Posted on 11/25/2002 10:42:39 AM PST by Greg Swann
On Sunday, my son and I went on falcon hunt with his Cub Scout Den. God bless the Cub Scouts, they do fine things when they're not preaching Communism.
It was an actual hunt, a Harris hawk avidly pursuing juicy young jack-rabbits. The falconers taught us a lot, all of it fascinating to me.
For instance, not only was the recent de-listing of the Peregrine falcon from the Endangered Species List brought about by falconers, they actually introduced many more breeding pairs than the Feds had sought.
A question: How could predatory birds raised in captivity be introduced into the wild?
"You just release them," said the master falconer. "In three days they revert to the wild."
"Why three days?"
"They get hungry."
But of course...
Interestingly, the falconer-bred Peregrine falcons are much better hunters than their wilder cousins. The falconers can teach the birds to hunt better in two weeks than self-taught birds can learn by themselves in two years--if they survive that long. More falcons, healthier falcons, with better long-term survival prospects. Very impressive.
It put me in mind of that admonition, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats forever." Both of those transactions are a net loss to the donor, it must be noted, but the second is at least a relatively sensible waste of human capital.
I still say let 'em eat steak, though. In three days they'll get hungry and figure out how to fish on their own...
gswann@primenet.com
http://www.presenceofmind.net/ (last updated 11/24/02)
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