Vermin control and wildlife management: where next?
Abstract There was never an issue about controlling undesired wildlife in the era of the Tudors, Stuarts, and Hanoverians; vermin was what vermin was, and should be killed by whatever means were most effective. There was no question of right or wrong, even when rays of enlightenment started to lance...
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | unknown |
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Oxford University PressOxford
2007
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198520719.003.0012 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52362887/isbn-9780198520719-book-part-12.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract There was never an issue about controlling undesired wildlife in the era of the Tudors, Stuarts, and Hanoverians; vermin was what vermin was, and should be killed by whatever means were most effective. There was no question of right or wrong, even when rays of enlightenment started to lance the traditional views as the years passed. Moreover there was little thought that individual species— Hedgehog, Otter, Chough, or Kite—might actually disappear, despite the fact that some of the formerly widespread mammals, such as Pine Marten, were already rare in lowland parts of southern Britain. Several bird species certainly disappeared, but these were mainly wetland ones, lost due to the drainage of fens, open waters, and marshes. The only ones to disappear through direct persecution were the largest birds of prey—Osprey, Sea Eagle, and Golden Eagle— and some had probably already gone from wide areas of England and Wales well before the Tudors came to power. So, however energetic the varied levels of persecution in this era, it was prosecuted untrammelled by concerns for morals, public attitudes, legal constraint, or thoughts of extinction. |
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