October 2008 Archives

I couldn't stop thinking about the recent case of the young gamekeeper from Shropshire who was given a prison sentence for his systematic extermination of wildlife. According to the courtroom reports provided by the RSPB, he was obsessed in protecting his hand-reared pheasants and partridges for a wealthy shooting organisation.
Everything living, apart from his game birds, was deemed vermin. This included ravens, buzzards, badgers and others, in addition to the conventional rabbits, foxes and crows. The animals and birds were shot, snared, trapped and sometimes bludgeoned to death.
I looked in my dictionary: Vermin is a collective name for insects, small animals, or birds which are troublesome, destructive or carry diseases for domestic stock, crops or game.
Invasive weeds are sometimes considered similarly. The name vermin is not strictly correct for plants, but the same feelings are felt by gardeners and horticulturalists.
The more I listen to peoples' feelings the bigger and more complicated the issue gets.
Much depends on how people make a living. For many dairy and cattle farmers badgers are a potential problem because they may spread bovine tuberculosis; to hill and arable farmers gorse stifles potential pasture; for sea fisherman seals raid and damage nets; spider crabs waste time for lobster fishermen; otters eat the anglers' fish; for the landscape gardener moles and weeds such as the Japanese knotweed cause despair; for the property developer trees are in the way; to the sheep farmer the increased numbers of buzzards and ravens are a threat. The list of examples is very, very long.
Traditionally the gamekeeper would control foxes, rats, crows and magpies. But in the upsetting case of the gamekeeper described above, the 'control' included more or less anything which moved which was not a pheasant or partridge.
Some animals and plants are more generally disliked and are treated as nuisances by most town and country dwellers regardless of occupation. Rats, mice, pigeons, crows and even sparrows and starlings are common targets. Nettles are a problem to all.
Added to this are our personal and emotional likes and dislikes. Sometimes these are extreme.
The official terms for these extremes are phobia (excessive and unreasoning dislike) and mania (excessive fondness). Referring to the dictionary again, there are a least a dozen of each category.
Some are well known, such as arachnophobia (fear of spiders). There are individuals who have a fear of all animals (zoophobia; zoophilia, the opposite, describes those with an obsessive love of all animals).
Others seem bizarre; ophidomania is an extreme liking for reptiles, helminthophobia is a panicky hatred of worms!
Psychologists have all sorts of theories for the causes behind the extremes, often blaming childhood experiences.
In the conversations the issue of numbers seems all important; 'There are too many rabbits along that cliff', or 'All those magpies have pushed away the song thrushes' and so on.
And it strikes me that here lies a common truth. It's a numbers game. For each and everyone, livelihoods, experiences and emotional makeup will influence how many (and how close!) are ok before an animal may feel a nuisance.
Fortunately there are now strong legislative powers, involving the RSBB, RSPCA and others to set the limits and control them.
For me annoyance can come after simply watching. A flock of sparrows descends on the bird feeder; the blue tit is pushed aside and gets angry (as in the picture alongside). Or a cat springs out of nowhere, scattering the birds. But there's not much to be done about it!
There are amazing stories why we may love or loathe different parts of the natural world around us. I plan to talk about some of these over the coming months.
So it would be great to hear and share any special feelings about why any animals, birds or plants attract a special like, or dislike!