Kill all birds? To stop birdflu... should we?

[oscar111]

is it a good or bad idea?

Open to your input, please comment.

Should humanity kill every bird, to save millions of human lives?

a real ethical dilemma.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. sure, if you want total disease infestation by insects and major death.

mao tried this in Bejing, the killing off of all birds. That caused insects, disease rates to skyrocket. It also caused total desolation of the environment, because birds, bird droppings and even their feathers are critical to spore transmission.

[oscar111]

6. Pls give more details on his anti bird history. Never heard of that

what was the cause?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. mao hated birds. After the great leap backward,

all pet birds were outlawed (one of the few freedoms they had at the time) Then, he ordered the eradication of all wild birds through trapping, poison, shooting, nets. Read Mao's Doctor's biography - he mentions it, as does the book Hungry Ghosts. By Jasper? Someone once suggested that he was hit by bird droppings during a military parade, and it set him off. That might be anecdotal, however.

It was a horrible mess. insects were out of control. Pests grew out of control. Disease was rampant. And mao punished the city leaders who simply followed his orders. Mao eventually left Bejing and spent more time away than there.

[hobbit709]

2. And just how is that

going to be accomplished? Not even counting the ecological disaster that would ensue it's right up there with plastic sheeting and duct tape with brainless thinking.

[patdem]

3. Yeah, let's put cheney right on it!

If we kill all the birds we will all die of malaria cause we have no birds to eat mosquitos..or we will all die of starvation because we will have no birds to eat insects that eat our crops.

Ethical dilemma, I think not...

[oscar111]

5. Good point, thanks

nt

[oscar111]

7. Insect expansion, crash... how long?

agreed, about insects.

but would a new balance be achieved after a time? How long?

not saying it would be acceptable, just asking for scholarly reason of examining all parts of a pattern.

[Crunchy Frog]

15. Insect expansion, for plant eaters, would go on for as long

as the vegetation held out. Biting insects, I guess for as long as there was blood around to suck.

Yeah, some new balance would be achieved eventually. Probably not one that many humans either could, or would want to, live in though.

[MikeStl]

4. If there was a human flu...

If there was a human flu spreading I don't think it'd be right to kill all humans to stop the spread.

[Warpy]

9. Sure, if you want to starve to death

Some species control insects, some species help pollinate crops, all species are a vital part of the food chain in the overall ecology.

I'd rather die quickly of a bad flu than slowly through starvation or any of the nasty, insect borne diseases.

Trying to kill all birds is as silly as trying to kill other people to solve a temporary problem. It doesn't work, some always survive, and the law of unintended consequences always kicks in.

[CrispyQ]

10. Kill all the humans. ..nt

on edit:

This post pissed me off. The attitude that we are the pinnacle of creation & every other being can be sacrificed so the precious humans can survive makes me sick. Also, as pointed out in several posts above, we would further contribute to our own destruction -- which we would certainly deserve if we killed all birds.

I'm not so sure we don't deserve it now.

:banghead:

[peacebird]

11. horrific idea... Nature will acheive balance, man never manages to.

Frankly I think the birds do far less harm to the world than mankind.

Course that could just be the percoset talking - my back is so far out i can't even dress myself today....

[A Simple Game]

12. Ok, Ok.

You talked me into it, I'll cook chicken for supper!

Healthier than all the pork I ate during the swine flu scare.

[philb]

13. Bird flu is just one of many possible epidemics that might be coming

But for people who take care of themselves and have a strong immune system, and know what to do if you are exposed to
a bad bug, its not nearly as major an issue as a lot of other things.
If you get it, there are immune boosters and treatments that will prevent major harm as long as you don't have a suppressed immune system.

I'm much more concerned about the proliferation of antibiotic resistance due to overuse of antibiotics
by doctors, in animal farming, in soaps and home products, etc.
This is already affecting huge numbers of people and responsible for the death of many people, many I personally know
a star 16 year old nephew football player with a minor scape died from antibiotic resistance at the hospital;
a friend at work likewise from a minor problem before getting antibiotic resistant staph at the hospital
a 12 year old kid on a soccer team with a person in our family who almost lost a foot- was disabled, due to antibiotic staph after
a minor injury

etc/

and global warming is a much larger theat, and is already having huge health impacts

[Crunchy Frog]

14. You're kidding aren't you?

That would so disrupt the ecosystem as to cause massive numbers of human deaths.

I seem to recall reading about a case in China a few decades ago, when the state decided to try to kill all of some kind of little bird that ate some of the rice. The result was widescale famine, since it turned out that the birds were mainly eating insects that ate the rice, and very little rice themselves. What you're advocating would make that event look minor.