Editor:
Re: Explanations for the birds, June 19 letters.
Every day we go for a walk in the local parks. And it is lovely, the birds are cheerfully singing and flying around, occasionally, we see a crow, but not many.
The birds have all kinds of places to hide out and are doing well, so I agree with letter-writer Brad Wellman.
When we drive away from these lovely forests, what do we see? Hundreds of townhouses! Manicured boulevards; no bushes; trees have all been cut down; more pavement and roads everywhere.
Why is it we humans think that whenever it looks like a species is in trouble, we blame the predators.
For example, we lived in Campbell River; the salmon were not too plentiful. OK, let’s shoot the seals, and that will cure the problem. The reindeer are getting scarce; let’s shoot the wolves, etc.
We never blame ourselves for the problems.
When we lived up in Campbell River, we would go out in the boat and would see barges full of sardines going to waste. They were taken just for the roe that was sent to Japan to be eaten. The rest went for fertilizer.
This was done repeatedly and led to a scarcity of feed for the salmon.
So, I think it’s about time for us to take a good look at the mess we’re making before we go blaming the crows for killing the songbirds.
Barbara Kirkpatrick, Surrey
