strongvoicesforward said:
But, just out of curiosity, what is the status now of the gray squirrel in the UK? Are they culling it? Is that cull being protested or blocked until a final decision is being made? What are all the proposals on the table?
The Grey squirrel is classed as a pest species and there are culls in areas. They have no natural predator in the UK. They damage trees and have almost driven our native Red squirrel to extinction. They are culled and there are no protests about the fact. Some fringe groups might not like it, but they have no media attention and the general public view is indifference to the fact. It is not illegal to kill or hunt a grey. You can even by recipes for them.
Just to take your idea of trapping and sending them back to their native country we will take the feral pig in Australia as an example.
If they where to follow your ideas in trapping the pigs then several problems arise:
1. Australia is a big country. If traps were laid out the pig could be in that trap for sevearl days before being taken out. It will suffer dehydartion and sunstroke. Pigs skin is like human skin and sensistive to the sun.
2. These pigs would have to be transported back to there country of origin, which in this case in mainly the UK. To cut the distress they would most likely have to be tranqualised. This is to tranq something is to actually poison it mildly. Wrong dose and one dead pig. So a certain percentage would die from the tranqualisers.
3. Transportation. Even if you try your best they would be in small cages for hours. This, again, causes distress and animals that suffer too much will die from th amount of stress that undergo such mass transportations.
4. Once in the UK they will have to undergo quarentine prodcedures. Again being locked up in a cage for several months. More distress and anguish.
5. Once being passed they would have to go to a farm. They would not be released into the British countryside, as most of the countryside in the UK is managed. We do have wild boar in the south, but wild pigs can be dangerous, especially the boars. Look at the dogs bred for hunting these animals. tough with strong jaws.
6. A farmer wouldn't just keep them as pets, especially if there were thousands of the damn things. Instead they would be put to a practical use and used for the meat market.
So, to summerise. Your idea would take an animal out of the wild and subject it to stress and pain to end up thousand of miles from its home to be slaugtered. It is easier to pay someone to shoot the pig in its wild habitat. It is quicker and less painful for the animal in question. You'll probably argue that we can capture them and sterilise the animals. All well and good, but what do you do with the sterile animal? Release back into the wild? Stupid idea. The reason it has to be taken out of the wild is because of the damage it does to the eco-sytem. he the only way is to keep it in a farm in Australia. Again no-one will just keep thousands of pigs until the day that they die naturally. The reason: cost. Why pour money into it? Pigs are a commodity and we might as well use them for food and other by-products that they provide. As you can see a little different to your black and white view of the problem.