When I went to the pet shop in Ashbourne today to get some wild bird seed, there were three feral pigeons on the step outside the shop door. They could obviously smell the food and wanted some. I told the shopkeeper and she said that she puts food out for them, but has to do so when nobody else is around because her neighbours complain. She’s careful to put out only enough to help them survive, and not enough to cause a population explosion. The man in the huntin’/shootin’/fishin’ shop next door, on the other hand, puts poison down in the hope of killing them, regardless of the fact that it will kill any other wild birds that eat it, too.
So, is this one of those situations in which I’m supposed to see both sides of the argument? Well, I do.
One side runs:
These are sentient beings suffering through a hash winter spell and I’m going to give them a hand.
The other side has:
These are ignorant creatures and are of no value to me. They sometimes make a mess on my forecourt and are therefore inconvenient. I am within my legal and moral rights to kill them, and if I kill other creatures in the process, so what?
No fence-sitting for me on this one.
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