ad Wigan ruddy ducks next on hit list
12 October 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2zhr98
Despite opposition from Animal Aid, local bird groups and the local
Community Action Party, Wigan council’s Environmental Services
Director Martin Kimber has given the go ahead to allow government
killing gangs to slaughter around 140 ruddy ducks who have made their
home on Wigan Flashes. If the killing proceeds, it will be a brutal,
ugly business. Earlier 'trial culls' of ruddys in other parts of
Britain resulted in birds being shot a dozen times and lingering for
more than 90 minutes before finally expiring.
The ruddy was brought to this country from North America in the 1940s
by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, as an 'ornamental' species. A few
escaped and bred in the wild. Their numbers increased to several
thousand and some of these were said to have reached Spain and mated
with a rare duck called the white headed - rare because it had been
hunted and its wetlands habitat destroyed by people.
'Conservation' zealots at RSPB headquarters decided that the product
of this union between the ruddy and white-headed was offensive.
Labelled an impure hybrid, it had to be hunted down and destroyed. In
order words, it’s killing in the name of blood purity.
But nature is not pure, or fixed. It is in flux - not least because of
the dramatic and continuing impact our own species has on the
landscape. The mating of close genetic kin - hybridisation - is a fact
of bird life.
Among those most vehemently opposed to the ruddy slaughter is the
leading British ornithologist, Tom Gullick, who first alerted the
Spanish authorities to the precarious position of the white-headed
duck. The Spanish took action to preserve the main breeding grounds
and their white headed population has since grown from just 20 or 30
birds to between 3,000 and 5,000.
Gullick told The Times that the cull proponents 'will never succeed in
the total eradication of the ruddy duck'. He added: 'It's a scandalous
misuse of rare conservation money. But I think too many people have
stuck their necks too far up above the parapet to admit that they are
wrong.'
Meanwhile, as a result of warmer British winters, ruddy duck migration
to Spain has virtually stopped. Just four were spotted (and killed) in
2006. As a consequence, hybridisation - which should never have been
seen as a problem - is probably no longer taking place. Given that
arguments for the cull were founded on putting a stop to
hybridisation, the pro-cull argument is dead in the water.
The ruddy duck 'cull' is about scapegoating. It is about cynical
politics and muddled reactionary thinking. It is too easy to blame one
species for the perilous condition of another, while failing to
acknowledge our own environmental vices. The people of Wigan should
resist this pointless and grotesque slaughter.
Take Action
Please write to Wigan Council Leader Lord Peter Smith asking him to
reverse his decision to allow government gunmen access to Wigan and
Leigh flashes to kill the ruddy ducks.
The Leader of Wigan Council
Lord Peter Smith
Town Hall
Library Street
Wigan
WN1 1YN
Email: Lord Smith
mailto:P.Smith@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
also to:
Martin Kimber
Director of Environmental Services
Town Hall
Library Street
Wigan
WN1 1YN
Email: Martin Kimber
mailto:M.Kimber@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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