Where do you draw the line?

I tend to find that most people don’t like the idea of killing things.

The general population gets in a real blather about fox hunting or pheasants being shot.

Let’s make it a better environment for chickens or cows – that are due to be slaughtered – so that their short lives are happier.

I’m a keen fly fisherman and haven’t killed a fish for over 50 years.

Strangely, the only fish I’ve ever killed was my first trout which I caught on a hook with a worm from the river below our house. I took it home and mum helped me gut the fish and we cooked it for tea. The sight of the dead fish stuck in my mind and I made a vow never to kill one again.

Even though the majority of fly fishermen don’t kill their catch, we still get constant criticism from walkers with a barrage of ‘That’s murder’ or ‘How would you like it if you were banged on the head with a rock’. They don’t bother to understand that as fishermen we are stewards of the rivers we fish. As fishermen, we also pay for maintenance and we contribute our time to clearance and management of these waters…

However, I digress.

My point is ….Where do you draw the line as to what is worth fighting for? What’s worth saving and what should be terminated with extreme prejudice?

What is significantly important enough for you to sit in a highway and stop traffic for – in your support of its welfare?

Chickens, cows, pigs, dogs (obviously dogs), salmon, farmed fish in general, octopuses (there’s talk of farming octopuses) deer, ostrich….

You could almost say…. ‘Any living thing..?’

Or could you?

What about wasps?

What about Asian hornets?

What about scorpions?

What about spiders?

What about a Mexican flame-leg tarantula which grows to over 6 inches in size?

Snakes? Poisonous cobra’s?

A recent article in The Times suggested that holiday makers were inadvertently bringing back a whole range of exotic invaders that we have no infrastructure to deal with.

How long before one of these successfully establishes itself under our noses and becomes a major problem?

Would you defend wiping out a newly established desert cobra family?

Would you sit in the road to save a colony of bark scorpions?

As our climate changes these type of creatures may just be able to survive in our country – which side would you be on?

Get the battle lines drawn.

Personally, I feel we have enough insects, enough plants and enough animals of our own without adding anymore?

Mike C