IN - Snake charmers continue to defy government

[Guest guest]

[image: Snake charmers continue to defy government]

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial & id=1232 & catID=4

Wednesday September 2nd 2009

 

*Raktim Das*, 36, is known to many as the 'Snake Man of India'. He is the

founder of the Bedia Federation of India, the only organisation of snake

charmers in the country, where the profession has been banned since 1972.

Despite the ban it is estimated that some 200,000 snake-charmers remain in

India. Das, who organised a public demonstration in Kolkata in February

defying the law, says the only way the Bedian tribes can hope to survive is

if the government removes snakes from the list of endangered wildlife

 

Wednesday September 2nd 2009

 

[image: Lead article

photo]<http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial & id=1232 & catID=4>

 

Raktim Das. Photograph: supplied by Anthony Das

 

I was going to a workshop in the afternoon and as my motorbike climbed a

steep bridge, my mobile phone rang. I stopped the bike and took the call.

The man at the end of the line, calling from Mukundapur village, a few miles

from Kolkata, was frantic.

 

The villagers had caught a huge Russell's viper and had speared it to the

ground by its tail. Nobody wanted to go near it, which is unsurprising as

the Russell's viper is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. The

man wanted me to go to the village and kill the snake.

 

I smiled as I heard this. If he wanted the snake to be killed, then I was

the wrong choice to do it. My life's mission is to save snakes, especially

in a country like India where thousands of tonnes of wheat and rice crop are

destroyed annually by mice. Snakes love mice and the more snakes we have

near our homes and granaries, the safer the crop will be. It is important

here to break the myths that snakes attack without provocation. They never

do that. So if there is a snake moving around near your premises, there is

no cause for alarm. Just do not step on it.

 

However, as I told the man on the end of the line to stay calm, I revved my

bike and rushed towards the village. What I saw was pathetic. Here was a

lovely snake – speared to the ground and writhing in agony – and people were

throwing stones at it. In no time it would be dead.

 

I warned the crowd to stay away and moved near the viper. It was writhing in

the ground trying to set itself free from the spear. As I moved towards it

from behind and made a dash for its head, I momentarily lost my focus. It

took a split second for the viper to strike at my right wrist.

 

It was like fire scorching my right hand. But I held onto the snake with my

left hand and it was soon overpowered. The villagers wanted to set it alight

but despite the fact that the venom was spreading and I would soon lose

consciousness, I bandaged the reptile where it had been injured. Then I set

it free near the banks of a river. It slithered away to safety.

 

I do not remember much of what happened later. I had to travel 10 miles on

my motorbike again and I ended up spending 12 days in the intensive care

unit of the local hospital. My friends had given me up for dead but I

recovered after 10 anti-venom shots. Nobody from the Wildlife Department of

India even bothered to send me a get-well card.

 

Not that it matters, but fact is I end up doing the government's job though

it is the same government which has lodged a case against me for defying the

Wildlife Protection Act [which outlawed snake charming in 1972] and

promoting the cause of the banned snake-charmers.

 

My first foray into the world of snake-charmers came when I visited the

remote village of Bishnupur in the eastern Indian province of West Bengal as

a teenager. I was amazed to find a community where children grew up among

snakes, their fathers practised snake-charming as a profession and dealt

with reptiles all the time. The kids treated snakes as playthings and I was

told that knowledge about snakes was passed down the generations. Snakes

were nothing to be scared of here; they were the bread and butter of around

800,000 snake-charmers in India at that time.

 

All wildlife animals are forbidden to be part of any trade, including

circuses. snake-charmers are perpetually on the run in India. Thousands of

them are in jail without having hurt even a fly.

 

There no official records but there are at least 600,000 snake bite cases

annually and it is only the snake-charmers who know the remedy and first-aid

therapy. Most of the time, city doctors have no clue.

 

Two years ago I rallied the snake-charmers and founded the India Bedia

Association. Bedia, for those who do not know, is a tribe in India, famous

for being snake-charmers. On February 7 this year, the Association mobilised

a huge gathering in the middle of Kolkata city to publicise its demands but

the government has, to date, not reacted. The law is creating criminals. In

order to earn some money, snake-charmers have to fashion pendants and magic

cures which they sell in the villages.

 

I have just returned from a tour of Europe on the invitation of the

government of Cyprus and I must say the level of awareness abroad is immense

and it is sad that in India, where snakes were present in almost every rural

household, reptiles are killed indiscriminately or sold for tuppence to

those dealing in snake venom. The Association demands that snakes be taken

out of the Wildlife List. They are present in households throughout rural

India and live close to humans. How can they treated on a par with tigers?

 

An uneducated, poor snake-charmer is forced to part with a snake for as low

as £1 by the the elite drug manufacturing companies who produce anti-venom.

In turn, the same snake spills venom worth £150 for every 10g which is the

maximum one discharge can produce in 15 days. If a snake-charmer has two

snakes, he ought to be earning at £300 a month. That same snake can

discharge venom every 15 days for seven years at least. In the black market,

the value goes up to around £1,500 per 10g. The loss to the snake-charmer is

huge but there is nothing he can do about it.

 

The snake-charmers, who can be roughly divided into 64 sects in India, have

one language, the Maangta ( literally: to beg) which does not have a script.

Their ancestors served as spies for the rajahs and no script evolved. This

language was used only among the tribes as information moved from one secret

agent to another. It is interesting that in modern India, the Bedians are

perhaps the only tribe who are divided into so many groups but have one

common language.

 

India has over 270 types of snake, of which around 60 are poisonous. But

there is a tendency to kill snakes once they are seen. That does not make

sense. I have saved around 500 snakes in the last two years alone. A snake

will never bite unless it is provoked. Also, various films made both in

India and Hollywood only help to consolidate the myth about these animals,

all of which is bunkum. Everybody is out to make a fast buck from snakes,

but it is the snake-charmer who is suffering.

 

*• Raktim Das was interviewed by Anthony Dias, a freelance journalist based

in Kolkata*

 

--

Lucia de Vries

Freelance Journalist

Nepal - Netherlands

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

It is not surprising that Snake charmers would defy govt! Everyone knows that

bans in India are ineffective.

And also considering the fact that India is full of superstitions and witch

craft, no one would try and do anything sunbstantial to curb these Bedia ppl. As

they are tribals and prone to performing witch-craft. As compared to the bedia

ppl in Jharkhand, whose sole occupation is agriculture, the kolkata based bedias

use snakes as a source of earning their livelihood so why wudnt they try and

protest to retain it? They worship snakes...and so would try everything in their

power to retain their hold on their only source of income!

They also have a blog-spot to spread awareness abt the same -

http://bediafedin.blogspot.com/2008/01/1st-bedia-conference.html

This indicates that they are not as 'backward' as they are wont to make us

believe!

 

Regards

Radhika Singh

(I) C.A.R.E India

(Center for Animal Rescue Rehab and Environment Protection)

_________

" Take nothing but pictures,

Leave nothing but fooprints,

Kill nothing but time "

_________

 

 

" USE LESS PAPER AND SAVE A TREE "

_________

 

 

 

 

________________________________

lucia de vries <luciadevries

aapn ; manoj gautam <scilab25

Thursday, 3 September, 2009 9:18:29 PM

IN - Snake charmers continue to defy government

 

[image: Snake charmers continue to defy government]

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial & id=1232 & catID=4

Wednesday September 2nd 2009

 

*Raktim Das*, 36, is known to many as the 'Snake Man of India'. He is the

founder of the Bedia Federation of India, the only organisation of snake

charmers in the country, where the profession has been banned since 1972.

Despite the ban it is estimated that some 200,000 snake-charmers remain in

India. Das, who organised a public demonstration in Kolkata in February

defying the law, says the only way the Bedian tribes can hope to survive is

if the government removes snakes from the list of endangered wildlife

 

Wednesday September 2nd 2009

 

[image: Lead article

photo]<http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial & id=1232 & catID=4>

 

Raktim Das. Photograph: supplied by Anthony Das

 

I was going to a workshop in the afternoon and as my motorbike climbed a

steep bridge, my mobile phone rang. I stopped the bike and took the call.

The man at the end of the line, calling from Mukundapur village, a few miles

from Kolkata, was frantic.

 

The villagers had caught a huge Russell's viper and had speared it to the

ground by its tail. Nobody wanted to go near it, which is unsurprising as

the Russell's viper is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. The

man wanted me to go to the village and kill the snake.

 

I smiled as I heard this. If he wanted the snake to be killed, then I was

the wrong choice to do it. My life's mission is to save snakes, especially

in a country like India where thousands of tonnes of wheat and rice crop are

destroyed annually by mice. Snakes love mice and the more snakes we have

near our homes and granaries, the safer the crop will be. It is important

here to break the myths that snakes attack without provocation. They never

do that. So if there is a snake moving around near your premises, there is

no cause for alarm. Just do not step on it.

 

However, as I told the man on the end of the line to stay calm, I revved my

bike and rushed towards the village. What I saw was pathetic. Here was a

lovely snake – speared to the ground and writhing in agony – and people were

throwing stones at it. In no time it would be dead.

 

I warned the crowd to stay away and moved near the viper. It was writhing in

the ground trying to set itself free from the spear. As I moved towards it

from behind and made a dash for its head, I momentarily lost my focus. It

took a split second for the viper to strike at my right wrist.

 

It was like fire scorching my right hand. But I held onto the snake with my

left hand and it was soon overpowered. The villagers wanted to set it alight

but despite the fact that the venom was spreading and I would soon lose

consciousness, I bandaged the reptile where it had been injured. Then I set

it free near the banks of a river. It slithered away to safety.

 

I do not remember much of what happened later. I had to travel 10 miles on

my motorbike again and I ended up spending 12 days in the intensive care

unit of the local hospital. My friends had given me up for dead but I

recovered after 10 anti-venom shots. Nobody from the Wildlife Department of

India even bothered to send me a get-well card.

 

Not that it matters, but fact is I end up doing the government's job though

it is the same government which has lodged a case against me for defying the

Wildlife Protection Act [which outlawed snake charming in 1972] and

promoting the cause of the banned snake-charmers.

 

My first foray into the world of snake-charmers came when I visited the

remote village of Bishnupur in the eastern Indian province of West Bengal as

a teenager. I was amazed to find a community where children grew up among

snakes, their fathers practised snake-charming as a profession and dealt

with reptiles all the time. The kids treated snakes as playthings and I was

told that knowledge about snakes was passed down the generations. Snakes

were nothing to be scared of here; they were the bread and butter of around

800,000 snake-charmers in India at that time.

 

All wildlife animals are forbidden to be part of any trade, including

circuses. snake-charmers are perpetually on the run in India. Thousands of

them are in jail without having hurt even a fly.

 

There no official records but there are at least 600,000 snake bite cases

annually and it is only the snake-charmers who know the remedy and first-aid

therapy. Most of the time, city doctors have no clue.

 

Two years ago I rallied the snake-charmers and founded the India Bedia

Association. Bedia, for those who do not know, is a tribe in India, famous

for being snake-charmers. On February 7 this year, the Association mobilised

a huge gathering in the middle of Kolkata city to publicise its demands but

the government has, to date, not reacted. The law is creating criminals. In

order to earn some money, snake-charmers have to fashion pendants and magic

cures which they sell in the villages.

 

I have just returned from a tour of Europe on the invitation of the

government of Cyprus and I must say the level of awareness abroad is immense

and it is sad that in India, where snakes were present in almost every rural

household, reptiles are killed indiscriminately or sold for tuppence to

those dealing in snake venom. The Association demands that snakes be taken

out of the Wildlife List. They are present in households throughout rural

India and live close to humans. How can they treated on a par with tigers?

 

An uneducated, poor snake-charmer is forced to part with a snake for as low

as £1 by the the elite drug manufacturing companies who produce anti-venom.

In turn, the same snake spills venom worth £150 for every 10g which is the

maximum one discharge can produce in 15 days. If a snake-charmer has two

snakes, he ought to be earning at £300 a month. That same snake can

discharge venom every 15 days for seven years at least. In the black market,

the value goes up to around £1,500 per 10g. The loss to the snake-charmer is

huge but there is nothing he can do about it.

 

The snake-charmers, who can be roughly divided into 64 sects in India, have

one language, the Maangta ( literally: to beg) which does not have a script.

Their ancestors served as spies for the rajahs and no script evolved. This

language was used only among the tribes as information moved from one secret

agent to another. It is interesting that in modern India, the Bedians are

perhaps the only tribe who are divided into so many groups but have one

common language.

 

India has over 270 types of snake, of which around 60 are poisonous. But

there is a tendency to kill snakes once they are seen. That does not make

sense. I have saved around 500 snakes in the last two years alone. A snake

will never bite unless it is provoked. Also, various films made both in

India and Hollywood only help to consolidate the myth about these animals,

all of which is bunkum. Everybody is out to make a fast buck from snakes,

but it is the snake-charmer who is suffering.

 

*• Raktim Das was interviewed by Anthony Dias, a freelance journalist based

in Kolkata*

 

--

Lucia de Vries

Freelance Journalist

Nepal - Netherlands

[Guest guest]

The problem is that there is no will or effort to apply the law. Nor are

most people - especially in the rural areas - aware that there is a ban.

 

The festival of Nag Panchami is also an occasion for killing snakes by

worshipping them. Snakes are force-fed milk in huge quantities till they

die.

 

If India protected its snakes, we need not import large quantities of

pesticides, as the snake is the best pest controller. Unfortunately, this

does not suit large multi-nationals who want to make a quick buck by

poisoning our food.

 

Nanditha Krisha

 

On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 11:43 AM, Radhika Singh

<princess_rads10wrote:

 

>

>

> It is not surprising that Snake charmers would defy govt! Everyone knows

> that bans in India are ineffective.

> And also considering the fact that India is full of superstitions and witch

> craft, no one would try and do anything sunbstantial to curb these Bedia

> ppl. As they are tribals and prone to performing witch-craft. As compared to

> the bedia ppl in Jharkhand, whose sole occupation is agriculture, the

> kolkata based bedias use snakes as a source of earning their livelihood so

> why wudnt they try and protest to retain it? They worship snakes...and so

> would try everything in their power to retain their hold on their only

> source of income!

> They also have a blog-spot to spread awareness abt the same -

> http://bediafedin.blogspot.com/2008/01/1st-bedia-conference.html

> This indicates that they are not as 'backward' as they are wont to make us

> believe!

>

> Regards

> Radhika Singh

> (I) C.A.R.E India

> (Center for Animal Rescue Rehab and Environment Protection)

> ________

> " Take nothing but pictures,

> Leave nothing but fooprints,

> Kill nothing but time "

> ________

>

> " USE LESS PAPER AND SAVE A TREE "

> ________

>

> ________________________________

> lucia de vries <luciadevries <luciadevries%40gmail.com>>

> aapn <aapn%40>; manoj gautam <

> scilab25 <scilab25%40hotmail.com>>

> Thursday, 3 September, 2009 9:18:29 PM

> IN - Snake charmers continue to defy government

>

>

> [image: Snake charmers continue to defy government]

> http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial & id=1232 & catID=4

> Wednesday September 2nd 2009

>

> *Raktim Das*, 36, is known to many as the 'Snake Man of India'. He is the

> founder of the Bedia Federation of India, the only organisation of snake

> charmers in the country, where the profession has been banned since 1972.

> Despite the ban it is estimated that some 200,000 snake-charmers remain in

> India. Das, who organised a public demonstration in Kolkata in February

> defying the law, says the only way the Bedian tribes can hope to survive is

> if the government removes snakes from the list of endangered wildlife

>

> Wednesday September 2nd 2009

>

> [image: Lead article

> photo]<http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial & id=1232 & catID=4>

>

> Raktim Das. Photograph: supplied by Anthony Das

>

> I was going to a workshop in the afternoon and as my motorbike climbed a

> steep bridge, my mobile phone rang. I stopped the bike and took the call.

> The man at the end of the line, calling from Mukundapur village, a few

> miles

> from Kolkata, was frantic.

>

> The villagers had caught a huge Russell's viper and had speared it to the

> ground by its tail. Nobody wanted to go near it, which is unsurprising as

> the Russell's viper is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. The

> man wanted me to go to the village and kill the snake.

>

> I smiled as I heard this. If he wanted the snake to be killed, then I was

> the wrong choice to do it. My life's mission is to save snakes, especially

> in a country like India where thousands of tonnes of wheat and rice crop

> are

> destroyed annually by mice. Snakes love mice and the more snakes we have

> near our homes and granaries, the safer the crop will be. It is important

> here to break the myths that snakes attack without provocation. They never

> do that. So if there is a snake moving around near your premises, there is

> no cause for alarm. Just do not step on it.

>

> However, as I told the man on the end of the line to stay calm, I revved my

> bike and rushed towards the village. What I saw was pathetic. Here was a

> lovely snake – speared to the ground and writhing in agony – and people

> were

> throwing stones at it. In no time it would be dead.

>

> I warned the crowd to stay away and moved near the viper. It was writhing

> in

> the ground trying to set itself free from the spear. As I moved towards it

> from behind and made a dash for its head, I momentarily lost my focus. It

> took a split second for the viper to strike at my right wrist.

>

> It was like fire scorching my right hand. But I held onto the snake with my

> left hand and it was soon overpowered. The villagers wanted to set it

> alight

> but despite the fact that the venom was spreading and I would soon lose

> consciousness, I bandaged the reptile where it had been injured. Then I set

> it free near the banks of a river. It slithered away to safety.

>

> I do not remember much of what happened later. I had to travel 10 miles on

> my motorbike again and I ended up spending 12 days in the intensive care

> unit of the local hospital. My friends had given me up for dead but I

> recovered after 10 anti-venom shots. Nobody from the Wildlife Department of

> India even bothered to send me a get-well card.

>

> Not that it matters, but fact is I end up doing the government's job though

> it is the same government which has lodged a case against me for defying

> the

> Wildlife Protection Act [which outlawed snake charming in 1972] and

> promoting the cause of the banned snake-charmers.

>

> My first foray into the world of snake-charmers came when I visited the

> remote village of Bishnupur in the eastern Indian province of West Bengal

> as

> a teenager. I was amazed to find a community where children grew up among

> snakes, their fathers practised snake-charming as a profession and dealt

> with reptiles all the time. The kids treated snakes as playthings and I was

> told that knowledge about snakes was passed down the generations. Snakes

> were nothing to be scared of here; they were the bread and butter of around

> 800,000 snake-charmers in India at that time.

>

> All wildlife animals are forbidden to be part of any trade, including

> circuses. snake-charmers are perpetually on the run in India. Thousands of

> them are in jail without having hurt even a fly.

>

> There no official records but there are at least 600,000 snake bite cases

> annually and it is only the snake-charmers who know the remedy and

> first-aid

> therapy. Most of the time, city doctors have no clue.

>

> Two years ago I rallied the snake-charmers and founded the India Bedia

> Association. Bedia, for those who do not know, is a tribe in India, famous

> for being snake-charmers. On February 7 this year, the Association

> mobilised

> a huge gathering in the middle of Kolkata city to publicise its demands but

> the government has, to date, not reacted. The law is creating criminals. In

> order to earn some money, snake-charmers have to fashion pendants and magic

> cures which they sell in the villages.

>

> I have just returned from a tour of Europe on the invitation of the

> government of Cyprus and I must say the level of awareness abroad is

> immense

> and it is sad that in India, where snakes were present in almost every

> rural

> household, reptiles are killed indiscriminately or sold for tuppence to

> those dealing in snake venom. The Association demands that snakes be taken

> out of the Wildlife List. They are present in households throughout rural

> India and live close to humans. How can they treated on a par with tigers?

>

> An uneducated, poor snake-charmer is forced to part with a snake for as low

> as £1 by the the elite drug manufacturing companies who produce anti-venom.

> In turn, the same snake spills venom worth £150 for every 10g which is the

> maximum one discharge can produce in 15 days. If a snake-charmer has two

> snakes, he ought to be earning at £300 a month. That same snake can

> discharge venom every 15 days for seven years at least. In the black

> market,

> the value goes up to around £1,500 per 10g. The loss to the snake-charmer

> is

> huge but there is nothing he can do about it.

>

> The snake-charmers, who can be roughly divided into 64 sects in India, have

> one language, the Maangta ( literally: to beg) which does not have a

> script.

> Their ancestors served as spies for the rajahs and no script evolved. This

> language was used only among the tribes as information moved from one

> secret

> agent to another. It is interesting that in modern India, the Bedians are

> perhaps the only tribe who are divided into so many groups but have one

> common language.

>

> India has over 270 types of snake, of which around 60 are poisonous. But

> there is a tendency to kill snakes once they are seen. That does not make

> sense. I have saved around 500 snakes in the last two years alone. A snake

> will never bite unless it is provoked. Also, various films made both in

> India and Hollywood only help to consolidate the myth about these animals,

> all of which is bunkum. Everybody is out to make a fast buck from snakes,

> but it is the snake-charmer who is suffering.

>

> *• Raktim Das was interviewed by Anthony Dias, a freelance journalist based

> in Kolkata*

>

> --

> Lucia de Vries

> Freelance Journalist

> Nepal - Netherlands

>

>

>

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

>If India protected its snakes, we need not import large quantities

>of pesticides, as the snake is the best pest controller.

 

This sort of thing is often said not only of snakes but of

many other species who help to control insects, rodents, and even

fungi and viruses.

 

However, the idea that predation alone can control

agricultural pests runs afoul of natural ecological principles.

 

In a wholly undisturbed natural setting, a range of

predators of all sizes tends to maintain a crude " balance " that keeps

any particular pest species from devastating the habitat, but this

occurs primarily because the habitat itself is highly varied, with

no one plant species dominant over a broad area.

 

The variation tends to keep specialized plant-eating insects

from simply moving from plant to plant, without exposure to

predation and risk of finding unfavorable habitat in event of a turn

in the wrong direction.

 

Predators only breed up to the numbers that the abundance of

prey will support, and that follows the dragons-and-virgins

principle. For those who have forgotten it, I will append it below.

 

The gist is that predators never are numerous enough to hunt

their prey to extinction, except occasionally on very small islands.

 

Further, predators are never able to become numerous enough

to hunt their prey to significant reduction. All predators can

accomplish is helping to stabilize the abundance of prey at the level

which will support predation.

 

Agriculture of any sort alters the equation. Whether

cultivation is conducted with digging sticks or with plows wider than

a highway, agriculture increases the abundance of one plant species,

the crop, while usually reducing the biodiversity that keeps pests

from spreading, and inevitably enabling pests that prefer the crop

species to find more of it, faster.

 

In any situation, prey species such as beetles and mice have

phenomenal rates of reproduction compared to their predators. When

one makes habitat more favorable to them, their reproduction can

exponentially accelerate. Natural predators typically have much

slower rates of reproduction, even under the most favorable

conditions, so cannot respond to have any significant controlling

influence until the crop is already lost.

 

In consequence, using pesticides of some sort to augment

predation is essential in agriculture on any scale.

 

The pesticide may be as simple as a mixture of fire pit ashes

used to discourage larval beetles, or as complex as some of the

bio-engineered pesticides that kill only one species of insect or

plant, but whatever it is, it must be used if agriculture at

whatever level is to succeed.

 

The greater the level of productivity needed to sustain a

society, the more intensive and extensive the cultivation of crops

has to be, and the more pesticides must be used, even if every

effort is made to avoid harming natural predators of pest species.

 

So-called " pesticide-free " farming relies on naturally

cultivated repellents, fungicides, and insecticides, as opposed to

those that are synthesized through chemical processes, and uses much

greater labor input relative to crop yield, to hand-remove insects,

worms, fungi-damaged leaves, etc., but it does not get around the

necessity of doing something significant to augment natural predation

if one is to produce an economically viable crop.

 

 

------------------------

 

 

Predators never hunt their prey to extinction.

 

Why not?

 

Consider the example of dragons and virgins.

 

If a dragon needs to eat a virgin a week to survive, and

cannot eat a virgin until she turns 16, what is the minimum

population of virgins that it takes to feed the dragon?

 

You need at least one virgin turning 16 each week during the

year, so you need a minimum of 832 virgins of all ages up to 16 at

any given time.

 

But how many virgins does it take to actually sustain that

population, considering attrition from all sources prior to turning

16, considering that the dragon isn't going to catch them all, and

considering that quite a few will have to get away to grow up and

become mothers, in order to keep up the supply?

 

In all likelihood you need at least 1,664 virgins of all ages

up to 16 at any given time, and that is just for one dragon.

 

To sustain the dragon population, with adequate genetic

diversity, you need at least 10 times that many.

 

It should accordingly be no mystery that while you still can

find some virgins here and there, dragons are long since extinct.

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year;

for free sample, send address.]

[Guest guest]

Merritt,

 

You do know much more about everything than anyone, and I'm sure you're

technically correct,

but there's something not quite right about this somewhere.

 

We can't live in a world full of pesticides, it's not healthy, and when the

natural predators are killed off (as they have been and continue to be),

this does cause a lot of problems and changes in the population of other

species; for example when the rattlesnakes in Texas are killed during

rattlesnake roundups, then there's an increase in the numbers of rats.

 

 

 

Sharon St. Joan

Editor � International Community

Bird and Wildlife Writer

Best Friends Network

Best Friends Animal Society

http://network.bestfriends.org/golocal/international

sharonsj

 

 

 

 

Merritt Clifton <anmlpepl

Sat, 5 Sep 2009 11:37:52 -0700

<aapn >

Re: IN - Snake charmers continue to defy government

 

 

 

 

 

>If India protected its snakes, we need not import large quantities

>of pesticides, as the snake is the best pest controller.

 

This sort of thing is often said not only of snakes but of

many other species who help to control insects, rodents, and even

fungi and viruses.

 

However, the idea that predation alone can control

agricultural pests runs afoul of natural ecological principles.

 

In a wholly undisturbed natural setting, a range of

predators of all sizes tends to maintain a crude " balance " that keeps

any particular pest species from devastating the habitat, but this

occurs primarily because the habitat itself is highly varied, with

no one plant species dominant over a broad area.

 

The variation tends to keep specialized plant-eating insects

from simply moving from plant to plant, without exposure to

predation and risk of finding unfavorable habitat in event of a turn

in the wrong direction.

 

Predators only breed up to the numbers that the abundance of

prey will support, and that follows the dragons-and-virgins

principle. For those who have forgotten it, I will append it below.

 

The gist is that predators never are numerous enough to hunt

their prey to extinction, except occasionally on very small islands.

 

Further, predators are never able to become numerous enough

to hunt their prey to significant reduction. All predators can

accomplish is helping to stabilize the abundance of prey at the level

which will support predation.

 

Agriculture of any sort alters the equation. Whether

cultivation is conducted with digging sticks or with plows wider than

a highway, agriculture increases the abundance of one plant species,

the crop, while usually reducing the biodiversity that keeps pests

from spreading, and inevitably enabling pests that prefer the crop

species to find more of it, faster.

 

In any situation, prey species such as beetles and mice have

phenomenal rates of reproduction compared to their predators. When

one makes habitat more favorable to them, their reproduction can

exponentially accelerate. Natural predators typically have much

slower rates of reproduction, even under the most favorable

conditions, so cannot respond to have any significant controlling

influence until the crop is already lost.

 

In consequence, using pesticides of some sort to augment

predation is essential in agriculture on any scale.

 

The pesticide may be as simple as a mixture of fire pit ashes

used to discourage larval beetles, or as complex as some of the

bio-engineered pesticides that kill only one species of insect or

plant, but whatever it is, it must be used if agriculture at

whatever level is to succeed.

 

The greater the level of productivity needed to sustain a

society, the more intensive and extensive the cultivation of crops

has to be, and the more pesticides must be used, even if every

effort is made to avoid harming natural predators of pest species.

 

So-called " pesticide-free " farming relies on naturally

cultivated repellents, fungicides, and insecticides, as opposed to

those that are synthesized through chemical processes, and uses much

greater labor input relative to crop yield, to hand-remove insects,

worms, fungi-damaged leaves, etc., but it does not get around the

necessity of doing something significant to augment natural predation

if one is to produce an economically viable crop.

 

------------------------

 

Predators never hunt their prey to extinction.

 

Why not?

 

Consider the example of dragons and virgins.

 

If a dragon needs to eat a virgin a week to survive, and

cannot eat a virgin until she turns 16, what is the minimum

population of virgins that it takes to feed the dragon?

 

You need at least one virgin turning 16 each week during the

year, so you need a minimum of 832 virgins of all ages up to 16 at

any given time.

 

But how many virgins does it take to actually sustain that

population, considering attrition from all sources prior to turning

16, considering that the dragon isn't going to catch them all, and

considering that quite a few will have to get away to grow up and

become mothers, in order to keep up the supply?

 

In all likelihood you need at least 1,664 virgins of all ages

up to 16 at any given time, and that is just for one dragon.

 

To sustain the dragon population, with adequate genetic

diversity, you need at least 10 times that many.

 

It should accordingly be no mystery that while you still can

find some virgins here and there, dragons are long since extinct.

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com>

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year;

for free sample, send address.]

[Guest guest]

I know, I was also confused by that explanation, but I think I got

distracted by thoughts like 'where are all the virgins and dragons these days'.

If a meteor or ice age killed off the dragons, shouldn't there be trillions more

virgins now?

Jigs in Nepal

 

 

" Sharon St. Joan " <sharonsj

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:37:39 -0600

<aapn >

Re: IN - Snake charmers continue to defy government

 

 

Merritt,

 

You do know much more about everything than anyone, and I'm sure you're

technically correct,

but there's something not quite right about this somewhere.

 

We can't live in a world full of pesticides, it's not healthy, and when the

natural predators are killed off (as they have been and continue to be),

this does cause a lot of problems and changes in the population of other

species; for example when the rattlesnakes in Texas are killed during

rattlesnake roundups, then there's an increase in the numbers of rats.

 

Sharon St. Joan

Editor � International Community

Bird and Wildlife Writer

Best Friends Network

Best Friends Animal Society

http://network.bestfriends.org/golocal/international

sharonsj <sharonsj%40bestfriends.org>

 

Merritt Clifton <anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com>

>

Sat, 5 Sep 2009 11:37:52 -0700

<aapn <aapn%40> >

Re: IN - Snake charmers continue to defy government

 

>If India protected its snakes, we need not import large quantities

>of pesticides, as the snake is the best pest controller.

 

This sort of thing is often said not only of snakes but of

many other species who help to control insects, rodents, and even

fungi and viruses.

 

However, the idea that predation alone can control

agricultural pests runs afoul of natural ecological principles.

 

In a wholly undisturbed natural setting, a range of

predators of all sizes tends to maintain a crude " balance " that keeps

any particular pest species from devastating the habitat, but this

occurs primarily because the habitat itself is highly varied, with

no one plant species dominant over a broad area.

 

The variation tends to keep specialized plant-eating insects

from simply moving from plant to plant, without exposure to

predation and risk of finding unfavorable habitat in event of a turn

in the wrong direction.

 

Predators only breed up to the numbers that the abundance of

prey will support, and that follows the dragons-and-virgins

principle. For those who have forgotten it, I will append it below.

 

The gist is that predators never are numerous enough to hunt

their prey to extinction, except occasionally on very small islands.

 

Further, predators are never able to become numerous enough

to hunt their prey to significant reduction. All predators can

accomplish is helping to stabilize the abundance of prey at the level

which will support predation.

 

Agriculture of any sort alters the equation. Whether

cultivation is conducted with digging sticks or with plows wider than

a highway, agriculture increases the abundance of one plant species,

the crop, while usually reducing the biodiversity that keeps pests

from spreading, and inevitably enabling pests that prefer the crop

species to find more of it, faster.

 

In any situation, prey species such as beetles and mice have

phenomenal rates of reproduction compared to their predators. When

one makes habitat more favorable to them, their reproduction can

exponentially accelerate. Natural predators typically have much

slower rates of reproduction, even under the most favorable

conditions, so cannot respond to have any significant controlling

influence until the crop is already lost.

 

In consequence, using pesticides of some sort to augment

predation is essential in agriculture on any scale.

 

The pesticide may be as simple as a mixture of fire pit ashes

used to discourage larval beetles, or as complex as some of the

bio-engineered pesticides that kill only one species of insect or

plant, but whatever it is, it must be used if agriculture at

whatever level is to succeed.

 

The greater the level of productivity needed to sustain a

society, the more intensive and extensive the cultivation of crops

has to be, and the more pesticides must be used, even if every

effort is made to avoid harming natural predators of pest species.

 

So-called " pesticide-free " farming relies on naturally

cultivated repellents, fungicides, and insecticides, as opposed to

those that are synthesized through chemical processes, and uses much

greater labor input relative to crop yield, to hand-remove insects,

worms, fungi-damaged leaves, etc., but it does not get around the

necessity of doing something significant to augment natural predation

if one is to produce an economically viable crop.

 

------------------------

 

Predators never hunt their prey to extinction.

 

Why not?

 

Consider the example of dragons and virgins.

 

If a dragon needs to eat a virgin a week to survive, and

cannot eat a virgin until she turns 16, what is the minimum

population of virgins that it takes to feed the dragon?

 

You need at least one virgin turning 16 each week during the

year, so you need a minimum of 832 virgins of all ages up to 16 at

any given time.

 

But how many virgins does it take to actually sustain that

population, considering attrition from all sources prior to turning

16, considering that the dragon isn't going to catch them all, and

considering that quite a few will have to get away to grow up and

become mothers, in order to keep up the supply?

 

In all likelihood you need at least 1,664 virgins of all ages

up to 16 at any given time, and that is just for one dragon.

 

To sustain the dragon population, with adequate genetic

diversity, you need at least 10 times that many.

 

It should accordingly be no mystery that while you still can

find some virgins here and there, dragons are long since extinct.

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com>

<anmlpepl%40whidbey.com>

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year;

for free sample, send address.]

[Guest guest]

Appealing as the Dragon and Virgin comparison is, there have been more

complex models.

 

One here :

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/predation/preda\

tion.html

 

Very eloquent description of predator prey relationships in this book : The

Raptor and the Lamb by Christopher McGowan

 

" Most animals are either eaten or eat other animals, " writes zoologist

Christopher McGowan. " Plants, too, are often consumed by animals.

Consequently the chances of being devoured, or of eating some other organism

in order to survive, are exceedingly high. " McGowan looks at several kinds

of predator-prey relationships, examining such creatures as the supposedly

rapacious crocodile (a surprisingly light eater, when all the facts are in),

the big cats (whose prey usually outweighs them but cannot compete with a

lion's or tiger's explosive force), and a host of snakes, spiders, and

insects. Packed with facts, *The Raptor and the Lamb* makes a fine--if

sometimes gruesome--introduction to biology.

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1673568.The_Raptor_and_the_Lamb_Predators_and\

_Prey_in_the_Living_World

 

The Society for Conservation Biology will have more information if anyone

wants to pursue this topic further. Articles are also available on

Scholarpedia. Thank you.

 

 

 

On 9/6/09, Jigs Gaton <herojig wrote:

>

>

>

> I know, I was also confused by that explanation, but I think I got

> distracted by thoughts like 'where are all the virgins and dragons these

> days'. If a meteor or ice age killed off the dragons, shouldn't there be

> trillions more virgins now?

> Jigs in Nepal

>

> " Sharon St. Joan " <sharonsj<sharonsj%40bestfriends.org>

> >

> Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:37:39 -0600

> <aapn <aapn%40>>

> Re: IN - Snake charmers continue to defy government

>

> Merritt,

>

> You do know much more about everything than anyone, and I'm sure you're

> technically correct,

> but there's something not quite right about this somewhere.

>

> We can't live in a world full of pesticides, it's not healthy, and when the

> natural predators are killed off (as they have been and continue to be),

> this does cause a lot of problems and changes in the population of other

> species; for example when the rattlesnakes in Texas are killed during

> rattlesnake roundups, then there's an increase in the numbers of rats.

>

> Sharon St. Joan

> Editor � International Community

> Bird and Wildlife Writer

> Best Friends Network

> Best Friends Animal Society

> http://network.bestfriends.org/golocal/international

> sharonsj <sharonsj%40bestfriends.org> <

> sharonsj%40bestfriends.org <sharonsj%2540bestfriends.org>>

>

> Merritt Clifton <anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com><

> anmlpepl%40whidbey.com <anmlpepl%2540whidbey.com>>

> >

> Sat, 5 Sep 2009 11:37:52 -0700

> <aapn <aapn%40> <

> aapn%40 <aapn%2540>> >

> Re: IN - Snake charmers continue to defy government

>

> >If India protected its snakes, we need not import large quantities

> >of pesticides, as the snake is the best pest controller.

>

> This sort of thing is often said not only of snakes but of

> many other species who help to control insects, rodents, and even

> fungi and viruses.

>

> However, the idea that predation alone can control

> agricultural pests runs afoul of natural ecological principles.

>

> In a wholly undisturbed natural setting, a range of

> predators of all sizes tends to maintain a crude " balance " that keeps

> any particular pest species from devastating the habitat, but this

> occurs primarily because the habitat itself is highly varied, with

> no one plant species dominant over a broad area.

>

> The variation tends to keep specialized plant-eating insects

> from simply moving from plant to plant, without exposure to

> predation and risk of finding unfavorable habitat in event of a turn

> in the wrong direction.

>

> Predators only breed up to the numbers that the abundance of

> prey will support, and that follows the dragons-and-virgins

> principle. For those who have forgotten it, I will append it below.

>

> The gist is that predators never are numerous enough to hunt

> their prey to extinction, except occasionally on very small islands.

>

> Further, predators are never able to become numerous enough

> to hunt their prey to significant reduction. All predators can

> accomplish is helping to stabilize the abundance of prey at the level

> which will support predation.

>

> Agriculture of any sort alters the equation. Whether

> cultivation is conducted with digging sticks or with plows wider than

> a highway, agriculture increases the abundance of one plant species,

> the crop, while usually reducing the biodiversity that keeps pests

> from spreading, and inevitably enabling pests that prefer the crop

> species to find more of it, faster.

>

> In any situation, prey species such as beetles and mice have

> phenomenal rates of reproduction compared to their predators. When

> one makes habitat more favorable to them, their reproduction can

> exponentially accelerate. Natural predators typically have much

> slower rates of reproduction, even under the most favorable

> conditions, so cannot respond to have any significant controlling

> influence until the crop is already lost.

>

> In consequence, using pesticides of some sort to augment

> predation is essential in agriculture on any scale.

>

> The pesticide may be as simple as a mixture of fire pit ashes

> used to discourage larval beetles, or as complex as some of the

> bio-engineered pesticides that kill only one species of insect or

> plant, but whatever it is, it must be used if agriculture at

> whatever level is to succeed.

>

> The greater the level of productivity needed to sustain a

> society, the more intensive and extensive the cultivation of crops

> has to be, and the more pesticides must be used, even if every

> effort is made to avoid harming natural predators of pest species.

>

> So-called " pesticide-free " farming relies on naturally

> cultivated repellents, fungicides, and insecticides, as opposed to

> those that are synthesized through chemical processes, and uses much

> greater labor input relative to crop yield, to hand-remove insects,

> worms, fungi-damaged leaves, etc., but it does not get around the

> necessity of doing something significant to augment natural predation

> if one is to produce an economically viable crop.

>

> ------------------------

>

> Predators never hunt their prey to extinction.

>

> Why not?

>

> Consider the example of dragons and virgins.

>

> If a dragon needs to eat a virgin a week to survive, and

> cannot eat a virgin until she turns 16, what is the minimum

> population of virgins that it takes to feed the dragon?

>

> You need at least one virgin turning 16 each week during the

> year, so you need a minimum of 832 virgins of all ages up to 16 at

> any given time.

>

> But how many virgins does it take to actually sustain that

> population, considering attrition from all sources prior to turning

> 16, considering that the dragon isn't going to catch them all, and

> considering that quite a few will have to get away to grow up and

> become mothers, in order to keep up the supply?

>

> In all likelihood you need at least 1,664 virgins of all ages

> up to 16 at any given time, and that is just for one dragon.

>

> To sustain the dragon population, with adequate genetic

> diversity, you need at least 10 times that many.

>

> It should accordingly be no mystery that while you still can

> find some virgins here and there, dragons are long since extinct.

>

> --

> Merritt Clifton

> Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

> P.O. Box 960

> Clinton, WA 98236

>

> Telephone: 360-579-2505

> Fax: 360-579-2575

> E-mail: anmlpepl <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com> <

> anmlpepl%40whidbey.com <anmlpepl%2540whidbey.com>>

> <anmlpepl%40whidbey.com <anmlpepl%2540whidbey.com>>

> Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

>

> [ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

> original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

> founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

> decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

> We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year;

> for free sample, send address.]

>

>

>

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

>We can't live in a world full of pesticides, it's not healthy, and

>when the natural predators are killed off (as they have been and

>continue to be), this does cause a lot of problems and changes in

>the population of other species; for example when the rattlesnakes

>in Texas are killed during rattlesnake roundups, then there's an

>increase in the numbers of rats.

 

 

This is an odd muddle of unrelated issues, some of which

have more to do with Asia than might at first be apparent.

 

First, the roles of pesticides and predators, as previously

explained, are not the same. Predators help to stabilize

populations of prey species; they do not prevent the growth of those

populations in the first place, as is necessary to prevent insects,

fungi, rodents, etc. from destroying crops.

 

Second, rattlesnake roundups serve no agricultural purpose,

and never did. Rattlesnake roundups have always been conducted as an

entertainment event, beginning in the 1930s, on the pretext of

eliminating a species which sometimes harms humans, not crops.

 

Third, rattlesnake roundups are highly unlikely to have any

effect on rat populations whatever, if one is talking about Norway

rats, the primary pest species, because the arid habitats where

most rattlesnakes and rattlesnake roundups occur are not significant

Norway rat habitat. Rattlesnakes do hunt rats, but the rats they

mostly hunt are pack rats, a species seldom viewed as a threat to

crops or human food storage.

 

Fourth, and this is where the role of snakes in Asia comes

in, no snake anywhere is likely to suppress a rodent population.

Snakes, a cold-blooded species, typically eat just once a week. A

hungry snake will accordingly kill about a seventh as many rodents as

a domestic cat, and under a 20th as many as a rodent-hunting street

dog.

 

If a home or business has relatively little trouble with

rodents to begin with, a resident snake might be able to pick off

occasional invaders, but if the situation involves a rodent

infestation attacking stored grain, no herp is going to help much --

not even a fire-breathing dragon who for some reason prefers rats to

virgins.

 

Snakes are useful for hunting rodents inside walls and other

places where street dogs and cats don't go, but Norway rats,

detested as they are, are mouse nest predators who by themselves

consume many thousands of times more mice than all the snakes in the

world.

 

India, for whatever reason, has for millennia made a fetish

of snake worship, because snakes help to protect crops from rodents

-- but reality is that snakes get a lot of unearned credit for work

actually done by humble and unassuming street dogs. Without street

dogs on the job, the snake population would be completely

overwhelmed.

 

As others have pointed out, Indian snakes would be much

better off without the rituals conducted in their alleged honor, and

dogs would be perfectly happy to consume the offerings conferred on

snakes, and to get a bit of favorable attention.

 

Now, as to pesticides, we have already lived in a world

full of them for as long as our species has existed. We just didn't

recognize the value of pesticides until relatively recently, when we

began synthesizing some, artificially concentrating others, and

finding out how they work.

 

The most basic & universal pesticide is salt. The use of

salt as a pesticide, especially as an herbicide, was well enough

understood in Roman times that it was deployed to destroy the

agricultural potential of Carthage.

 

What are most broad-spectrum herbicides to this day?

 

Salt. Agent Orange, Roundup -- almost all are formulations of salt.

 

Much concern about pesticides originated from the collateral

damage done by the broad-spectrum, long-lasting first generation

spray pesticides that Rachel Carson, Lew Regenstein, et al exposed

more than 40 years ago. Some of these pesticides are still in use in

parts of the developing world, but most of them long since passed

out of common agricultural use, primarily because more effective and

less damaging pesticides were developed.

 

We are still having environmental problems, no question

about it, as result of the intensive use of DDT, lead arsenate,

methyl mercury, parathion, the original dioxin-laden formulation of

2,4,5-T, and many other farm chemicals that were used back when

Carson et al were the breaking edge of environmental journalism & I

was a young reporter on the farm & business beat.

 

Exposing that stuff was a big part of my early career--but

that stuff is mostly not what we are looking at now. There isn't

much of an issue with most use of most farm pesticides these days,

because they are mostly now designed to break down within a few days

of sunlight, are relatively species-specific, and are engineered to

avoid bio-accumulation.

 

The term " eco-toxicity " had not even been invented 40 years

ago, but these days you won't get a chemical on the market without

passing an eco-toxicity screen.

 

And now a word about the effects of pesticides on animal life

vs. the effects of trying to raise crops without pesticides.

 

Consider the difference between planting a field of corn with

and without pesticides.

 

If you plant corn without pesticides, you saturate the field

with manure, then harrow it to embed the manure in the soil.

Otherwise, most of the nutrient value will run off to pollute nearby

watercourses after the first rainfall.

 

Harrowing, unfortunately, creates more soil erosion than

anything else humans do.

 

But that's not all. Ever wonder why gulls, crows, et al

follow a harrow, as soon as the dust settles?

 

They are feasting on a smorgasbord of sliced & diced small

critters, everything from worms to bunnies. Anything that isn't

at least a foot down is likely to be either dismembered or merely

exposed to sunlight (deadly to worms) & the birds.

 

Ironically, harrowing tends to kill most of the small

animals that help nature to aerate topsoil.

 

That's only the beginning. A pesticide-free seeding

operation is defended against birds by shotgun. From the time the

corn begins to grow, the pesticide-free farmer defends it further

with every weapon he can muster, knowing that the bugs are going to

cut deeply into his margin. Anything big enough to shoot or trap

" buys the farm. "

 

A pesticide-using farmer doesn't harrow. He kills off any

competing foliage with a broadleaf herbicide that does the job & then

breaks down and disappears. He plants by seed-drilling. The seeds

are coated with insecticides and fungicides, which kill any small

critter who finds & tries to eat them, but most small critters who

eat corn kernels look for them on top of the ground, not six inches

deep. Most of the life of the field is relatively little affected.

 

The field is then sprayed at least once, often a couple of

times, with insecticides & maybe fungicides. Right after the

spraying you might get a lot of birds becoming intoxicated or even

poisoned, & flying in front of cars if not killed outright.

 

You might also get some cats or wildlife dying of secondary

poisoning from eating poisoned birds. This is a phenomenon I was

among the first to document, gathering samples for testing by

Agriculture Canada & writing up the findings for Cat Fancy a very

long time ago. But the effect is short-term. The threat of

secondary poisoning is much less deadly to everything but the bugs

than the continuous effort to keep out anything that might munch a

leaf or a cob.

 

After harvest, the pesticide-using farmer leaves the

groundfallen remnant cobs for the wildlife.

 

The pesticide-free farmer is back to harrowing.

 

And this is why I make every effort to avoid buying organic

produce: organic is actually much less healthy for almost every

species but e-coli bacteria than crops grown with judicious use of

pesticides specific to the needs of the situation.

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

[ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing

original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide,

founded in 1992. Our readership of 30,000-plus includes the

decision-makers at more than 10,000 animal protection organizations.

We have no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. $24/year;

for free sample, send address.]