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this one actually refers to predators as 'vermin' - like cockroaches, rats, & other pests:
https://gallowayfarm.wordpress.com/category/vermin/page/8/
He uses snares to catch foxes, which - IMO - are a very cruel killing method; they are running nooses of wire, meant to strangle the animal *if* they go around the desired body-part, the neck; but they often encircle a limb, instead, leaving snared animals unable to escape / feed / get water / get shelter & die slowly - starve, die of thirst, heat / cold, or at the teeth of a passing dog, if the person who set the snare does not come by in time, & check their traps religiously - every day, twice daily.
Even if the predator gnaws off a limb & escapes, they may die in agony of complications, when that open wound & fractured bone become infected.
Assuming they heal & live with 3 limbs, crippled predators are more-likely to die of starvation, hypothermia [not enuf calories consumed in cold weather = cooling core-temp], be killed by larger predators or rival conspecifics, be killed by humans.
here's a 180' different view -
Moorland wildlife will only recover once the cause of the problem and main moorland predator, the gamekeeper, is removed. « Raptor Politics
this organization points out, rightly, that predators SERVE A VITAL FUNCTION in the ecosystem, & they cannot "explode" in popn or somehow out-breed their prey species; there will never be as many coyote as there are rabbits, or as many hawks as there are rodents.
Lions don't outnumber gnus & zebras, either, & no one has 'controlled' lion or leopard numbers for the sake of ungulates - Africa's predators & prey species got along fine for millennia without human interference.
It's amazing to me that anyone could think predators are automatically 'bad' & their numbers need to be limited by humans, who are hardly ideal predators; we don't want the cripple, the blind animal, the aging one with worn teeth who won't survive another winter - we want the healthy thriving young adult; the perfect dam or sire, which Nature would much-rather keep in the gene-pool.
in this particular instance, the split is most-obvious over RED GROUSE MOORS - artificially managed, intensively hunted, human-planted, these are sport-hunters' resorts, a kind of destination "safari" within the U.K., designed to produce grouse in great numbers, to be hunted by humans, & blind to the needs of any other native species, predator, omnivore, herbivore, anything - any species, whether it's flora or fauna, that doesn't CONTRIBUTE to Red Grouse production - provide cover, food, or some other need - is either ignored as useless, or damned as evil.
Red fox are not an invasive alien; they co-evolved with all of Britain's, Scotland's, Wales', & Ireland's native species. Frankly, foxes & other native predators belong there far-more than humans do; we're a relative newcomer who altered the landscape & the waters to suit ourselves.
In the 1890s thru 1930s, many predators in the U-S had a bounty on their heads; U'd think we'd have learned better since then.
- terry
https://gallowayfarm.wordpress.com/category/vermin/page/8/
He uses snares to catch foxes, which - IMO - are a very cruel killing method; they are running nooses of wire, meant to strangle the animal *if* they go around the desired body-part, the neck; but they often encircle a limb, instead, leaving snared animals unable to escape / feed / get water / get shelter & die slowly - starve, die of thirst, heat / cold, or at the teeth of a passing dog, if the person who set the snare does not come by in time, & check their traps religiously - every day, twice daily.
Even if the predator gnaws off a limb & escapes, they may die in agony of complications, when that open wound & fractured bone become infected.
Assuming they heal & live with 3 limbs, crippled predators are more-likely to die of starvation, hypothermia [not enuf calories consumed in cold weather = cooling core-temp], be killed by larger predators or rival conspecifics, be killed by humans.
here's a 180' different view -
Moorland wildlife will only recover once the cause of the problem and main moorland predator, the gamekeeper, is removed. « Raptor Politics
this organization points out, rightly, that predators SERVE A VITAL FUNCTION in the ecosystem, & they cannot "explode" in popn or somehow out-breed their prey species; there will never be as many coyote as there are rabbits, or as many hawks as there are rodents.
Lions don't outnumber gnus & zebras, either, & no one has 'controlled' lion or leopard numbers for the sake of ungulates - Africa's predators & prey species got along fine for millennia without human interference.
It's amazing to me that anyone could think predators are automatically 'bad' & their numbers need to be limited by humans, who are hardly ideal predators; we don't want the cripple, the blind animal, the aging one with worn teeth who won't survive another winter - we want the healthy thriving young adult; the perfect dam or sire, which Nature would much-rather keep in the gene-pool.
in this particular instance, the split is most-obvious over RED GROUSE MOORS - artificially managed, intensively hunted, human-planted, these are sport-hunters' resorts, a kind of destination "safari" within the U.K., designed to produce grouse in great numbers, to be hunted by humans, & blind to the needs of any other native species, predator, omnivore, herbivore, anything - any species, whether it's flora or fauna, that doesn't CONTRIBUTE to Red Grouse production - provide cover, food, or some other need - is either ignored as useless, or damned as evil.
Red fox are not an invasive alien; they co-evolved with all of Britain's, Scotland's, Wales', & Ireland's native species. Frankly, foxes & other native predators belong there far-more than humans do; we're a relative newcomer who altered the landscape & the waters to suit ourselves.
In the 1890s thru 1930s, many predators in the U-S had a bounty on their heads; U'd think we'd have learned better since then.
- terry
