The Long-Term Fate of Invasive Species by Arne Jernelöv

Author:Arne Jernelöv
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Control Efforts

During close to a century, sustained efforts have been made to control the starling population. The methods range from shooting, netting, and nest destruction to poisoning.

During the last 50 years, some 100 million starlings have been killed by governmental agents. In 2008, the number was 1.7 million [14].

Public Perception and Official Policies

The starlings have been cursed as an occupant of nesting sites rightfully belonging to native and more appreciated birds, called a plaque , a menace to the economy of hardworking, honest farmers and an agent spreading diseases and dirt, but the accusations have never become as rancorous and spiteful as those against the house sparrows were at the height of the “sparrow war.”

While the establishment closed ranks against the sparrows, the starlings have had their prominent defenders, among them Rachel Carson , who later achieved world fame for her book Silent Spring. In an article with the title How About Citizenship Papers for the Starling? in the June–July 1939 issue of Nature magazine, she wrote:“In spite of his remarkable success as a pioneer, the starling probably has fewer friends than almost any other creature that wears feathers. That fact, however, seems to be of very little importance to this cheerful bird with glossy plumage and stumpy tail. Without seeming to care whether the benefiting farmer thanks him or reviles him, he hurries with jerky steps about the farms and gardens in the summer time, carrying more than 100 loads of destructive insects per day to his screaming offspring, cramming his own stomach full of such foods as Japanese beetles, caterpillars, and cutworms. With complete indifference to angry protests, he finds roosting places in warm cities in the winter, going out each morning, a faithful commuter in reverse, to earn his bread in the surrounding countryside.

On one point ornithologists are pretty well agreed--the starling is here to stay. Shall we then continue to regard him as an alien or shall we conclude that his successful pioneering and his service in insect destruction entitle him to American citizenship?

As to economic worth, a pretty complete auditing of the starling's books has already been performed by the Department of Agriculture.” [15]

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