Re: NANFA-- Columbia trip gear

Todd Crail (farmertodd_at_buckeye-express.com)
Wed, 7 Jan 2004 08:43:36 -0500

I think that's a weak and dangerous rationalization Martin. Any animal
removed from a natural population is biologically DEAD. "Dead" meaning just
as dead as the headless hellbender laying on the shore.

Arguably, there's a lot of different mileage after you remove the animal,
depending on how you care for it and what information you obtain from it...
But "because the locals kill them" is a pretty poor reason to take an
animal. While it may soothe the conscience in a gray area, it certainly
hasn't done anything the increase the health of a population.

----- Original Message -----
From: <archimedes_at_bayspringstel.net>

> All this worry about keeping hellbenders reminds me of the first time I
saw one.
> I was seining in N. Georgia with a friend of mine from my ichthyology
class.
> We netted one and he called it a "water dog", which he said the local
fishermen
> hated. They would lop off their heads and throw them on the stream bank.
I
> kept that one for about 2 years before releasing it (I didn't know better
way
> back then). Anyway, with such an attitude by locals I don't think
aqauarium
> captures pose much of a threat.
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