road kill

In message <[email hidden]>, Graeme
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Grey squirrels are an
introduced species (from America) and they are doing a very succesful
job of ousting our native red squirrels as they are bigger and more
agressive.

While it is true that the Grey has lead to the loss of the Red in most
areas of the UK, it's not because they are more aggressive and 'drive'
them out.

The main reason is that Greys are much less fussy eaters, they have a
much wider diet, Reds have a more restricted diet, so the Greys
basically out compete the Reds for food in most areas -though Reds
seems to prefer Pine woods, so do better there.

--
Chris French, Leeds

In message <[email hidden]>, Callas
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What would anyone else have done

I would have liked to have killed the animal, because there's no way
it'll recover from such an injury and it's in misery.

But how to do it?

I've wondered about this problem, too.

I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's possible to
drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to provide a quick and
painless death?

For a squirrel, if you stamp on it's skull you will crush it easily
enough and kill it instantly, but it's a bit messy and unpleasant.

Or pick it up and pull it's neck - though if you've not done it before
(I used to breed rabbits so had plenty of practise) it's probably not
that easy to do.

For a squirrel, picking it up and whacking it's head/neck down on the
kerb or whatever, would also do the job.
--
Chris French, Leeds

In article <[email hidden]>,

Gonzalez said:

A standard method of suicide in Oxbridge's examination halls is to
stick a pencil up your nose then slam your face, pencil first, down on
the table.

*boggle*

So why do the powers-that-be concern themselves with such conventional
hazards as the tower at my old college (Girton), which has been known
to be closed around exam time?

Quoted message said:

I have heard that it is a quick and painless method of
killing oneself, but how anyone knows, I am not quite sure.

Well, if you've witnessed a death without associated agony ...

Quoted message said:

up the hapless squirrel's nose and bang it in hard with a locally
available rock.

A locally-available rock could perhaps take a more direct approach.

--
Nick Kew

John Hearns <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I might be wrong - but I've never heard that the holes were rabbit holes.

So might I, but when has anyone on URC let the truth get in the way of a
good story? :-)

Graeme

"Tony B" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Hopefully you don't cross the species barrier with that philosophy, no
doubt there will be a few peeps with French/Italian surnames hiding
from you if you do...

With my mother having the maiden name of Fleming, I'd be stamping on my own
head (I've tried it, I'm not that flexible). :-)

Graeme

Simonb said:

Callas said:

I cycle with a minimal set of bike tools. I wonder if it's possible
to drive a screwdriver into the animals brain to provide a quick and
painless death?

If I weren't such a coward, I'd wring its neck. Isn't that the done thing?

Unless you're familiar with handling animals, I'd be wary of picking
up a frightened, in pain and sharp toothed creature like a squirrel.

Better use your size 10s.

Quoted message said:

Rats are humans biggest enemy after ourselves and viruses. They are
directly responsible for a large amount of 3rd world poverty,
destroying over 60% of crops produced, and about doubling the cost of
food production.

They also destroy biodiversity by waging relentless war on birds,
insects, and other mammals.

Quoted message said:

Kind of. They're like pigeons but they don't [censored] on your head.

Yeah, but they pollute your food and your environment and in some
cases they spread airborne viruses that are fatal to humans. Lovely
chaps.

Be careful what you wish for.

Eh? Lighten up - I didn't wish for anything. Ps, do you have some kind of
propaganda machine. Your post reads like you've just tapped in 'rats' and
got some vague propaganda bollocks.

Not Responding said:

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 14:05:02 GMT, Simon Brooke <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, elyob

(') said:

"Simonb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

>james wrote:
>
>
>>What would anyone else have done
>
>Exactly what you did.

Grey squirrels are vermin.

That's no reason to leave it suffering. I would have cycled over its
head and crushed its skull. Death is inevitable, but suffering is
unnecessary.

I would have done this if I thought I wouldn't have some mad townie
try and bring a prosecution for animal cruelty.

Have your heared about Trowbridge's pigeon problem?

Basically, the pigeons are are fast taking over the town, [censored] in
the streets, getting in the way etc.

There's two little old ladies who go about in the evenings feeding them.
No-one can stop them as feeding pigeons aint against the law.

The town council propose a cull. The Wiltshire Times reports it.

You know what happens?

People complain!

Anybody out there in URCland like roast pigeon? Come to Trowbridge with
an air rifle and a doggy-bag and get some of our blasted pigeons!

Please!

james said:

last night, on the way home, at the top of Greenwich Park there was an
injured grey sqirrel writhing on the road. I ended up slowing and
cycling around it which was what other traffic was doing. Apart from
wondering who was driving in a park at a junction, in such a way as to
run over a sqirrel (I know they tend towards kamikaze nuttiness but
even so) I didin't do anything for which I feel rather guilty. I
think I should have contacted the park wardens/parks police office
(which is just by there) in the hope that they might have the means to
humanely dispatch the unhappy creature.

What would anyone else have done

best wishes
james

Blood thirsty lot around here, aren't we?!

"Pete White" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

james said:

last night, on the way home, at the top of Greenwich Park there was an
injured grey sqirrel writhing on the road. I ended up slowing and
cycling around it which was what other traffic was doing. Apart from
wondering who was driving in a park at a junction, in such a way as to
run over a sqirrel (I know they tend towards kamikaze nuttiness but
even so) I didin't do anything for which I feel rather guilty. I
think I should have contacted the park wardens/parks police office
(which is just by there) in the hope that they might have the means to
humanely dispatch the unhappy creature.

What would anyone else have done

Blood thirsty lot around here, aren't we?!

Just toe the party line and there won't be any trouble. Start your chant now:

"Death to helmet wearers, death to pavement cyclists, death to red-light
jumpers, death to squirrels, death to buzzards, death to shops that don't allow
bikes, death to the BBC, death to motorists, death to children, death to safer
cycling courses, death to everyone else that got left out accidentally."

Repeat every five minutes.
--
"If the outdoors is a gym with dirt on the ground, or a place to
exercise, or to show off, and nothing more, you don't get it."
- Gary D. Schwartz in rec.backcountry

"Pete White" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anybody out there in URCland like roast pigeon?

Yum :-)

Quoted message said:

Come to Trowbridge with an air rifle

....and be blown away by the antiterrorism squad as an Al Quaeda supporter.

Quoted message said:

and a doggy-bag and get some of our blasted pigeons!

Hmm. You appear to be confusing wood pigeons (slurp) with rock pigeons (retch).
--
"Do stairs, stairs, and more stairs,
wherever you can find them."
- Jim Roberts in rec.backcountry

Mark South said:

Just toe the party line and there won't be any trouble. Start your
chant now:

Quoted message said:

"Death to helmet wearers, death to pavement cyclists, death to
red-light jumpers, death to squirrels, death to buzzards, death to
shops that don't allow bikes, death to the BBC, death to motorists,
death to children, death to safer cycling courses, death to everyone
else that got left out accidentally."

Just for reference, you missed bibshort wearers, users of sub-£200
bikes, disc brakes that don't require a second mortgage, and
pedestrians. Also anyone who posts to uk.transport or exceeds speed
limits (there may be overlap in those last two groups)

-dan

--
"please make sure that the person is your friend before you confirm"

Graeme said:

"Tony B" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Hopefully you don't cross the species barrier with that philosophy, no
doubt there will be a few peeps with French/Italian surnames hiding
from you if you do...

With my mother having the maiden name of Fleming, I'd be stamping on my own
head (I've tried it, I'm not that flexible). :-)

I should be alright, Kahn being an old Anglo Saxon name after all.
:-)

--
Dave...

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. - Mark Twain

"Daniel Barlow" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mark South said:

Just toe the party line and there won't be any trouble. Start your
chant now:

Quoted message said:

"Death to helmet wearers, death to pavement cyclists, death to
red-light jumpers, death to squirrels, death to buzzards, death to
shops that don't allow bikes, death to the BBC, death to motorists,
death to children, death to safer cycling courses, death to everyone
else that got left out accidentally."

Just for reference, you missed bibshort wearers, users of sub-£200
bikes, disc brakes that don't require a second mortgage, and
pedestrians. Also anyone who posts to uk.transport or exceeds speed
limits (there may be overlap in those last two groups)

Those were the "everyone else that got left out accidentally" :-)

There was a time, not so long ago, when the list looked as if it would also have
to include people on non-recumbent bikes.
--
"To ... just not care that there are naked triathletes running
across your lawn, that's just a waste of exhibitionism."
- Kibo, in alt.religion.kibology

Reply to Dave Kahn

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

With my mother having the maiden name of Fleming, I'd be stamping on my own
head (I've tried it, I'm not that flexible). :-)

I should be alright, Kahn being an old Anglo Saxon name after all.
:-)

Anglo-Saxons? Normans? Romans?

Tchuh - late-comers, the lot of 'em... ;-)

--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

Simon Brooke said:

Bring back the wolf, I says. And I'm not joking.

Wolfs... pha, bring back bears I say.

Mark South said:

"Pete White" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anybody out there in URCland like roast pigeon?

Yum :-)

Quoted message said:

Come to Trowbridge with an air rifle

...and be blown away by the antiterrorism squad as an Al Quaeda supporter.

Not around here you won't, Trowbridge has the biggest Morrocan community
outside of London.

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 18:28:48 +0200, "Mark South"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

There was a time, not so long ago, when the list looked as if it would also have
to include people on non-recumbent bikes.

I was of assuming that had already been accepted so went without
saying.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 18:28:48 +0200, "Mark South"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

There was a time, not so long ago, when the list looked as if it would also

have

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to include people on non-recumbent bikes.

I was of assuming that had already been accepted so went without
saying.

Nice try, but I'm sorry, the syntax in my sentence is still far clumsier than
yours :-)
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Trevor Barton

(') said:

David Off said:

More pop-anti-grey-squirrel PR. You could say that humans, dogs or
cats are an introduced species doing a good job of wiping out the
native wildlife.

Yeah, you have to draw a line somewhere, otherwise all species reduce
to being non-native because originally the earth was popilated only
by pond-slime precursors! 1000 years or so is plently long enough for
the rabbit to be considered native in the UK, but 100 years or so
is not long enough for it to be considered native in Australia. In
the former instance, it's integrated and in balance with the rest of
the ecosystem.

I would not agree in the least. Mind you, it's possible that rabbits
would be in balance with the rest of the ecosystem if people didn't go
around killing their natural predators. But since they do, rabbits are
in suitable habitats a hugely destructive plague, eroding hillsides and
destroying forests. Mind you, the same can be said of sheep (which also
aren't native but have been here for far longer) and red deer (which
probably are native by any reasonable definition).

Well yes, but then you can apply the same logic to man, who is
inarguably the worst species for screwing up the habitat. We wouldn't
have the habitat we do now in the British Isles if it weren't for people,
and most of it was done in the last thousand years, too. Should we
eradicate ourselves?

It's probably an arguable point.

<half serious>
However, man is also a (globally) native species. Like all species, we
have an effect on our environment. Is what we are doing to the planet
any less "natural" than the effect of wolves on the rabbit population?
Or the way rabbits affect forests and hillsides?
</half serious>

--
Trev