September 24, 2006
NOW THAT’S WHAT WE CALL ANCESTOR WORSHIP
Darwin's paradise in peril (Robin McKie, The Observer, September 24th, 2006)
n 1995, Godfrey Merlen, director of the environment group WorldAid, visited Isabela, an island in the Galapagos. What he saw horrified him.Hundreds of goats were chewing their way across its grasslands and were denuding the once-lush terrain, transforming it into patchy grassland. 'It was total chaos,' said Merlen in the journal Science
Merlen's discovery sent shock waves through the environmental movement. For years, it had struggled to save these magical equatorial islands, home to some of the world's most exotic animals, from destruction caused by feral animals such as goats, pigs, cats and rats.
Now it seemed the place where Charles Darwin made his key discoveries in his path to outlining the idea of natural selection was about to be destroyed. One of the planet's most precious wild places was fighting for its life: its giant tortoises; its marine iguanas, the world's only sea-going reptiles; and its colonies of blue-footed boobies, flightless cormorants and albatrosses, all under threat of extinction.
The development galvanised environmentalists and led to the setting up of an £10m rescue programme to fight invasive species. Last week, campaigners announced the first major victory: the islands of Isabela, Santiago and Pinta were now officially goat-free, it was revealed - an act of species-cleansing that had required the killing of 140,000 goats.
'This is a phenomenal victory,' said Roslyn Cameron, of the Charles Darwin Research Station. Not only had a major threat to the islands' wildlife been eradicated, the project had established key methodologies for dealing with other feral pests, she added.
To rid themselves of the goats, sharp shooters were hired, packs of tracker dogs were imported from New Zealand, helicopters were used to ferry marksmen into the remote hearts of islands, while 'Judas' goats - sterilised females, plied with hormones - were used to entice solitary male goats towards hunters and their doom.
The resulting victory has been a major boost to environmentalists' morale...
Granted most of us wouldn’t hestiate to pop a goat or two to save Grandad, but gosh, even the ancient Hebrews thought one goat at a time on occasion was enough to propitiate the Deity at His angriest. Remember this the next time a Darwinist tells you it’s all strictly based on rational science and that there is absolutely no connection with the idea that it is morally acceptable to exterminate one species so that another may flourish.
Posted by Peter Burnet at September 24, 2006 12:02 PMIt doesn't get any better though than them intelligently designing the island and thinking they're Darwinists.
Posted by: oj at September 24, 2006 12:44 PMStop it. Man is not the intelligent designer with respect to the Galapagos ecology. Man is part of the environment of that system. Man is being used by the Intelligent Designer.
Posted by: Lou Gots at September 24, 2006 1:28 PMCome on, they're not "exterminating a species," they're getting rid of some members of an invasive species to protect unique, local species from actual extermination.
Posted by: PapayaSF at September 24, 2006 1:41 PMThey killed 140K goats instead of giving them to people who could use them????
How insensitive, with all the suffering in the world.
It's for the children, after all.
Posted by: Sandy P at September 24, 2006 1:59 PMPapaya:
I'll let Orrin and Lou argue out the ID angle, but you c'mon. They are killing a couple of hundred thousand animals to preserve a shrine.
Hey, promise us you will keep that "unique local species" line away from the nativists, ok?
Posted by: Peter B at September 24, 2006 2:06 PMFor groups that love to talk about "Nature taking its course", as with Yellowstone's Imported Canadian Wolves, these people love to give Nature a hand when things aren't quite the way they think Nature should be going.
I have no problem with removing "intrusive" and "exotic" animals, but please, don't wrap it in pious sanctimony. Just admit that you want the islands to look like they were when St.Darwin sanctified them, and will manage them with that goal in mind. (And don't expect other, third-worlders to impoverish themselves for your goal, but pay for it yourself, as it appears was done here, also.)
'This is a phenomenal victory,' over the jihadists. Just kidding. Leftist battle cry: Battle those who are helpless, avoid battles with those who may kill you.
Can't stop wondering what animals or plants or diseases will thrive to devour the rest of the islands without the goats keeping a check on them.
Posted by: ic at September 24, 2006 5:25 PMIn terms of layers of irony, this story is like a rich, honey-coated slab of baklava.
Posted by: Guy T. at September 24, 2006 5:28 PMNo True Darwinian would ever oppose Natural Selection in this manner.
Posted by: Joseph Hertzlinger at September 24, 2006 8:00 PMSome sly tourist should plant kudzu on the islands. And like erp wrote on the other thread, the goats will be back. Unless the people at the Darwin Research Station are going to eat the kudzu themselves.
Posted by: ratbert at September 24, 2006 9:08 PMSlow news day Peter? You nailed it, its all about the worship of Darwin. You busted us, we're all just as religious as you Canadial Protestants. I'll be making my pilgrimage to the Galapagos in the next few years. I only hope they've restored the high altar by then.
Speaking of goats, they are one of the most destructive domesticated species. Where they graze they destroy the vegetation by eating the bases of the plants and not just the leaves, which results in widespread soil erosion.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at September 24, 2006 9:28 PMWe have always been at war with goatlandia. It is a phenomanol victory citizen.
Posted by: lebeaux at September 25, 2006 2:01 AMSandy P:
I love birria. With enough jalapenos added, that goat meat could've been shipped anywhere.
Posted by: Fred Jacobsen (San Fran) at September 25, 2006 2:36 AM