Importing non-native species - Turtle smugglers

[LeeE]

I think former Puna resident, Cynthia McKinney, talked about this on the floor of the Senate. Probably on Youtube somewhere.

[808blogger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RvLL--vSsA

[PaulW]

Nothing to do with turtles. Or Hawaii.

[remains4u]

No one has defended the arrival of invasive species! But it happens and it is going to happen weather you like it or not....You can not put a wall around the islands....I just get a kick out of the hypocrisy and arguing over what to do. Don't fool yourself we have little control....Everyone keeps avoiding the real question is there such a thing as invasive species, and who gets to decide? When I was a kid growing up in Newport Beach, CA we hated the kids that came to surf in "our" Ocean...it was "our territory"...It is the same thing... My point is that we share the planet, and as it has been from the beginning, all species compete for survival. What upsets me is that some species get elevated status. (Like when General Motors got a bailout..what made them so special?) It also seems as though Humans ARE THE PROBLEM!!
The people that talk about all the problems (and that is about all they do) it allows them to feel good about themselves because they are "saving the planet" If this really was about saving certain species, the govt. would be transplanting endangered species to other places on the planet to ensure their fighting chance at survival or supporti breeding programs so the species could be used as food, pet, or landscape.......

If you believe in evolution than the planet started with one life form and now here we are 5 to 100 million species on the planet, but science has only identified about 2 million....If you believe in GOD, than we have no control and all we need to do the best we can, and not get caught up in all the panic and drama about what to do. Either way nature has a way of doing and end run around mankind, and in the big picture... we are just a blip in the timeline of this planet........

[PaulW]

So we shouldn't try to stop invasive species from overrunning Hawaii? It's all inevitable?
I don't know about that, the import restrictions have managed to stop a lot, including snakes.
And once they're here, we can slow down the spread.

Always easy to do nothing.

[Guest]

Yes, bringing in invasive species was defended. Heck, you're defending it now. Since we've been aware here of what can go wrong there has been a great deal of effort to keep the "problems" out. That effort has been successful enough to keep out snakes, poisonous plants, and rabies to name a few of the big ones. This isn't Newport Beach or any other place on the Mainland US or the Mainland anywhere for that matter. This place, this island IS special. If we try to cling to what we have left that is special how is that wrong? How is it anything but good? According to you we should just give up now and live as if we are in LA. Me, I'd rather be dead. Seriously.
The wild pigs were destroying the delicate eco system of the park. A fence was put up and certain flora is coming back to life. Take the fence down and we go backwards. The same can be said of the whole Island. To repeat myself: Anyone who knowingly brings in an invasive species should be given huge fines and jail time as a deterrent to anyone else who is thinking the same thing. Before you get your panties in a bunch, 808, if I see it, I'll be the first to detain that person. Anyone who condones bringing in species that do not belong here is just plain nuts and I hate to say it like this, but Go back where you came from because I know you're not from here.

[DickWilson]

Ok, So you want direct involvement. Then I say lets dispense with the "extortion" and move directly to summary execution. There is that direct enough for you. No recidivism that way.

dick wilson
"Nothing is idiot proof,because idiots are so ingenious!"

[Guest]

How absurd.

[DickWilson]

Not absurd; If one doesn't want law enforcement to handle law breakers and demands direct individual action, then one no longer has courts, law officers, or jails. Execution then becomes the only possible answer. Me, I prefer letting the police and courts handle the situation, but some appear to demand that we all become vigilantes and get directly involved. OK so be it.

dick wilson
"Nothing is idiot proof,because idiots are so ingenious!"

[Guest]

Good Lord! read the entire thread. There's a reason I said what I said.