humorous article: scaring the sh"t out of the masses!

[turtlepunk]

this article is CRAZY! BUNCH OF BULLSH*T! "snakes hanging from power lines and causing outages?!!?! ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME!! THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN WATCHING WAAAAY TOO MANY MOVIES!
http://news.yahoo.com/snakes-threaten-hawaiis-fragile-island-ecosystem-093254000.html

 

[Shadowgamer21]

Most, if not all the info in there is true. The way they explain it sounds a little dramatic but it would happen if an actual population of snakes started on one of the islands. The birds are already under attack from mongoose that were intentionally released.

 

[Kebechet]

Yeah, other than the "snakes causing power outages" a lot of what they're saying is actually true. I find it sad that they have to resort to such measures to keep the island ecology stable, but when a place has an isolated ecology like the Hawaiian islands do, and that ecology doesn't have snakes and large reptiles already.. well you have birds that nest on the ground because they have no natural predators, eggs that can, and will be found by a hungry reptile.. they're worried about it in Florida, and they already had snakes and large reptiles. Hawaii is much much more fragile because it doesn't have any of those naturally.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

I have to agree,.. islands are fragile and have wa...y more to consider than we do. I have family over there,.. how much it costs to live there and pet restrictions keep me from ever moving there.

 

[laurarfl]

The most humorous part to me was the boa that could eat a cat or harm a person. I have a 7ft boa and I don't see him eating cats...even if he were 9ft.

 

[james.w]

A 9' boa could easily eat a cat and definitely harm a person.

this is what the article stated, "In the case of the boa that was found, that boa was big enough to eat a cat or harm a child"

Do you not recall the 9' Burm that recently killed the 2 yr old???

 

[turtlepunk]

do they not realize the huge feral cat problem can cause much more damage than snakes?!?!?! have you read some of those comments those people were posting? theyre scared shitless to the point they want "all snakes wiped off the planet"

 

[james.w]

do they not realize the huge feral cat problem can cause much more damage than snakes?!?!?! have you read some of those comments those people were posting? theyre scared shitless to the point they want "all snakes wiped off the planet"

I agree the comments were ridiculous, but there is nothing wrong with the article.

 

[turtlepunk]

meh. I see the whole thing as propaganda. There are many things that drive Hawaii's ecosystem down the toilet. HUMANS are just part of the cause. I really do believe that SNAKES are not the primary cause of the possible extinction of many animals on that island. I think this article was written to scare people. I think they just want a scapegoat to blame all the problems on....and now that this snake issue has popped up and grown bigger than ever (thanks to effin animal planet!), EVERYONE is scared Sh*tless. Just throws more ammo to the legislators to try to pass laws to destroy the pet trade. Mark Romansky says it best...today its pythons, tomorrow its poodles....

 

[laurarfl]

Yes, James, I recall the 9ft Burm (actually it was 8) that killed the two year child. It was a couple of hours from where I live. OK, I stand corrected, 9ft boas can harm small people and eat small cats.

---

I agree with Turtlepunk that there is a lot of propanganda out there.There has been one US death reported by a boa and that wasn't until last year. There are only 13 Burm deaths on record. There were 34 dog attacks fatalities last year alone. There are about 219 deaths caused by horses each year and 48,000 vehicle related deaths. Hawaii has a big wild horse issue and the wild horses are damging crops. That is something that is happening now, but no one hears about it. But people will hear about horrible snakes that might hurt someone and possibly cause power outages. I'm all for environmental protection when it is reasonable, and for obeying laws. Propaganda is the use of "loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented". This is an appeal to fear.

 

[turtlepunk]

^^^^^ Couldn't agree more!

 

[james.w]

The article focused more on environmental damages that could be caused by snakes, not human safety. Alot if the "propaganda" also has to do with the way the reader interprets the article. I think you guys a spinning the point of the article.

 

[turtlepunk]

yeah the article is about environmental damages, yes there are now invasive snakes on the island, but the author sounds like he's blaming SNAKES SOLELY for the environmental damages, which gets the readers thinking that the damages are SOLELY from snakes, which adds more fuel to the reptile haters who want to get rid of the reptile pet trade, there are MANY OTHER factors that are causing the ecosystem to diminish, does he mention ANY of them? no he scares people by saying CRAP like "power outages due to snakes climbing power lines." and from the looks of those comments...his scare tactics are working.....

 

[laurarfl]

The article focused more on environmental damages that could be caused by snakes, not human safety. Alot if the "propaganda" also has to do with the way the reader interprets the article. I think you guys a spinning the point of the article.

You're right. I thought about that later and realized the author really was just writing about snakes on the island. I guess living in FL has me overly sensitive to the real political propaganda and the constant threat that everything out there is going to eat us.

 

[chelvis]

After reading and seeing footage of Guam before and after the snake is really depressing. I can see why Hawaii would be conserned. Islands are way difffernt than an open ecosystem. It really could cause an extincition of multipual species by introducing one uncotroled preditor, espeically one so evolved as a snake. I am not saying that its a good thing to cuase histaria, but if it enough to get the locals not to bring them into the state and save the local funa then it might have to be done. Lets face it if only responsable people owned reptiles there would never be a problem.

I am not saying that humans have not caused an issue to the Hawaii ecosystem, we have weakened it to the point that one more actack could kill it! Heck look at an open ecosystem like Yellowstone, we removed an animal that was critical for its survival and thought it was "healthy" it wasn't until the wolf returned that we saw what a really health ecosystem was. All these systems are perfectly balanced and changing one small thing could prove to be the end.

 

[turtlepunk]

^^yeah definitely have to agree with you.