Parakeets are 'as British as curry' and shooting them would be racist, according to wildlife experts who are fighting a decision to allow the exotic birds to be culled.
This week Natural England officially deemed the ring-necked parakeet as a pest, making it possible to shoot the birds without a licence.
However Dr Ian Rotherham, Director of the Environmental Change Research Unit at Sheffield Hallam University, said there is a danger that labelling parakeets as a "nasty alien" just because they are from abroad could be seen as a form of "racism" towards a foreign species.
"If there is a problem - for example with the birds taking fruit - then we have to take steps to deal with it. If you start to label it as alien then that is some sort of racism. Eco-xenophobia is the label I would use.
"I suspect there is an underlying view it is because they are alien, but it should be because they are a problem."
Matthew Frith, Deputy Chief Executive of the London Wildlife Trust, said parakeets were "as British as curry" and agreed it was dangerous to label the birds as a pest just because they are foreign.
"Parakeets are birds from the Indian sub-continent that came here is the last century and are doing very well. Just like curry," he said.
*But.....I guess that clears me of being a Rascist, because I own Four of the little buggers......*
Oops, did I say "own"?
Guess I am a Rascist....and Eco=Xenophobe.
Dammit.
2 comments:
*headdesk*
Facepalm.
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