please help us...HERE I COME!

[Jere Kahanpaa]

Hi.

Paul Cherubini <monarch at saber.net> wrote:
> picking on. Below I found a New York Times article that 
> provides more evidence of Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg's anti-collecting 
> position.  This case involved monarch butterflies that were
> collected near near Montauk, New York in Sept. 2000 and driven 
> about 100 miles to New York City for a tagging demonstration 
> and release by Prof. Orley (Chip) Taylor and some children in 
> attendance.

> The article goes on to describe Jeffrey Glassberg's objections
> to Dr. Taylor's demonstration:

> "Using monarchs for such an agenda is not universally 
> popular in the butterfly world. The president of the 
> North American Butterfly Association, Jeffrey
> Glassberg, denounced yesterday's event, calling it a
>  ''circus sideshow.'' Mr. Glassberg, a molecular biologist 
> by training, said that truly respecting monarchs meant 
> treating them like wild creatures and observing them in
> their natural environment, not trucking them in for 
> a demonstration."

> ''Butterflies are wild animals,'' he said. ''To treat them 
> as little toys that you take around and say, 'Isn't that
> cute?' sends completely the wrong message to people.''

Come on, trucking butterflies around and releasing them has nothing in 
common with being 'pro-collecting' or 'anti-collecting'! 

Personally I am for careful sampling of populations for study and
teaching, but would strongly oppose this kind of operationg *if it is 
only for the show*. But this case it isn't: tagging monarchs is (IIRC) a 
real scientific research project, isn't it? 

The 'master trollers' of usenet should read this newsgroup for a good 
show. Maybe they do? While the flamage can sometimes be amusing, I think 
it is very harmful for both amateur and professional entomology: nobody 
knows how many promising young lepsters-to-be have been scared out of the 
group/list by all these venomous comments.

Jere Kahanpää
-- 
It's hard to think outside the box when you ARE the box.
                            - unknown, alt.religion.kibology 

 
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