[at-l] Poisoning wildlife and other remarkable suggestions....

[baltimorejack@hotmail.com (Jack Tarlin)]

In an otherwise excellent post which contained much useful information on 
snakes and the many reasons to leave them in peace, Shane S. made one 
comment that I have to take serious issue with.

In the course of his snake post, Shane advocated that every hiker load up on 
rat poison in town, and then use it liberally in shelters to take care of 
the resident mice.  Shane evidently felt that this was OK as the mice didn't 
really belong in the shelters, were not "natural" residents, and should 
therefore be killed with impunity. To quote Shane, he said "mice are an 
artifice, rather than a natural part of the ecosystem there."

Nonsense.  Mice are certainly a "natural" inhabitant of the 
backcountry---certainly more than we are, as we are only temporary guests 
passing thru.  And the mice that live in the woodlands surrounding the 
shelter are acting perfectly "naturally" in congregating where there's a 
food source---that's what most animals do, in order to survive.  If people 
are going to be sloppy with food and its disposal, this is going to attract 
hungry animals, and they have every "right" to be there.

This does not give people, who are NOT natural inhabitants of these lands, 
the right to kill wild animals with impunity because they feel 
inconvenienced or "threatened" by them (by this I mean the comparative 
non-threat of hantavirus, etc).   Carrying and using poison in the woods in 
order to destroy inconvenient or troublesome wild animals is incredibly 
irresponsible, and incredibly wrong---for any number of reasons:

   First off, the fact that shelters and campsites are frequented by mice is 
no reason to kill 'em.  They're part of the natural landscape, they belong 
there, and more important, they are a vital part of the food chain----there 
are a great many wild animals who depend, in no small measure, on mice for 
food.  Killing these mice in such an abrupt and unnatural a way as wantonly 
spreading poison disrupts the chain and is both unkind and unfair to the 
many animals who may depend on the mice as a food source.

  Second, spreading poison risks killing or sickening all sorts of 
creatures, and not just mice---chipmunks, squirells, porcupines, racoons, 
skunks, etc----all sorts of animals get into shelters and eat what they find 
there, and it'd be wrong to sicken or kill them, intentionally or not.  
Likewise, an animal that ingests poison at a shelter could then be eaten 
(either alive or after its death) by yet another animal, and the poison 
could then do even more damage.  There are many mammals and birds that are 
carrion feeders---is it fair to kill them, too?   In addition to wild 
animals, rodent poison could also be ingested by dogs or other innocent 
creatures.

  In short, carrying and using poisons, pesticides, or other killers is 
inherently wrong while in the backcountry----one is there as a visitor and a 
guest, and not as an exterminator.  With the exception of swatting the 
occasional mosquito, I don't think it's a good idea to kill ANY wild 
creature while out hiking----unless you're hunting, and planning to eat what 
you kill, or unless you or others are in an immediate life-or-death survival 
situation, it's simply wrong to kill wildlife.

  There's a very simple remedy for those troubled by mice in trail shelters: 
  Don't stay in 'em!   But the fact that wild creatures have decided to 
frequent man-made structures along the trail does not mean that they are no 
longer "a natural part of the ecosystem," as Shane says.  They are perfectly 
natural, and they belong there.  What is not natural, and is plainly 
immoral, is to indiscriminately put out poison when we come across animals 
that we feel are out of place.  It is US who are out of place, and it is US 
who are guests in the world where these animals live.  It is the poor guest 
indeed who visits someone else's home, and indiscriminately spreads poison, 
sickness, and death.





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