killing butterflies for fun???

[Neil Jones]

On Thursday 04 July 
2002 12:16 am, Kenelm Philip wrote:
> Two people have posted to the effect that killing butterflies while driving
>
> is irrelevant to arguments over collecting:
> > But I would expect that none of them would argue in support of their
> > pastime or vocation with that over-used car casualty scenario.
> >
> > The car casualty argument is actually a very very poor point.
>
> So _why_ is the car casualty argument so poor? In the state of Illinois,
> an estimated 20 million butterflies are killed per _week_ along the road
> system. Compared to that, the depredations of collectors are pretty minor
> (provided they are not affecting endangered species).
>
> Note that in law, if you drive your car carelessly through a crowd and kill
> 100 people, I think you will draw a longer prison term than if you deliber-
> ately murder a single person. 100 shorter sentences add up fast...
>

It really is quite simple. I don't agree with the argument but I understand 
why it is put forward. It is a question of _volition_.  To extend your 
analogy further a driver is driving a roadworthy vehicle down a street quite 
slowly within the legal speed limit, suddenly a small child runs out from 
behind a parked car just feet in front of him and is killed. In this case the 
driver cannot be held to blame because he had no control over what happens.
However driving carelessly though a crowd is something you _have_ control 
over. The same is true for people who accidentally hit butterflies with the 
car it is _accidental_. The objection that these people have is to the 
_deliberate_ killing of butterflies.

When you use an argument what doesn't address the real issue it is seen as 
being evasive.


>
>         From the _butterflies'_ point of view, drivers are far more of a
> menace, and most of the people who object to collecting would probably
> like to think that they are 'speaking for the butterflies'.

> Why is it OK to kill myriads of insects as we go about our lives, but
> positively evil to pick out kill a single insect for one's curiosity
> about the natural world? Curiosity about the natural world is how I go
>about my life--so I fail to see the difference.
>
>                                                Ken Philip

Let me reiterate that I am not interested in banning colllecting. I do not 
believe that it is morally wrong to kill insects. However, some people do.
People do believe in odder things than that. There are people who believe 
that native americans are decended from the lost tribes of israel!

I quote Andrew Lees for two reasons.

1. He was an inspirational conservationist who helped conserve one of my 
favourite wildlife sites in the UK and he died in Madagascar fighting to save 
a tropical forest. Like me he worked to conserve _habitats_ and I like his 
quotation because it fits what I do. 
 
2. When I was asked for help in designing the memorial. I suggested using the 
quote used in his obituary by the organisation for whom he worked. Naturally 
being a butterfly conservationist I would wouldn't I. :-) Using the memorial 
quote myself has therefore an element of irony that appeals to me.

Next time I go to Crymlyn Bog I will have to take some pictures of the 
memorial and the bog itself to put on the web.

--
Neil Jones- Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.butterflyguy.com/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve

 
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