CapeCodOnline.com – A proposal that would allow escorted off-road vehicles to drive carefully and gingerly past tiny, vulnerable piping plover nests at Nauset Beach this summer is ignoring an 800-pound elephant on the trails.
The problem, however, is the plan fails to address the wild predators. Crows, sea gulls, coyote and fox all prey on the plover eggs and chicks. As a matter of fact, the predators have killed far more plovers than humans have.
As a result, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which is responsible for protecting the endangered species, has maintained that any habitat conservation plan must include a predator-culling component. Problem is, no one wants to shoot Wily Coyote, Jonathan Livingston Seagull or the Sly Fox.
But if we really want to protect endangered species, we will need to spend as much effort keeping predators at bay as we do keeping humans away.
Government sharpshooters may be effective in reducing a limited number of coyote and fox, but what to do about sea gulls and crows? There are so many of them that culling efforts would likely be ineffective. But if culling begins, the federal and state governments should take on the expense and the political heat, not the local towns.
Holy shit I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Piping Plover’s are so important that people actually want to have the government conduct mass murder of other living creatures to protect them? Is this some kind of joke? Where is the candid camera crew? The Cape Cod Times has to be punking us with this crap.
Could you imagine if someone suggested the only way to protect people on Cape Cod is to have the government start shooting everyone from New York? Actually, not a great example, most of our readers would love that, but you know what I mean. Killing something in the name of protecting the lives of other things is straight lunacy.
How about this? STOP PLAYING GOD. Let nature do whatever nature is going to do. In all of my education about natural selection I don’t recall reading the part where government snipers are picking off foxes. Natural Geographic isn’t filming a special on sharp shooters in their natural habitat anytime soon.
The only reason Piping Plover’s are still in existence is because of humans, which at its core is completely contradictory to nature. It’s unreal how arrogant humans are to think that we can actually alter mother nature’s plan in any way. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction and I for one can’t wait to see what she has in store for Plover payback.
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They already did that once… Federal sharpshooters killed all the coyotes on monomoy … With no coyotes the seal population exploded and then came the white shark…
Maybe Mother Nature will give coyotes and foxes snipers and train them to be sharpshooters so that they can kill human sharpshooters in order to protect their species. Or maybe Mother Nature will just send an army of wolves to attack Cape Cod to protect the coyotes and foxes. Both seem very likely and possible.
This is one of the few posts just don’t agree with. Lets be smaaaht. No lets be wicked pissah smaaht. We have already hosed the ecosystems up, so if we want endangered species to live and enjoy for later and have a chance, we have to and per Federal Law, take care off how outta whack we made things. Which means logically controlling the top factors effecting said endangered species. Killing predators like Coyotes/Gulls/Foxes is one such fact for Plovers. Unless of course we can bring back the Pamet Puma, or Mylie the Mountain Lion. All the peace hippies just don’t get it, but keep eating bacon on Sunday anyway.
@Cable Dude-Coyotes have nothing to do with seals, ya ding dong. You really think a coyote stands toe to flipper with a 200-800 lb Momma Grey seal? You ever been near grey seals? You ever leave your keyboard and the upper cape and come down cape even? I mean lets face facts, Falmouth sucks, way to close the New Bedford cesspool. And don’t even get me started on Mashpee and The Wamps, Hyannis, or Bourne for crissakes. Can we carve off the Cape at Bass River already? So when you venture to the Real Cape and cross over Bass River, did ya Get out of your car when doing so? Grey seals come after you on a boat when you near the colony. They are decidedly not afraid of coyotes. GO ahead I dare ya, go poke a grey seal and see what follows. Your 5X bigger than a Coyote, well, maybe 6X with your donut consumption.
I am volunteering for sniper duty, where can I sign up?
J mon back away from the bong and try reading a book … I have seen these seals and surfed with them swimming around me… Scares the shit out of you…The fact of the matter is they brought snipers onto monomoy in 98 to cull they coyotes under the guise of protecting plovers … Seal populations skyrocketed after the removal of the coyotes… Coincidence or correlation … They have tried these methods with other animals in other federal parks and the result is the same… Removal of wolves in Yellowstone allowed the deer to overrun the place… Deers ate all the vegitation on the riverbanks and so erosion accelerated and silted up the river killing the trout fishery…
I fucking hate liberals.