320
million years, the time since the land mass broke off from Antarctica, had dwelt in
an utter biological utopia, particularly so on Rakiura.
New Zealand animal rights organizations are all but helpless when it comes to
the conservation biology battle. Despite millions of dollars annually expended on
R&D into immuno-contraception for “invasives” (the testing, e.g., of genetically
modified carrots and potatoes as a means of delivering hormone and steroid-free
pig-derived zona pellucida contraceptive agents), the only true, efficacious and nonviolent solution has yet to be embraced by Kiwis, the “term of endearment” used to
describe human residents of a country whose national bird, the five distinct genetic
species of Kiwi, are all threatened with extinction in a nation most ecologists characterize as the “capital of extinctions.” In numerous nation-wide polls, as well as
various “Humane Vertebrate Pest Control Working Groups,” undeviating concerns
have been raised and debated for decades: “Is it right to control one population in
order to preserve another [e.g., kill stoats to protect Kiwi]? Upon these killing fields,
ethics are debated. If all wildlife deserves our utmost and humble respect, and
wherefore science has shown in an abundance the precious, unique sentience and
feelings of all living organisms, how can killing ever be construed as ethical?.
11
(Fig. 35.3)
two-tailed-swallowtail/?id=1370403265794, Accessed August 2, 2020. As for gorse, it was
declared a weed by New Zealand’s Parliament in 1900. See Hill, R. L.; A. H. Gourlay; S. V. Fowler
(2000). “The Biological Control Program Against Gorse in New Zealand” (PDF). Proceedings of
the X International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds: 909–917. By 1928, it was attacked
on all fronts by way of a New Zealand national policy of biocontrols which, despite 90 official
years of attempts through the introduction of seed and foliage-feeding (also exotic) insects to control it, Ulex europaeus continues to thrive across over 1.7 million acres throughout New Zealand.
See “Biological Control In Protected Natural Areas,” by Susan M. Timmins, Science And Research
Internal Report No. 6, https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/science-and-technical/
ir06.pdf
11 See “Ethics And The Killing Of Wild Sentient Animals,” C. O’Connor, B. Warburton, and
M. Fisher, “13
th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings,” May 2–6, 2005, pp. 203–
207. Discussed in God’s Country, op.cit., pp. 423–425.
35 The Ratiocinations of Rakiura
million years, the time since the land mass broke off from Antarctica, had dwelt in
an utter biological utopia, particularly so on Rakiura.
New Zealand animal rights organizations are all but helpless when it comes to
the conservation biology battle. Despite millions of dollars annually expended on
R&D into immuno-contraception for “invasives” (the testing, e.g., of genetically
modified carrots and potatoes as a means of delivering hormone and steroid-free
pig-derived zona pellucida contraceptive agents), the only true, efficacious and nonviolent solution has yet to be embraced by Kiwis, the “term of endearment” used to
describe human residents of a country whose national bird, the five distinct genetic
species of Kiwi, are all threatened with extinction in a nation most ecologists characterize as the “capital of extinctions.” In numerous nation-wide polls, as well as
various “Humane Vertebrate Pest Control Working Groups,” undeviating concerns
have been raised and debated for decades: “Is it right to control one population in
order to preserve another [e.g., kill stoats to protect Kiwi]? Upon these killing fields,
ethics are debated. If all wildlife deserves our utmost and humble respect, and
wherefore science has shown in an abundance the precious, unique sentience and
feelings of all living organisms, how can killing ever be construed as ethical?.
11
(Fig. 35.3)
two-tailed-swallowtail/?id=1370403265794, Accessed August 2, 2020. As for gorse, it was
declared a weed by New Zealand’s Parliament in 1900. See Hill, R. L.; A. H. Gourlay; S. V. Fowler
(2000). “The Biological Control Program Against Gorse in New Zealand” (PDF). Proceedings of
the X International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds: 909–917. By 1928, it was attacked
on all fronts by way of a New Zealand national policy of biocontrols which, despite 90 official
years of attempts through the introduction of seed and foliage-feeding (also exotic) insects to control it, Ulex europaeus continues to thrive across over 1.7 million acres throughout New Zealand.
See “Biological Control In Protected Natural Areas,” by Susan M. Timmins, Science And Research
Internal Report No. 6, https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/science-and-technical/
ir06.pdf
11 See “Ethics And The Killing Of Wild Sentient Animals,” C. O’Connor, B. Warburton, and
M. Fisher, “13
th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings,” May 2–6, 2005, pp. 203–
207. Discussed in God’s Country, op.cit., pp. 423–425.
35 The Ratiocinations of Rakiura