1/4/10

1/4/10

The NY Times a few days ago had a photo of a river of electro-shocked carp leaping into the air. These asian carp (bighead and silver carp) were introduced by southern catfish farmers to control algae in their fishponds. They escaped during floods to the Mississippi, an entirely predictable event. These carp also leap into the air when boats pass—the pressure wave must indicate a predator to them—so boaters going by at 5-10 mph may get whacked in the face with a 20-50 pound fish. The carp breed prolifically and have been moving up the Mississippi drainage for years. They are now poised to enter Lake Michigan, via a canal from the Illinois River. The other Great Lakes’ states are in an uproar since the carp are likely to dominate the ecosystems of the lakes. (And while carp have a good reputation in Europe and Asia, they don’t have one here.) The other states insist the canal be closed. Building the canal, partly for transportation, partly to send Chicago’s sewage and stockyard waste away from Lake Michigan, was never a good idea. But why wait til now to do something? I think fish from the Mississippi are edible. Couldn’t McDonalds sell carp fillets in a bun instead of Alaskan pollock? Eco-fish? Can’t we make use of these “invasive species?” Florida panthers prefer to dine on invasive European feral hogs.

During the Reagan years I watched the progression of a pandemic of raccoon rabies up the East Coast. It had started with the release of Florida raccoons by coon hunters in West Virginia. One animal was rabid. I guess there aren’t enough raccoons in West Virginia. Wild animals in general die horrifying deaths but hunting coons with dogs seems an unnecessary addition to the scene. At any rate, no one did anything and the epidemic, now also affecting foxes and skunks, eventually reached us in upper New York State. There were stories of foxes walking up to people or being shot in barns. People were bitten and had to be vaccinated. One died. Rabies is a public health problem but the Reaganites seemed to think people should take care of themselves. Now New York State and Vermont try to prevent the spread of new outbreaks by spreading bait spiked with a vaccine around the area with the disease.

This fall we were visited nightly by three raccoons. They pulled down the bird feeder if I left it up. They also visited my neighbor who doesn’t put up with this sort of thing. He trapped one for a friend who was training his hounds. Let’s not think about what happened to that animal. The others, one as big as a small bear (50-60 pounds), disappeared in a few days. I suppose he shot them. The big one was too big to trap, he was too big to climb up the side of the house to reach the bird feeder. I would have preferred the coyotes to get them. Coyotes are one positive sign in our natural environment—our evolving small wolf, tolerant of humanity and smart enough to live among us. And perhaps also the moose, who, during much debate by state game departments on their reintroduction, began reintroducing themselves.


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As for that article in the Sunday NY Times for January 3rd, What’s a Failed Bailed out Banker Worth? — what a red herring! It’s hard to put morality into capitalism. The banker’s worth what he can get. Any income over $1 million? $2 million? $2.5 million? should be taxed at 90%.