I think that Man (that’s like humans, man) should have dominion on the earth, particularly over harmful and destructive insects.
I also believe that panicmongering over pesticides as a cheap thrill for people who don’t know much about how insecticides work and know much less about toxicology.
I also am waiting for the first reliable paper on this catch-all scare tool called endocrine disruption.
I believe that overbearing mothers and pretty adolescent girls are the biggest endocrine disruptors in a boy’s life.
European ninnies and nannies have managed to work up panics about Genetically Modified crops and pesticides.
I am about to blow a gasket to think they would let the food supply be sacrificed for their chemophobias.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/03/16/anti-science-environmentalists-ban-neonic-insecticides-imperiling-global-health/
Nothing like living in FL where you can lose kids or pets to a gator or a python.
On the other hand, predations by coyotes against species other than human are on a considerable rise.
Most “runaway” pets that don’t return home are probably victims of coyote predation, much as one might not want to say that to one’s grieving 8-yr old. As a species they are able to adapt and survive even in what we would consider densely packed urban areas. Suburban and rural livestock owners spend a lot of time, money and worry around calving time, which also happens to be the time when the ‘yotes are providing not only for themselves but their own cubs as well.
These animals are every bit as smart as they’ve been given credit for, and they will adapt to human presence, patrols and population controls. They are not an easy predator to deal with, and the more food people leave out for them (i.e., the more out-door pets people insist on having, open garbage containers, unprotected livestock, &c.) the more likely they are to be around. Simply declaring a coyote hunt will not do the trick; in my experience only proffessional trappers with experience in the field (I am NOT one) have any real success, and that success comes grudgingly in many cases.
… nor, as it may be, a serious need to do anything about them.
I understand things vary from place to place, but having lived in one “ideal suburb” for ten years, I have not heard of any hostilities involving coyotes. I saw the regularly; heard them almost every night, and crossed paths with them, None of those transactions would motivate me to do anything.
I just checked my impression against the city council’s:
http://www.naperville.il.us/dynamic_content.aspx?id=6710
Note: “The Illinois Department of Resources (IDNR) records indicate only 16 coyote attacks on humans in the past 30 years. The majority of these cases occurred when people tried to hand-feed the animal.”
Wheaton (the next town to the north) tried to cull coyotes for some time, but no reduction in their numbers had been observed. They migrate.
Besides, there are more important problems requiring intervention. I understand, the deer cause significantly more harm in the suburbs than coyotes, and I remember how I suffered from mosquitoes in Naperville and everywhere in Chicagoland, in spite of regular spraying campaigns.
in their ideal suburb you can’t do anything about coyotes as you have no gun to shoot them nor rat poison to poison them…
“I believe that overbearing mothers and pretty adolescent girls are the biggest endocrine disruptors in a boy’s life.”
Amen, and Hallelujia.
Not at all coincidentally, these would be the same ones to think that there’s nothing you can do about coyotes in suburbia. Having lived in urban areas since the 50s, why yes, there is. It’s just that not only won’t you, it makes you uncomfortable to let others do something. And we sure wouldn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable while we suffer the problems of your uncomfortable-ness.
May they be infested by the fleas of a thousand camels.
They are often the same people who scream and run away when they see a centipede, or vomit when shown what their own selves are made of. And they know everything about endocrine disruption.
Naturophobes.