When talking about nature puts it in danger

[jasonhernandez74]

Continuing the discussion from Wildlife Sightings: Share or Stay Quiet?:

@charlie

it’s almost always in a ‘not in an iNat context’.

@charlie

That being said there are a few herps i will absolutely never post if i see them, and it’s worth talking about it, so long as we don’t end up in the fear mongering realm.

Aside from poaching, there is another herp-related ethical issue. Today I mentioned my copperhead sighting to someone in casual conversation. They asked me to send them the pictures. For a moment, I thought about doing so, but completely changed my mind after their next sentence, which was thay they might send the pictures on to the city. Their logic was that the city should know that the copperheads are there.

As was mentioned in a feature request that so far has no votes,

@jonhakim

And I know this sounds crazy but I think someone has been going around killing copperheads in Baltimore County this year

As naturalists, we might recognize copperheads and other vipers as valuable wildlife; but there are still too many people who think that they are performing a public service by killing these creatures. Prior to yesterday’s sighting, the last copperhead I encountered on the greenway had already been slain and its body hung on display on the bridge.

I and the person I was talking to went on to event we were going to, and they didn’t bring up the copperheads again. I’m not going to remind them. Still, I regret mentioning it because if they remember and ask me, I’m going to be in an awkward situation. Checking the map just now, I see six other copperhead observations within the city, none of which are obscured.

[jasonhernandez74]

Continuing the discussion from Wildlife Sightings: Share or Stay Quiet?:

@charlie

it’s almost always in a ‘not in an iNat context’.

@charlie

That being said there are a few herps i will absolutely never post if i see them, and it’s worth talking about it, so long as we don’t end up in the fear mongering realm.

Aside from poaching, there is another herp-related ethical issue. Today I mentioned my copperhead sighting to someone in casual conversation. They asked me to send them the pictures. For a moment, I thought about doing so, but completely changed my mind after their next sentence, which was thay they might send the pictures on to the city. Their logic was that the city should know that the copperheads are there.

As was mentioned in a feature request that so far has no votes,

@jonhakim

And I know this sounds crazy but I think someone has been going around killing copperheads in Baltimore County this year

As naturalists, we might recognize copperheads and other vipers as valuable wildlife; but there are still too many people who think that they are performing a public service by killing these creatures. Prior to yesterday’s sighting, the last copperhead I encountered on the greenway had already been slain and its body hung on display on the bridge.

I and the person I was talking to went on to event we were going to, and they didn’t bring up the copperheads again. I’m not going to remind them. Still, I regret mentioning it because if they remember and ask me, I’m going to be in an awkward situation. Checking the map just now, I see six other copperhead observations within the city, none of which are obscured.

[AdamWargon]

When talking about nature puts it in danger . . .

@AdamWargon

@pisum

if you have a location or an ogranism at a location that absolutely needs to be protected, your best protection starts by not posting the observation.

Yup! I was on a plant walk with an expert botanist in Calgary. He showed us a spot where he saw 4 rare orchids in a city park. He took photos of the spot, and posted it on his Facebook account. He loves to share news about biodiversity. I think he mentioned the park, but not the location (it’s a big park).

He went back a week later . . . every orchid gone! Just holes in the ground.

So when he shows me plants now, I ask if they’re rare. If they are, I observe them with my eyes. I make old-fashioned memories. I don’t record digital evidence on my phone!

But Jason’s example is, to me, even more powerful. Because lots of people would never think of digging up an orchid, but “Of course you’ve got to kill snakes . . . you’ve got to protect pets and children!”

[jasonhernandez74]

@AdamWargon

Because lots of people would never think of digging up an orchid, but “Of course you’ve got to kill snakes . . . you’ve got to protect pets and children!”

And yet what I was trying to say got lost as people went back to discussing poaching. That was why I had originally made it a new thread.

[tiwane]

Sorry, I moved these back to the original topic and reopened it.

[jasonhernandez74]

I came across one today: different part of the greenway, a smaller copperhead than the ones I saw a few days ago (I think), left half-visible at the edge of the grass. It took me a few moments to be sure that it was dead – its head was smashed, indicating a deliberate slaying. I have a sad suspicion that around here, more people would kill a copperhead than not, if the opportunity was there.

[DianaStuder]

Even on iNat, a lot of snake obs are dead snake obs.

[tiwane]

Most of those are roadkill, not delibrate kills, at least in my experience.

[jasonhernandez74]

@tiwane

I moved these back to the original topic

Why the deletion in 5 days?

[tiwane]

What deletion?

[jasonhernandez74]

[tiwane]

Ah, that was from when it was closed when I moved it to the other thread and apparently Discourse doesn’t remove the auto delete when the thread is reopened, which I find odd. I changed it to the standard 2-months-after-last-reply.

[inspector_crow]

But digital evidence is essential these days just to prove what is or was in a location … remember, without a photo it was never there. Take the photo, just be careful what you do with it but keep the proof.

[AdamWargon]

@inspector_crow

Take the photo, just be careful what you do with it but keep the proof

@jasonhernandez74

I came across . . . a copperhead . . . Its head was smashed, indicating a deliberate slaying. I have a sad suspicion that around here, more people would kill a copperhead than not, if the opportunity was there.

I think @jasonhernandez74 might have been saying that there are folks for whom ANY evidence — ranging from a photo, to a barely-whispered comment that you MIGHT have seen a snake — is basically a “Mission from God” to go on a “Holy War” of search and destroy “to protect women and children” . . .

@jasonhernandez74 deliberately stated it as When TALKING about nature puts it in danger

(rather than, “When uploading iNaturalist records puts nature in danger”)

Never mind RECORDING it; the mere act of TALKING about it can result in needless deaths!

[song_dog]

Yeah, I keep mum about coyotes in rural areas for the same reason. People will find any excuse to torture and kill them here, and then brag about it, ostensibly because “they might eat a toddler or, god forbid, a feral cat.”

[insectobserver123]

As someone who lives in a rural area with coyotes, do people who live in rural areas with coyotes not know they are there? I mean, they howl…

[song_dog]

Really, I’m trying to avoid reminding them of their favorite living target practice. Maybe they’ll choose to stay inside watching cable tv or something instead of terrorizing wildlife, who knows.