As we all know the Nazi style extermination policy against ruddy ducks
throughout Europe was instigated by The RSPB and has cost the UK tax
payer 6 million pounds http://tinyurl.com/3nxzby
the slaughter
continues.
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http://tinyurl.com/4zl6zl
The plan to wipe out the ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis) from Britain
is going to plan, according to the Central Science Laboratory which
has shot 1,190 of the species since last September. The population at
the end of March, when the birds dispersed from their major wintering
grounds to breed, had been reduced to between 400 and 500. The
Department for Environment (Defra) hopes to kill them all by August
2010 to complete its five-year extermination programme.
The cull is designed to protect the ruddy duck's rare and endangered
cousin the white headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala) from extinction.
These white headed cousins are not seen in Britain - the nearest
colony is in Spain - but they have been visited and impregnated by
visiting ruddy ducks. This has resulted in hybrid youngsters that
threaten the purity of the species and its very existence, according
to experts.
Many conservation groups including the Royal Society for the
Protection of Birds sup****t the cull, but opponents say it is madness
to spend millions of pounds exterminating the attractive ruddy duck
"whose only crime is to be American, over-***ed and over here."
The story goes back to Sir Peter Scott, the great conservationist, who
introduced three pairs of ruddy ducks to his Slimbridge reserve in
Gloucester****re more than 50 years ago. The population grew steadily
and some escaped leading to a healthy British population of thousands
by the 1990s.
By then ruddy ducks has crossed the Channel and the first was spotted
in Spain in 1983. The hybrids were first seen seven years later. Since
then in an effort to save the white headed duck, the Spanish have shot
98 pure bred ruddy ducks and 58 hybrid ducklings.
The European Union and Defra are providing £1.4m to try to kill the
ducks which also have breeding populations in France, the Netherlands,
Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Ireland. Some other governments are
cooperating in the cull, particularly the French, who have the largest
colonies outside the UK. The Netherlands has, however, so far declined
to shoot the ducks although Defra is trying to persuade them.
An earlier attempt to eliminate the ducks got off to a bad start in
Britain when the first marksmen employed to shoot them on their nests
during the breeding season refused to do so because it was
"uns****ting." Since then the main cull has taken place on the ruddy
duck's chief wintering grounds where they congregate on open water and
are relatively easy to see and shoot. In the summer, however, they
disperse to smaller bodies of water and are hard to find, conveniently
reappearing with their youngsters to be shot in the autumn.
Numbers in 2005 were estimated at 4,400 so the population is
dramatically down. However, remembering that the ruddy duck population
grew from just three pairs to thousands, many doubt the government's
claim that total elimination is possible.
About this articleClose This article appeared in the Guardian on
Monday May 26 2008 on p31 of the Weather section. It was last updated
at 00:03 on May 26 2008.
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