Gibraltar to cull pigions in bird-flu precation

[Sally Furniss]

Gibraltar to cull pigions in bird-flu precation



HEALTH authorities in Gibraltar are to cull all pigeons on the Rock as a precaution against bird flu. The population of up to 1,000 birds will be trapped and given lethal injections.

http://www.redtram.com/go/40238426/

[Bruce]

Re: Gibraltar to cull pigions in bird-flu precation

If the birds don’t have H5N1 its just nuts, you cant go messing up the ecosystem just in case, what they could do is shoot all the monkeys, their not needed by the ecosystem on that rock. must have something to do with the 7 million tourists yearly.

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Today, with over 7 million tourists visiting The Rock of Gibraltar each year, the Barbary macaques are the peninsula’s most famous residents. Given the unique history and popularity of the "Rock Apes," a 2003 article in the prestigious science journal Nature came as quite a surprise. The journal reported that in recent years, the monkeys "have multiplied to nuisance levels" and as a result, the government of Gibraltar ordered the killing (euphemistically called "culling") of a group of the "Rock Apes" for "vandalizing property and attacking children."
As early as 1997, primatologists studying the "Rock Apes" recommended the implementation of humane sterilization techniques and contraception to prevent the monkeys from outgrowing their habitat and being deemed nuisances. Unfortunately, these recommendations were ignored despite having support from the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society [GOHNS], which has responsibility for management of the macaque colony.
http://www.ippl.org/05-28-04-09.html