Hi Jeff,
A lot of folks make comparisons as you have done, but that's just not an
appropriate way to look at things.
You shouldn't compare one harm to another, as if that makes the lesser one
OK. It doesn't--it just adds insult to injury, and does nothing to make
people think about behaving in a better manner.
Stressing birds is harmful and simply should not be done, especially if
it's just to add a bird to a list, which is not all that important in the
scheme of life.
You are right. Fish are highly unlikely to survive being caught and
(often quite literally) thrown back into the water. Fishing for fun shouldn't
be done.
However, most hunters are killing an animal to eat it, and when that's the
reason for fishing, you can't really complain about either activity as long
as the people are behaving ethically. And that's the whole
point--ethics. In other words, wildlife should be observed or killed in a
manner that
minimizes the fright or pain the animal feels.
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Marlene
In a message dated 7/23/2017 2:42:23 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Greetings all
I feel that all of us has stressed a bird or two even if just a little to
see a Life Bird.
But on the whole it is less harmful to them as a deer, duck or turkey
being shot by a hunter or a fish that is frightened by a kook in its mouth and
fights for its life and after maybe a 40 minute struggle it is let go. But
who knows if even lives afterwards
I have been birding since 1984 but it something that I and every birder
needs to work on doing a better job but at the same I feel that as birders we
stress birds and other wildlife less that others that hunt or fish.
I take pictures of birds as I birdwatch and having returned from a trip to
Holland in February my guide there told me that when he started birding it
was just birders out there chasing after the rare birds but now it is more
photographers and that most do not follow any code of ethics just so that
they can get a great picture.
Now before I get fussed at I said most not all maybe photographers and not
birders and not all photographers put undue stress on birds and other
forms of wildlife to get a picture.
From my iPhone
