Deerly Beloved

I’ve already blogged this yesterday, but thanks to the mysteries of cyberspace, that piece of fine literature is now nowhere to be found, especially not on this blog, where it should be, and where it existed for about 5 minutes. It’s about deer.

Scottish deer are mysteriously appearing in Ireland. Non-native species that could cause a lot
of damage. How? Environmentalists say they are captured, sedated, then smuggled cross-borders in the backs of vans and trucks. Who? Irish hunters, who are bored to death by shooting Irish deer.
No finacial incentive is suspected behind the smuggling of live deer, it’s just that hunters need something new to shoot at. Irish deer must be boring. They need new victims, that feed, live, run, and hide in different places. There are a few problems with this. Deer that would otherwise live happily in Scotland might get dragged to Ireland and end up being killed, either by hunters or officials, as there is a policy that all non-native species have to be killed, on sight. If they are not killed, they may outcompete indigenous species in the evolutionary war for food, or simply cause overgrazing, living side-by-side with native deer. Then, there is disease. Animals are usually quarantined after being transferred from one country to another to prevent infection. Irish shoot organizers, who are possibly behind all this, demonstrated yet again how good people are in meddling with nature. At least Scottish border officiers are now on the watch for anybody smuggling deer.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Who-killed-Bambi--Irish.5119977.jp