I would not in any way devalue the importance of the ecosystem on HI, I just think they're going a little overboard on this playing up to people's already irrational fear of snakes.

As others have already pointed out, this is less of a case of protecting the public from a potentially dangerous animal, but rather an issue of protecting an ecosystem that is likely to be highly vulnerable to invasion by an exotic predator. Even the most drastic textbook examples - such as the one of B. irregularis in Guam - originated in a few individual specimens reaching a vulnerable ecosystem. Invasions are a very serious issue, especially for small, isolated systems, such as islands. Placing great importance on removing such potential threats right away should therefore hardly be perceived as "going a little overboard" just because it happens to involve a charismatic organism.


Regards,

Thomas Eimermacher
Department of Biological Sciences
Southeastern Louisiana University

[ Hide Replies ]

• HI Press: Snake hunters scouring Wahikul - W von Papineäu, Thu Mar 2 12:12:10 2006
• Gray, no pattern, must be venomous!! - Chance, Thu Mar 2 17:02:07 2006
• We're all thinking it... - yoyoing, Thu Mar 2 18:15:48 2006
• RE: Gray, no pattern, must be venomous!! - amabilis, Thu Mar 2 20:27:43 2006
• RE: Gray, no pattern, must be venomous!! - Chance, Thu Mar 2 21:29:54 2006
• RE: Gray, no pattern, must be venomous!! - FLherp, Fri Mar 3 06:11:48 2006
• RE: Gray, no pattern, must be venomous!! - amabilis, Fri Mar 3 08:31:22 2006
• RE: Gray, no pattern, must be venomous!! - Nightflight99, Fri Mar 3 18:17:36 2006
• Nightflight99.......must be venomous!! - Eimon, Sat Mar 4 04:09:25 2006
• RE: Nightflight99.......must be venomous - Nightflight99, Wed Mar 8 01:50:42 2006