(MY) shooting of squirrels?

[Guest guest]

Question anyone knows how pests are eradicated in your own country?

 

Thanks.

 

 

2007/07/16-New Straits Times

 

Shooting of squirrels: Nothing cruel about this accepted practice

By : TUNKU YUSUF JEWA, Kota Baru

 

 

I DISAGREE with Balbir Singh Khaira of Johor Baru when he said that

the shooting and killing of about 260 squirrels in Bachok, Kelantan,

was uncalled for and a cruel way of treating them ( " Shoo them, not

shoot them " — NST, July 9).

 

He even suggested they should be trapped and transported to other

areas. What? Is he kidding?

 

The idea sounds good but with thousands of squirrels in just one area,

not to mention the length and breadth of Malaysia, it will be an

impossible task.

 

Anyway, who is going to do it? Where will the money come from? Perhaps

relocating a few wild elephants would be okay but not squirrels.

 

I can assure the writer that the killing of 260 squirrels will not

cause a dent in the squirrel population. These animals are treated as

pests (if in large numbers). Being members of the rodent family, they

multiply like rats.

 

Furthermore, the writer thought that the squirrels are cute. Yes, they

may be so but in the hundreds and thousands, they can destroy crops

and strip fruit plantations within a short period, depriving the poor

farmers of their hard-earned livelihood.

 

I am not sure whether the writer knows anything about the method of

culling wild animals declared as pests.

 

In Australia, they shoot kangaroos and wild rabbits to reduce their population.

 

If the writer is not convinced by my explanation, perhaps trapping a

few squirrels and sending them to his garden would make him happier.

 

Only if Balbir Singh owned a fruit orchard would he realise what a

nightmare squirrels can be.

[Guest guest]

I don¹t think that shooting squirrels is a solution either. The population

of squirrels has increased because their predator has been exterminated or

decimated. Even if you shoot them, they populate fast and they will multiply

again. Its much wiser to understand why there are so many.

 

In Mumbai they were planning to kill all the stray dogs. If they do, their

next job will be to kill the huge numbers of rats that had so far been kept

in check by the dogs. Unless of course the rats cause plague fast enough to

exterminate the humans who would have exterminated them.

 

The wiser way needs more thought. I have a friend who had too many rats on

his farm. He built bird houses and put them on trees to attract owls and the

rat problem was solved.

 

Balbir Singh may be thinking beyond his private fruit orchard.

 

Before pointing a finger why not think about what we have done to cause the

problem?

 

Best wishes,

Nandita