While the story is thought-provoking, I can't help but wonder about thefollowing chain of logic:>The hybrid was regarded by the government>conservation>"scientists" as a threat to the gene pool of its parents so after having a>nice cute phograph>taken (on someone's hand) the bird was shot forthwith.>>No scientific defense>was ever made for this action, or several subsequent executions of further>hybrids.Consider this: while scientists may have concluded that the hybridrepresented un unpredictable potential threat to either or both parentspecies (not an unreasonable conclusion, since there *are* species thathave suffered from hybridization - genetic purity aside, there's also thepossibility of mating interference and/or ecological competition, which onewould expect the scientists also took into account), why do you *assume*that it was these same scientists who decided to kill the hybrids, ratherthan some administrator(s) whose job was to act on the scientists' reports?This would seem more in keeping with how the real world operates(scientists make recommendations, but administrators make *policy*), andwould also be more consistent with the hush-hush aftermath. If it was thescientists who made the final decision, it would be easy to have ascapegoat, after all.Besides which, it would not really be hard to argue that this wasessentially the only approach that *guaranteed* that the hybrid(s) wouldnot pose a threat to the continued existence of the parent species. Withenough ecological disasters under our collective belts, maybe this is justa sign that some people are trying to think proactively and avoid problemsbefore they have a chance to start. It notably comes as no surprise thatthis would occur in New Zealand, the place with the most proactive"anti-exotic species" policy in the world (instead of a "black list" ofbanned species, they have a "white list" of *acceptable* species, andeverything NOT on the list is banned).Just my take on things,Peace,[NOTE THAT I WILL BE LEAVING BRAZIL ON FEB 13]Doug Yanega Depto. de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas,Univ. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Cx.P. 486, 30.161-970 Belo Horizonte, MG BRAZILphone: 31-499-2579, fax: 31-499-2567 (from U.S., prefix 011-55)"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderlinessis the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82

Jan.09,1999

Last modified on Friday, 13 June 2008