road kill

[Mark South]

"Mark Thompson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > 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.

Rats are humans biggest enemy after ourselves and viruses. They are directly
responsible for a large amount of 3rd world poverty, destroying over 60% of
crops produced, and about doubling the cost of food production.

They also destroy biodiversity by waging relentless war on birds, insects, and
other mammals.

> Kind of. They're like pigeons but they don't **** on your head.

Yeah, but they pollute your food and your environment and in some cases they
spread airborne viruses that are fatal to humans. Lovely chaps.

Be careful what you wish for.
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

 

[JohnB]

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.

You could say that, but you wouldn't be replying to my post.

John B

 

[Lurch]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 12:03:52 GMT, Graeme
<[email protected]> wrote:


>
>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.

You might care to know then that the whole of the UK was declared a
"Rabbit Free Zone" (way back in the '50's I think) and that land
owners have a legal duty to control rabbit populations.

--
Mark

http://www.gunculture.net

"the subjects... may have arms for their defence"
English Bill of Rights

 

[JohnB]

Robert Bruce wrote:

>
> 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.

They are still there?
I remeber being taken there when i was still in short trousers to see
them (over 40 mumble mumble years ago).
I had an aunt who lived in Formby and i had travelled up by steam train.

John B

 

[MartinM]

Peter Clinch <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Colin Blackburn wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> 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".
>
> While visiting another pal who was working as a ranger in the Grand
> Canyon, we were taking a stroll along the rim and came across a couple
> of touroids feeding the squirrels next to a "please do not feed the
> squirrels" sign. Dave (not in uniform) asked them to desist, they said
> 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
> touroids stage left.

Tilgate park in Crawley has a really neat little wildlife centre with
wild (ish) red squirrels (AWWWW!); they can get out of their cage
through a hole which is too big for grey ones to get in and eat their
food, there are also squirrel feeders on the trees outside which have
a trapdoor, if grey squirrels try to get into them they are too heavy
and fall out, so they have all gone elsewhere and left the reds to
it.There are also albino ones in the wild, lack of greys keeps
predators away. Also some neat MTB trails.

 

[Robert Bruce]

mae <[email protected]> wedi ysgrifennu:
> Robert Bruce wrote:
>
>>
>> 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.
>
> They are still there?

Yes, they're still there. At least they were at this time last year.
Protected by the fact that there are no deciduous woods for many miles
around. Peter Clinch elsewhere in this thread explains that grey squirrels
don't like coniferous forests much.

> I remeber being taken there when i was still in short trousers to see
> them (over 40 mumble mumble years ago).
> I had an aunt who lived in Formby and i had travelled up by steam
> train.

An Aunt in Formby, now there's crachach. The railway is now part of
MerseyRail's Northern Line and all of the trains smell of ****.

--
Rob

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

 

[JohnB]

Robert Bruce wrote:

> An Aunt in Formby, now there's crachach. The railway is now part of
> MerseyRail's Northern Line and all of the trains smell of ****.

Perhaps that's why she moved to Richmond.
But then the trains are SWT and smell of worse :-(

John B

 

[Callas]

[email protected] wrote:
> What would anyone else have done

I would have liked to have killed the animal, because there's no way
it'll recover from such an injury and it's in misery.

But how to do it?

I've wondered about this problem, too.

I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's possible to
drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to provide a quick and
painless death?

--
Callas

 

[Simonb]

Callas wrote:

> I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's possible
> to drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to provide a quick and
> painless death?

If I weren't such a coward, I'd wring its neck. Isn't that the done thing?

 

[JohnB]

Callas wrote:
>
> I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's possible to
> drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to provide a quick and
> painless death?

Can't you test it on a petrolhead first? ;-)

John B

 

[John Hearns]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 12:03:52 +0000, Graeme wrote:

>
> 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.

With respect, you are wrong I think.
The original game of golf was played on links courses,
which are the areas of dunes and grass beside the sea.
The bunkers were sand holes in the dunes, and the holes would have been
areas blown out by the wind.
I might be wrong - but I've never heard that the holes were rabbit holes.

 

[Simon Brooke]

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

> "Simon Brooke" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> in message <[email protected]>, elyob
>> ('[email protected]') wrote:
>>
>> 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.

I didn't say anything about vermin. I wouldn't leave anything which was
mortally injured to die a slow death, no matter how cute it was. If it
can't recover, kill it quick. If it might recover with care and
treatment but you're not, for one reason or another, prepared to offer
that care and treatment, kill it quick. Leaving creatures to suffer is
an abrogation of moral responsibility.

Of course I don't know for certain the squirrels don't enjoy dying
slowly in pain unable to drag themselves to a place of safety. Maybe
they do. But on the balance of probabilities I'm prepared to assume
they don't.

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

---===***<<< This space to let! >>>***===---
Yes! You, too, can SPAM in the Famous Brooke Rotating .sig!
---===***<<< Only $300 per line >>>***===---

 

[Simon Brooke]

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


> 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.

I'm fortunate to live in one of those places where reds are still
common, so I see them often and photograph them now and again, as here
<URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/tmp/squirrel1-detail.jpg>.

I defy you to say he's either scrawny or not cute.

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

Error 1109: There is no message for this error

 

[Carol Hague]

Dave Larrington <[email protected]> wrote:


> It appears that I am not to be made redundant after all, but rather to
> receive a New Job with More Money and all the Womp Rats I can eat. AND I
> get to trouser the fat bribe they gave me to stay an extra three months.
> Yay!

Indeed! Splendiferous news!

Except possibly for the Womp Rats which don't sound particularly
appetising, unless you're a Jawa.

Have some Conga Rats instead!

--
Carol
"You wouldn't like me when I'm happy." - Angel

 

[Gonzalez]

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 18:00:13 +0100, Callas <[email protected]>
wrote:

>[email protected] wrote:
>> What would anyone else have done
>
>I would have liked to have killed the animal, because there's no way
>it'll recover from such an injury and it's in misery.
>
>But how to do it?
>
>I've wondered about this problem, too.
>
>I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's possible to
>drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to provide a quick and
>painless death?

A standard method of suicide in Oxbridge's examination halls is to
stick a pencil up your nose then slam your face, pencil first, down on
the table. I have heard that it is a quick and painless method of
killing oneself, but how anyone knows, I am not quite sure.

So, in this case, the thing to do would be to stick a small allen key
up the hapless squirrel's nose and bang it in hard with a locally
available rock.

 

[David Martin]

On 11/6/04 9:37 pm, in article [email protected],
"Gonzalez" <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 18:00:13 +0100, Callas <[email protected]>
> wrote:

>> [email protected] wrote:
>>> What would anyone else have done

>> I would have liked to have killed the animal, because there's no way
>> it'll recover from such an injury and it's in misery.

>> But how to do it?

>> I've wondered about this problem, too.

> So, in this case, the thing to do would be to stick a small allen key
> up the hapless squirrel's nose and bang it in hard with a locally
> available rock.

Use the technique used for killing rats in the lab..

grab the tail where it exits the body and swing rapidly , bringing the neck
in contact with a hard edge (top tube of the bike would do.) This will break
the neck and kill the creature instantly.

...d

 

[Simon Brooke]

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

> On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 16:42:35 +0200, David Off wrote:
>> 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.

I would not agree in the least. Mind you, it's possible that rabbits
would be in balance with the rest of the ecosystem if people didn't go
around killing their natural predators. But since they do, rabbits are
in suitable habitats a hugely destructive plague, eroding hillsides and
destroying forests. Mind you, the same can be said of sheep (which also
aren't native but have been here for far longer) and red deer (which
probably are native by any reasonable definition).

Bring back the wolf, I says. And I'm not joking.

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

;; better than your average performing pineapple

 

[James Annan]

Gonzalez wrote:


> A standard method of suicide in Oxbridge's examination halls is to
> stick a pencil up your nose then slam your face, pencil first, down on
> the table. I have heard that it is a quick and painless method of
> killing oneself, but how anyone knows, I am not quite sure.

I thought it was a standard story for the students to amuse themselves with.

James

 

[Mark McN]

Reply to Dave Larrington
> Yay! Oddly enough, the Chief Evil SCIENCE Squirrel was here yesterday, so
> if James' injured squirrel was a touch on the portly side, swearing in
> 'melican and answering to the name of "Craig Lathrop"...
>
> It appears that I am not to be made redundant after all, but rather to
> receive a New Job with More Money and all the Womp Rats I can eat
>

Assuming that the Evil Squirrels don't read u.r.c. ;-)


--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

 

[Ambrose Nankivell]

In news:[email protected],
Gonzalez <[email protected]> typed:
> A standard method of suicide in Oxbridge's examination halls is to
> stick a pencil up your nose then slam your face, pencil first, down on
> the table. I have heard that it is a quick and painless method of
> killing oneself, but how anyone knows, I am not quite sure.

http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/pencils.asp