NOT the collecting debate :-)

[Chris Durden]

  You are so right. The laws have changed since we were children and things
we did cannot be done any more. Maybe some of the laws should be rewritten
by naturalists to promote the study of what they are trying to protect.
No-one has answered my qustion yet. Are amoebae wildlife. A recent NPR
report on research in Yellowstone geyser pools suggests they are.
  By the way, is capture and release still permitted in South Florida, or
will you get a ticket for carrying a net?
..............Chris Durden

At 07:33 PM 1999:06:21 +0100, you wrote:
>Don't forget us inept zoo-keepers. I kept my little victims in jamjars
>and fed them inappropriately until they passed to the great beyond. 
>My children also were inveterate critter-keepers,with better success (I
>did some research) although I did take up taxidermy so that some of
>their roadside finds might be kept. 
>Some of these (a kestrel, a barred owl and such) were handed on to a
>museum. Possession of any of this stuff except the bugs is against the
>law in Florida now, I think ... that troubles me, for how will a child
>come to love snakes unless he can keep snakes? 
>And where will your museum keepers come from, if we can't pick up so
>much as a feather without breaking federal laws? 
>Meanwhile it's perfectly fine to bulldoze the forest where the bird
>might have nested ... I'm going out back and stick straws in my hair;
>perhaps that will help. 
>Of course children need to keep bugs in jars, collect insects (who cares
>if they're butterflies or moths or cockroaches) etc. in order to develop
>their lively sense of curiosity. 
>Do they get to collect butterflies because they're pretty? Is it OK to
>make coffee tables with butterflies under glass? Is there a significant
>difference between collecting farmed butterflies, butterflies caught in
>"hunting preserves," or butterflies dancing about in untamed meadows? 
>Is a serious entomologist more valuable than (say) an artist inspired by
>a butterfly he bought in a shop? 
>What about the second graders I visited, who had a couple of cages in
>which they kept zebra longwings (Heliconius charitonius) until they
>died; then they displayed them dead on the classroom wall. Is that going
>to produce serious entomologists? 
>
>And I agree ... we don't hear anybody complaining about folks running
>after moths with nets ... except the big showy moths that are honorary
>butterflies anyway. 
>Meanwhile, apparently, if I want Palm Beach County to have any
>butterflies in it on Paul Opler's nice web page, we need a voucher
>collection of dead bugs somewhere. Otherwise we're a blank. sigh. 
>Cheers
>Anne Kilmer
>