtually impossible to sustain any kind of
injury whilst sporting such a device.

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, elyob
('[email protected]') wrote:

>
> "Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> james wrote:
>>
>> > What would anyone else have done
>>
>> Exactly what you did.
>
> Grey squirrels are vermin.

That's no reason to leave it suffering. I would have cycled over its
head and crushed its skull. Death is inevitable, but suffering is
unnecessary.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Iraq war: it's time for regime change...
... go now, Tony, while you can still go with dignity.

 

[Mark Thompson]

> A pal of mine is a Parkie, and she regularly distresses the more
> sensitive kids on school visits by describing grey squirrels along the
> lines of "rat with good PR".

People say that as if it makes 'em bad. Rats are lovely little things.
Kind of. They're like pigeons but they don't **** on your head.

 

[David Off]

Simon Brooke wrote:
>
> I would have cycled over its
> head and crushed its skull. Death is inevitable, but suffering is
> unnecessary.
>
sounds like the same logic used by london motorists wrt to cyclist

 

[David Off]

Graeme wrote:

> JohnB <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:
>
> Grey squirrels are an
> introduced species (from America) and they are doing a very succesful
> job of ousting our native red squirrels as they are bigger and more
> agressive.

More pop-anti-grey-squirrel PR. You could say that humans, dogs or cats
are an introduced species doing a good job of wiping out the native
wildlife.

 

[[Not Responding]]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 14:05:02 GMT, Simon Brooke <[email protected]>
wrote:

>in message <[email protected]>, elyob
>('[email protected]') wrote:
>
>>
>> "Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>> james wrote:
>>>
>>> > What would anyone else have done
>>>
>>> Exactly what you did.
>>
>> Grey squirrels are vermin.
>
>That's no reason to leave it suffering. I would have cycled over its
>head and crushed its skull. Death is inevitable, but suffering is
>unnecessary.

I would have done this if I thought I wouldn't have some mad townie
try and bring a prosecution for animal cruelty.

 

[sdorrity]

ISTR reading about somebody deserving a Mention in Despatches for th
Darwin awards by giving their child a cookie or whatever and the
holding said child up to a cuddly brown bear for a photo opportunity

Grey squirrels are vermin, they damage forests and drive out re
squirrles not to mention allegedly taking eggs from nest

AIMH

Steve

Originally posted by Peter Clinch Colin Blackburn wrote

A pal of mine is a Parkie, and she regularly distresses the mor
sensitive kids on school visits by describing grey squirrels along th
lines of "rat with good PR"

While visiting another pal who was working as a ranger in the Gran
Canyon, we were taking a stroll along the rim and came across a coupl
of touroids feeding the squirrels next to a "please do not feed th
squirrels" sign. Dave (not in uniform) asked them to desist, they sai
something about them being so cute and carried on. Dave tries #2 gambit
"Do you know that the squirrels in this park carry bubonic plague?
(they do, fact fans!). That seemed to have more effect, Exit touroid
stage left

Pete


-

 

[Robert Bruce]

mae <[email protected]> wedi ysgrifennu:
> Graeme wrote:
>
>> JohnB <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:
>>
>> Grey squirrels are an
>> introduced species (from America) and they are doing a very succesful
>> job of ousting our native red squirrels as they are bigger and more
>> agressive.
>
> More pop-anti-grey-squirrel PR. You could say that humans, dogs or
> cats are an introduced species doing a good job of wiping out the
> native wildlife.

This was covered a few days ago on a Radio 4 nature programme. The basics
are that red squirrels are rubbish - they don't even eat stuff that British
woodland has in abundance such as acorns. A Barbie doll set lose in the wild
would probably have a competitive advantage. In addition, greys are immune
to one particular disease that's lethal to reds.

In any case, if you've ever seen one close up (the pine forests at Formby in
Merseyside is a good place in traditional roadie terretory) you'll know that
they're scrawny little things and not so cute as you'd expect.

--
Rob

Please keep conversations in the newsgroup so that all may contribute
and benefit.

 

[Trevor Barton]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 16:42:35 +0200, David Off wrote:
> Graeme wrote:
>
>> JohnB <[email protected]> wrote in news:[email protected]:
>>
>> Grey squirrels are an
>> introduced species (from America) and they are doing a very succesful
>> job of ousting our native red squirrels as they are bigger and more
>> agressive.
>
> More pop-anti-grey-squirrel PR. You could say that humans, dogs or cats
> are an introduced species doing a good job of wiping out the native
> wildlife.

Yeah, you have to draw a line somewhere, otherwise all species reduce
to being non-native because originally the earth was popilated only
by pond-slime precursors! 1000 years or so is plently long enough for
the rabbit to be considered native in the UK, but 100 years or so
is not long enough for it to be considered native in Australia. In
the former instance, it's integrated and in balance with the rest of
the ecosystem. In the latter case they're still causing problems for
truly loal wildlife, although I guess these days they could be
regarded as more or less "in balance", but only because native
wildlife is in much smaller numbers than previously, and rabbits
are still being "controlled" by man.

--
Trevor Barton

 

[Trevor Barton]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 15:04:33 +0100, Simonb wrote:
> Dave Kahn wrote:
>
>> Make it wear a helmet and apply a rotational force.
>
> Surely not! We all know it is virtually impossible to sustain any kind of
> injury whilst sporting such a device.

WHich is why it should have been wearing one in the first place.

--
Trevor Barton

 

[Peter Clinch]

Mark Thompson wrote:

> People say that as if it makes 'em bad. Rats are lovely little things.
> Kind of. They're like pigeons but they don't **** on your head.

Domesticated pet rats are lovely little things. Wild ones are, OTOH,
distinctly unpleasant wee bastards by and large.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Peter Clinch]

Robert Bruce wrote:

> This was covered a few days ago on a Radio 4 nature programme. The basics
> are that red squirrels are rubbish - they don't even eat stuff that British
> woodland has in abundance such as acorns.

But they're primarily adapted to native Scots Pine woods, and do quite
well in them 'cause the greys are too heavy to get at the munchies therein.
"British woodland" isn't quite as uniform a medium as you infer.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[james]

what to do with injured squirrel?
"various people wrote"
kill it
squirrels deserve all they get
etc


Don't get me wrong. I am no particular fan of squirrels nor an
anthropomorphic sentimentalist. After the fact, I considered the
option of dispatching it myself but felt that a combination of limited
equipment and appropriate behaviour in a public park and squeamishness
pretty much ruled this out for me.

Perhaps a more remote location would have stimulated me into action
because I would feel more comfortable dispatching the creature once
beyond the gaze of small children and because it is harder to duck an
issue when you are not part of a crowd.

I felt rather troubled by the condition of the injured animal not by
the idea that it was going to die sooner or later.

The bloodstain on the road this morning suggests to me that a
following vehicle ran the beast over eventually.

best wishes
james

 

[Mark South]

"Simon Brooke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> in message <[email protected]>, elyob
> ('[email protected]') wrote:
>
> > "Simonb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >> james wrote:
> >>
> >> > What would anyone else have done
> >>
> >> Exactly what you did.
> >
> > Grey squirrels are vermin.
>
> That's no reason to leave it suffering. I would have cycled over its
> head and crushed its skull. Death is inevitable, but suffering is
> unnecessary.

I wonder whether squirrels would share the peculiarly human view that suffering
should be ended at the cost of shortening life? Anyone ever asked a squirrel?

Is it not possible that everybody wants to kill the squirrel as quickly as
possible so that their own discomfort at being reminded of their own mortality
can end as soon as possible?

Finally, it's easy to make snap decisions about wanting to eradicate vermin.
HOWEVER, every species occupies a niche. In places (like some tropical islands)
where squirrels have been eradicated, guess what has moved in to occupy their
niche? Yes, that's right, RATS! So beware of wishing to get rid of something
that would be replaced by something far worse.
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

 

[Mark South]

"David Off" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Simon Brooke wrote:
> >
> > I would have cycled over its
> > head and crushed its skull. Death is inevitable, but suffering is
> > unnecessary.
> >
> sounds like the same logic used by london motorists wrt to cyclist

"I don't like it, I'd be uncomfortable in its place, better crush it."