Invasive species are no joke. Sure this reaction seems overboard and bizarre enough to be newsworthy but that shouldn't delegitimize the importance of strict biocontrol.
> that shouldn't delegitimize the importance of strict biocontrol.
What makes the current inhabitants of Australia the only rightful inhabitants of Australia? Why is one mix of species better than another? If no animals had been able to migrate long distances throughout the history of the planet, would it have been better?
It is one thing to regulate what animals or plants people can bring, but if an animal undertakes this trip and succeeds, why is it right to kill it instead of letting it be in its new home?
> ecosystem before that system again reaches equilibrium.
How do you know that the system is at equilibrium ("at rest") now? Why is the current ecosystem the most right ecosystem since the birth of the universe? Why should there be no disturbance of the current equilibrium?
And, if we value equilibrium so much, shouldn't we undo the previous disturbance and remove most of the current inhabitants of Australia?
The same reason they kill off mosquitoes, snakes and spiders that come in on boats.
Zero tolerance is only effective if it is _zero_ tolerance.
Invasive species have huge economic impacts, to the point of causing the extinction of local species, and acting as transmission vectors for disease in humans.
Humans are famous for being able to learn by example. People should learn from this that Australian border control is _serious_ about those $100k+ fines they advertise on signs in the airport, and they are perfectly willing to kill cute animals.
For funsies, read up on African swine fever - it was imported into Portugal on infected airline food.
> they are perfectly willing to kill cute animals.
Believe you me I didn't doubt that ... I am pointing out that there is no moral argument for why it is right to kill a little intrepid bird and the practical dividends you think it will pay by being a warning sign are fantasy.
It's possibly instructive at this point to ponder what sort of people it takes to ensure Australia & NZ are one of the very few who stopped COIVD.
We had people prevented from attending their dying parents, and seen tears from mothers kept separated from children, millions of dollars in fines handed out for merely walking in the wrong place or not having a face mask. And now we are flying people out to remote mining camps to do their quarantine.
But very, very few COVID deaths, and zero new local transmissions in the last few days - despite the UK strain being loose for a short while.
In others areas, they took a scorched earth policy to citrus canker https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Sen... ("the disease took 11 years to fully eradicate and resulted in the destruction of every citrus tree north of latitude 19 degrees south"), and completely shut down prawn farming in my area (sending everyone broke) in response to a white spot imported from Chinese pawns.
So yeah, when it comes to quarantine we are monstrous. Pig headed and completely ruthless as well.
They don't care how they arrive. They typically have insect traps in areas of concern (around ports/airports/etc) to track arrivals with aerial spraying when stuff arrives.
No, and in this specific instance there would have been no viable introduction. From the article, I think it's a male bird. But if it happened to be a gravid female then it's possible a population could have gotten started.
Also, all native Hawaiian bee species are decended from a single female bee that landed there millions of years ago. Same thing with their native fruit flies. All from one pregnant female.
Rock Dove (AKA Common Pigeon and Rock Pigeon) have been established in Australia for 150 years[0] so the ship has sailed on that one. Sounds like they're concerned about disease.
Why not just ship it back to the US? Wanting to protect Australian species is perfectly understandable but this isn't the only way to do so. Bureaucrats are terrible people.
Probably, but the sales price of racing pigeons can be in the tens of thousands or even higher. So it depends on whether this is an expensive pigeon...
> Some internet research led Mr Celli-Bird to discover that the bird, which is registered to an owner in Alabama, was last seen during a pigeon race in the western US state of Oregon.
> It is not clear how the bird managed to make the 8,000-mile journey from the west coast of the US to southern Australia, but officials believe he is likely to have hitchhiked on board a cargo vessel.
> Actors Johnny Depp and his then-wife Amber Heard had to issue a video apology after illegally bringing their dogs Pistol and Boo into the country on their private jet in 2015.
Its pretty common for Australian media to dredge up whatever loosely related celebrity news they can tack onto whatever load they're shovelling that day.
The wildest thing to me is that not only did a pigeon manage to cross the ocean, but it just happened to be a trained pigeon that embarked on its journey while participating in a pigeon-race.
It is not clear how the bird managed to make the 8,000-mile journey from the west coast of the US to southern Australia, but officials believe he is likely to have hitchhiked on board a cargo vessel.
This seems most likely to me. There are plenty of penguins over the years that have been kept as "pets" by sailors, then released or escaped in other parts of the world.
For some context, we're pretty strict on quarantine and introduced pests here and have been for a long time. Comedians have often joked that you could walk through an airport with a nuke under your arm but you'd be arrested for a banana. We've also had some huge blunders with introduced species, cane toads have caused a lot of destruction to local eco-systems and the NSW football team.
It's served us well over the years though, many common virus/bacteria/insects that are prevalent in the rest of the world have been kept out of Australia.
There is no quarantine that will work in this case. The bird has a different immune system from the local fauna and could be carrying parasites/viruses/etc that live in harmony with the bird but that would be deadly to the local species.
I can sort of see a risk if there was a pair.. but there's only one. Can pigeons mate outside their species?
I'd give it to Taronga Zoo. The birds there don't really look much more special than pigeons, and are cared after in a controlled environment. Plus the story might make it interesting.
> The pigeon has not yet been caught, but the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment says it will have to be put down because of the _danger of infection to local birds_.
The problem (in this case) isn't the bird breeding, it's infections that it might carry. I can imagine it's possible there's a tonne of diseases it might carry that could be passed to the local native & agricultural bird populations that they have no exposure to.
Australia's relative isolation means that there's many diseases that local animal populations have no immunity to.
Given Australia's general stance on biosecurity, I imagine would not only refuse to pay him seizure of property, but consider fining him for breaching biosecurity rules.
Causing an international incident would be considered a bonus for the publicity it would create.
Why would they pay the owner for "seizure of property"?
The owner of the bird is responsible for the bird. Therefore, the owner is responsible for the bird illegally entering Australia in violation of local customs laws, just as a dog owner would be responsible should their dog bite somebody.
I'm all for returning the bird to the owner but from Australia's perspective, the owner committed a crime. It's ridiculous to suggest that the owner should be compensated for the consequences.
The bird should be returned upon payment of a fine and reimbursement for the costs of finding, capturing and transporting the bird back to the US.
It sounds like the only reason the emaciated pigeon was identified was because it was tagged. It's likely that many more pigeons are regularly crossing the Pacific Ocean without being identified, then mingling with local species with biosecurity implications.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 61.2 ms ] threadWhat makes the current inhabitants of Australia the only rightful inhabitants of Australia? Why is one mix of species better than another? If no animals had been able to migrate long distances throughout the history of the planet, would it have been better?
It is one thing to regulate what animals or plants people can bring, but if an animal undertakes this trip and succeeds, why is it right to kill it instead of letting it be in its new home?
How do you know that the system is at equilibrium ("at rest") now? Why is the current ecosystem the most right ecosystem since the birth of the universe? Why should there be no disturbance of the current equilibrium?
And, if we value equilibrium so much, shouldn't we undo the previous disturbance and remove most of the current inhabitants of Australia?
AU has a history of species being imported by humans and then overtaking native species so it's understandable they'd be concerned.
You do make a good point about animals naturally achieving this on their own. Is human vs animal transport an artificial distinction of its own?
Zero tolerance is only effective if it is _zero_ tolerance.
Invasive species have huge economic impacts, to the point of causing the extinction of local species, and acting as transmission vectors for disease in humans.
For example, the Asian Tiger mosquito:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus#For_humans
This is as much about advertising the "zero tolerance" part, which hopefully results in less meat/fruit smuggled across the border by visitors.
Yup. All the pigeons of the world will now know not to migrate to Australia.
For funsies, read up on African swine fever - it was imported into Portugal on infected airline food.
Give these a read/listen:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/03/its-not-...
https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/39h3xow/did-the-cia...
https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/emhd6j5/did-the-cia...
Believe you me I didn't doubt that ... I am pointing out that there is no moral argument for why it is right to kill a little intrepid bird and the practical dividends you think it will pay by being a warning sign are fantasy.
This is just monstrous people being monstrous.
We had people prevented from attending their dying parents, and seen tears from mothers kept separated from children, millions of dollars in fines handed out for merely walking in the wrong place or not having a face mask. And now we are flying people out to remote mining camps to do their quarantine.
But very, very few COVID deaths, and zero new local transmissions in the last few days - despite the UK strain being loose for a short while.
In others areas, they took a scorched earth policy to citrus canker https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Sen... ("the disease took 11 years to fully eradicate and resulted in the destruction of every citrus tree north of latitude 19 degrees south"), and completely shut down prawn farming in my area (sending everyone broke) in response to a white spot imported from Chinese pawns.
So yeah, when it comes to quarantine we are monstrous. Pig headed and completely ruthless as well.
Conveyed there by humans ... Or, do you have a system for tracking any mosquitos which the wind may have carried from other places?
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/biosecurity/current-alerts/queenslan...
Indicating concern over animals conveyed by humans (wittingly or unwittingly) which is a different category than animals traveling without assistance.
Joking, but only kind of. I guess the fear is inter-species breeding?
That's basically what happened millions of years ago with Hawaii's native birds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drepanidini
Also, all native Hawaiian bee species are decended from a single female bee that landed there millions of years ago. Same thing with their native fruit flies. All from one pregnant female.
[0]https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/rock-dove
> Some internet research led Mr Celli-Bird to discover that the bird, which is registered to an owner in Alabama, was last seen during a pigeon race in the western US state of Oregon.
> It is not clear how the bird managed to make the 8,000-mile journey from the west coast of the US to southern Australia, but officials believe he is likely to have hitchhiked on board a cargo vessel.
> Actors Johnny Depp and his then-wife Amber Heard had to issue a video apology after illegally bringing their dogs Pistol and Boo into the country on their private jet in 2015.
This seems most likely to me. There are plenty of penguins over the years that have been kept as "pets" by sailors, then released or escaped in other parts of the world.
One of our most prominent politicians threatened to euthanise the dogs personally if they didn’t “bugger off back to the United States”.
It's served us well over the years though, many common virus/bacteria/insects that are prevalent in the rest of the world have been kept out of Australia.
I'd give it to Taronga Zoo. The birds there don't really look much more special than pigeons, and are cared after in a controlled environment. Plus the story might make it interesting.
The problem (in this case) isn't the bird breeding, it's infections that it might carry. I can imagine it's possible there's a tonne of diseases it might carry that could be passed to the local native & agricultural bird populations that they have no exposure to.
Australia's relative isolation means that there's many diseases that local animal populations have no immunity to.
They could, ya know, return it. Or hold it for the guy to pick up.
Out of curiosity, are they willing to pay him for the seizure of property, or shall we make an international incident of it?
Causing an international incident would be considered a bonus for the publicity it would create.
(not condoning this, just making the observation)
The owner of the bird is responsible for the bird. Therefore, the owner is responsible for the bird illegally entering Australia in violation of local customs laws, just as a dog owner would be responsible should their dog bite somebody.
I'm all for returning the bird to the owner but from Australia's perspective, the owner committed a crime. It's ridiculous to suggest that the owner should be compensated for the consequences.
The bird should be returned upon payment of a fine and reimbursement for the costs of finding, capturing and transporting the bird back to the US.