From My Brother About The Ducklings~

Sis, that is nature and if it weren't for predators every person in your community would also be up to their ankles in duck poop and filth. Muscovy ducks may be cute to you, but they are yet another introduced species in America (For the purpose of providing food to hungry humans) that are displacing some other native animal. Sorry kiddo, I know we will never reach a mutual understanding on this issue, but mankind's meddling is the worst thing happening to our nations ecology. I too, have had to learn to take two steps backwards and accept that "We" are the cause and effect and not the solution. I would like to share with you and your readers the following words published by the superb author and naturalist Manny Rubio in his book "Rattlesnake". No more poignant and apropos words have ever been written when it comes to mankind's interaction with nature.



"It is appallingly obvious that plants and animals are in jeopardy all over the earth. Daily, the media disclose new difficulties with the environment. The public is constantly deluged with accounts of destruction and loss, so much that the scope and immediacy have become diluted, lost in a myriad of other human problems that preoccupy humanity. The causes of worldwide decline of animal populations are complex and universal, and the responsibility is shared by all nations. Sheer human numbers are overwhelming. the human animal is so narcissistically enmeshed in its own space that priorities for long term survival have been misappropriated. Regardless of how insignificant the loss of rattlesnakes may appear as a global environmental problem, any interference with the precarious web of life jeopardizes the whole. Certainly, some deterioration may be part of a natural cycle, but there is no doubt that most is caused by humans.


As with global warming, the cost of the loss of rattlesnakes in the world's ecosystem cannot be fully appreciated. Global warming brings about changes in regional precipitation and temperature, altering the seasons.


Ozone depletion places ecosystems in serious jeopardy as a result of increased ultraviolet penetration.


Ozone depletion is thought to be a major culprit in the alarmingly rapid, worldwide decline in amphibian populations as well.


Acid rain, mining, logging runoff , non-biodegradable debris, unchecked vehicle emissions and pesticides are other ecological time bombs. Combined with leveling and irrigating deserts, clear cut logging, strip mining, draining wetlands for agriculture, cattle grazing, and building housing developments, produce damage of catastrophic proportions.


Humanity's desire to procreate (at an alarming rate), combined with our personal need to own and abuse our natural surroundings. is causing irreparable damage. These changes are evident everywhere".

These words were published back in 1998, no one is listening! (My imput: Al Gore is!!)


My point being - We have created our nest and now as we sleep in it we complain about it's comfort and beauty. We are at the precipice and if we don't "seize the day" and change our ways, we are doomed to end up like Tyrannosaurus Rex and be a fossil species for some possible future civilization to discover millions of years from now, only we are going to take everything besides Cockroaches, & Black Widow Spiders along with us! Mankind's greatest mistake (in my opinion) is our belief that we can control nature and effect our environment positively. As I have been known for saying for years "We shit on everything we can't screw" I wish, I was wrong but our populous is creating a biological hurricane that we are powerless to stop unless we drastically change our ways and reduce our numbers. Our attempts to control nature have been nothing but a nightmare for the whole world.


(Ask Australia about the Cane Toads or Hawaii about the Mongoose!)


Save yourself a huge amount of grief, let the ducks be ducks and take care of yourself. Honey, you cannot change nature, it's got you beat by millions of years of selective breeding and selection. Let it go....


I love you and know your heart is in the right place. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo