Here is a quote that appears on the Chicago Tribune web site from, apparently, the biggest moron who has ever been hired by the Chicago Park District:
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"It's great to see those dogs tear across the beach,"Park District Deputy Director for Natural Resources Ellen Sargent said Wednesday after watching the action on television. The program is costing the city about $6,000, she said.
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Moron, moron, f*&%ing moron.
Here's another gem from the article:
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The ace up their sleeve has been Max and his canine colleagues—anticipated to be so disruptive that the Park District promised local birdwatchers they'd refrain from unleashing them until the last northbound migratory birds passed through in late-June.
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Umm, spring shorebird migration is over, but fall shorebird migration has just begun, which the jackasses who wrote the Tribune article would know if they actually talked to a birder instead of a dog handler or some Park District hack.
More on this when I get back to the UP. But we birders need to keep up the heat on this one.
UPDATE: I sent a strongly-worded e-mail to the Trib last night, and the story is now off the front page of the web site. Probably a coincidence, I'm sure, but at least it's not the lead anymore.
5 comments:
Found your post as a non-birding fan of border collies. So, what's the downside of having the seagulls chased away. Aren't the gulls and geese who may get chased among natures nastiest creatures?
Peter ..... Would you like to meet Mr Guppy ??
Possibly illegal ?
Isn't Piping Plover on both State and Federal Endangered Species Lists ?
Is there not a mandate in effect to protect these birds wherever they may occur ?
Does not the Piping Plover use Chicago lakefront beaches during Fall migration ?
Is the City of Chicago not also a signatory of the Migratory Bird Treaty ?
The deliberate harassment of federally listed species is a crime. Setting border collies on all birds on the beach in an organized fashion, for the expressed sole purpose of harassing those birds, which likely at times will include federaly protected species, is a crime.
Peter:
I don't think gulls or geese are as nasty as some stinky slobbering dogs, but you'd probably disagree with me. That's not the point. The point is that what the city is doing is wrong, and very possibly illegal. You can't break the law just because you're a dog person.
Max: Very funny.
Birdgeek:
1. Yes.
2. Yes, federal for sure, haven't checked the state list lately.
3. Not totally sure about that.
4. Absolutely yes.
5. Yes again.
Birdgeek and Bill: Remember that the federal ESA is generally only going to apply when federally-protected species are *actually* harassed. The Migratory Bird Treay Act can fill in some of the gaps here, but it offers a lot les protection than the ESA.
This stuff is important enough that it deserves a separate post when I get the chance. I don't think the birding community is going to let this one die down as easily as the City thought.
More to follow
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