road kill

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

Quoted message said:

Rabbits are also a non-native species (introduced by the
Normans, or was it the Romans?) so, in my books, are
prime candidates for eradication. For one thing, it has
been said that if it weren't for the large areas of
short grass and numerous holes they left around the
Scottish countryside, then the game of golf would never
have been invented. So they are indirectly responsible
for Pringle jumpers, boring televised competitions and
Jimmy Tarbuck et al. Those are grounds for extermination
if ever there were!

Be careful what you wish for - do you *really* want more DIY
programming on BBC2? :-p

Quoted message said:

Rabbits are also a non-native species (introduced by the
Normans, or was it the Romans?) so, in my books, are prime
candidates for eradication.

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...

Tony B

Simonb said:

Just zis Guy said:

Plus it might have been one of the Evil Squirrels from
the Nut Mines.

Bury the body or burn it? Or hang it high as a lesson
to others?

Make it wear a helmet and apply a rotational force.

--
Dave...

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

Colin Blackburn said:

elyob said:

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

Quoted message said:

james wrote:

> What would anyone else have done

Exactly what you did.

Grey squirrels are vermin.

Odd term. Vermin describes animals that are destructive to
crops, game birds and domestic animals, ie animals that
farmers and gamekeepers don't like. Not sure the grey
squirrel qualifies.

In my garden I have a row of hazel and a couple of walnut
trees. I can assure you that grey squirrels qualify as
vermin by this definition.

My definition of vermin also covers grey, bushy tailed,
sharp toothed creatures that climb into your attic and
proceed to remove every last square millimetre of electrical
insulation from your lighting circuit.

It also covers aforementioned vandals that go on to die in
said attic and then decompose into maggot heaven; the
residents of which then fall through the ceiling onto your
bathroom floor. In the morning. When it's dark. And you have
bare feet.

By God, I hate squirrels.

in message <[email hidden]>, elyob

(') said:

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

Quoted message said:

james said:

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.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke)
jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

Iraq war: it's time for regime change... ... go now,
Tony, while you can still go with dignity.

Dave Kahn said:

Make it wear a helmet and apply a rotational force.

Surely not! We all know it is virtually impossible to
sustain any kind of injury whilst sporting such a device.

On 11/6/04 2:48 pm, in article [email hidden],

Not Responding said:

In my garden I have a row of hazel and a couple of walnut
trees. I can assure you that grey squirrels qualify as
vermin by this definition.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

By God, I hate squirrels.

I fortunately have moved to the land of the red squirrel
which is much cuter.

I have been somewhat antagonistic towards squirrels since
walking in the US a while back. One chewed through my pack.
Another was bold enough to try to steal my porridge. It was
still on a lit gas stove at the time.

Definitely vermin. Unfortunately vermin with good PR. I have
run over a rat before though.

BTW [N R] : How did you get on yesterday? Sitting, standing
or resting?

..d

Quoted message said:

A pal of mine is a Parkie, and she regularly distresses
the more sensitive kids on school visits by describing
grey squirrels along the lines of "rat with good PR".

People say that as if it makes 'em bad. Rats are lovely
little things. Kind of. They're like pigeons but they don't
[censored] on your head.

ISTR reading about somebody deserving a Mention in Despatches for the Darwin awards by giving their child a cookie or whatever and then holding said child up to a cuddly brown bear for a photo opportunity!

Grey squirrels are vermin, they damage forests and drive out red squirrles not to mention allegedly taking eggs from nests

AIMHO

Steve D

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Peter Clinch
[B]Colin Blackburn wrote:

A pal of mine is a Parkie, and she regularly distresses the
more sensitive kids on school visits by describing grey
squirrels along the lines of "rat with good PR".

While visiting another pal who was working as a ranger in
the Grand Canyon, we were taking a stroll along the rim and
came across a couple of touroids feeding the squirrels next
to a "please do not feed the squirrels" sign. Dave (not in
uniform) asked them to desist, they said something about
them being so cute and carried on. Dave tries #2 gambit: "Do
you know that the squirrels in this park carry bubonic
plague?" (they do, fact fans!). That seemed to have more
effect, Exit touroids stage left.

Pete.

Graeme said:

JohnB <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

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.

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.

Simon Brooke said:

I would have cycled over its head and crushed its skull.
Death is inevitable, but suffering is unnecessary.

sounds like the same logic used by london motorists wrt
to cyclist

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

Quoted message said:

in message <pMfyc.1509$FY2.12693728@news-
text.cableinet.net>, elyob

(') said:

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

Quoted message said:

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.

mae <[email hidden]> wedi ysgrifennu:

Quoted message said:

Graeme said:

JohnB <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

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.

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.

This was covered a few days ago on a Radio 4 nature
programme. The basics are that red squirrels are rubbish -
they don't even eat stuff that British woodland has in
abundance such as acorns. A Barbie doll set lose in the
wild would probably have a competitive advantage. In
addition, greys are immune to one particular disease that's
lethal to reds.

In any case, if you've ever seen one close up (the pine
forests at Formby in Merseyside is a good place in
traditional roadie terretory) you'll know that they're
scrawny little things and not so cute as you'd expect.

--
Rob

Please keep conversations in the newsgroup so that all may
contribute and benefit.

Robert Bruce said:

This was covered a few days ago on a Radio 4 nature
programme. The basics are that red squirrels are rubbish -
they don't even eat stuff that British woodland has in
abundance such as acorns.

But they're primarily adapted to native Scots Pine woods,
and do quite well in them 'cause the greys are too heavy to
get at the munchies therein. "British woodland" isn't quite
as uniform a medium as you infer.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111
ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382
640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net
[email hidden] dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

Mark Thompson said:

People say that as if it makes 'em bad. Rats are lovely
little things. Kind of. They're like pigeons but they
don't [censored] on your head.

Domesticated pet rats are lovely little things. Wild ones
are, OTOH, distinctly unpleasant wee [censored] by and large.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer Tel 44 1382 660111
ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382
640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net
[email hidden] dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

what to do with injured squirrel? "various people wrote"
kill it squirrels deserve all they get etc

Don't get me wrong. I am no particular fan of squirrels nor
an anthropomorphic sentimentalist. After the fact, I
considered the option of dispatching it myself but felt that
a combination of limited equipment and appropriate behaviour
in a public park and squeamishness pretty much ruled this
out for me.

Perhaps a more remote location would have stimulated me
into action because I would feel more comfortable
dispatching the creature once beyond the gaze of small
children and because it is harder to duck an issue when you
are not part of a crowd.

I felt rather troubled by the condition of the injured
animal not by the idea that it was going to die sooner or
later.

The bloodstain on the road this morning suggests to me that
a following vehicle ran the beast over eventually.

best wishes james

Graeme said:

Rabbits are also a non-native species (introduced by the
Normans, or was it the Romans?) so, in my books, are prime
candidates for eradication.

You might care to know then that the whole of the UK was
declared a "Rabbit Free Zone" (way back in the '50's I
think) and that land owners have a legal duty to control
rabbit populations.

--
Mark

gunculture.netgunculture.netOpen ↗

"the subjects... may have arms for their defence"
English Bill of Rights

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

Quoted message said:

in message <pMfyc.1509$FY2.12693728@news-
text.cableinet.net>, elyob

(') said:

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

Quoted message said:

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 wonder whether squirrels would share the peculiarly human
view that suffering should be ended at the cost of
shortening life? Anyone ever asked a squirrel?

Is it not possible that everybody wants to kill the squirrel
as quickly as possible so that their own discomfort at being
reminded of their own mortality can end as soon as possible?

Finally, it's easy to make snap decisions about wanting to
eradicate vermin. HOWEVER, every species occupies a niche.
In places (like some tropical islands) where squirrels
have been eradicated, guess what has moved in to occupy
their niche? Yes, that's right, RATS! So beware of wishing
to get rid of something that would be replaced by
something far worse.
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen

David Off said:

Graeme said:

JohnB <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

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.

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.

You could say that, but you wouldn't be replying to my post.

John B

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

Quoted message said:

Simon Brooke said:

I would have cycled over its head and crushed its skull.
Death is inevitable, but suffering is unnecessary.

sounds like the same logic used by london motorists wrt
to cyclist

"I don't like it, I'd be uncomfortable in its place, better
crush it."