Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!unmvax!nmtsun!john
From: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Birdwatchers vs. bird owners
Keywords: purpose of rec.birds, tolerance, extinction
Message-ID: <3012@nmtsun.nmt.edu>
Date: 29 Jul 89 17:49:25 GMT
Organization: Zoological Data Processing
Lines: 36

Although I'm a birdwatcher and not a bird owner, I for one
don't mind the pet bird postings.  I'm curious about birds
generally, and I find the discussions of bird behavior and
diet quite informative.

This is a low-volume group; even though this week was the
first time I ever had to use subject search in rec.birds,
the volume is nowhere that of most of the groups I plow
through.

The suggestion that the bird owners move to rec.pets is an
old one.  They have often replied that they have trouble
finding bird postings amongst the many cat and dog items.  I
don't think splitting up rec.pets or rec.birds will work
either; I have seen efforts to split groups out of
rec.music.misc fail repeatedly despite much larger interest
groups.

Finally, I'd like to throw one entirely gratuitous flame in
the direction of the bird owners.  Please try to avoid
buying birds that were taken from the wild.  There are many
species being bred in captivity, so whether you like them
small or large, quiet or vocal, you have many choices that
don't diminish dwindling wild populations.  I commend the
efforts of breeders to establish self-sustaining captive
populations.

And please don't tell me that the Black-and-Blue Macaw is
plentiful enough in the wild to survive some harvesting.
The passenger pigeons used to blacken the sky.  Now they're
extinct.
-- 
John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico
USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtsun!john  CSNET: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu ``A lesson from
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employ each other the way they employ machines.'' --Frank Herbert