In article <2oh4e6$asl at charm.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> ppappas at magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Peter W Pappas) writes:
>>THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING QUESTION --- ONE THAT I POINT OUT TO STUDENTS IN MY
>UPPER LEVEL PARASITOLOGY COURSE AS WELL AS MY INTRODUCTORY LEVEL NON-MAJORS
>BIOLOGY COURSE. IT SEEMS THAT PARASITOLOGISTS ARE THE ANTHTHESIS OF
>CONSERVATION BIOLOGISTS IN THAT WE (OR AT LEAST SOME) ARE TRYING TO SEND SOME
SPECIES INTO EXTINCTION. SHOULD WE BE DOING THIS????
Its not just us. One of the first things that the dept. of conservation in
New Zealand do as part of their programme to save rare birds is dose the things
with anthelmintics. They breed better if they are worm free apparently.
Too bad about the even rarer worm fauna though :-).
The most endangered - if not most recently extinct animal in New Zealand is a
freshwater parasitic copepod - Paeonodes nemaformis. No desperate attempts to
save that.
Foresters (the tree growing kind) call it the 'Bambi' complex. Cuddly 'nice'
animals get the public all worked up. 'Yukky' animals get stamped on.
Brian.
