Fluther: Is mass killing of animals 'just' okay?

Is mass killing of animals 'just' okay?

Asked by rebbel (35547

) August 4th, 2011
30 responses
“Great Question” (5

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Let’s say a university organisation tells us that we can kill one million dogs, or cats, or geese.
Probably there would be outrage over it.
Last week a Dutch insectologist,connected to the Wageningen University, warned the people that in the coming days there is going to be a mosquito plague, due to a warm and wet summer.
The larvae are supposed to house in puddles, streams and on (waterfilled) saucers under the plant pots in your garden.
So he suggested to turn the saucers around which effectively would kill them.
Is it okay to mass kill mosquitoes/-larvae?
Are they not animals, just like dogs or cows or sparrows, too?

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Topics: animals, mosquitoes, killing, larvae

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Answers

As a girl who lives in the hot and humid South, I’d love it if the mass killing of mosquitoes happened.

Now, if it was cats or something, I’d be pretty angry. But I fucking HATE mosquitoes.

KateTheGreat (13640

)“Great Answer” (5

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I have no problem with the mass killing of pests, vermin, or varmints if it has been determined that greatly reducing their numbers would be beneficial and/or not have any ecological side effects.

TexasDude (25274

)“Great Answer” (4

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Yes, they are animals, but parasites will always get the okay to be killed just because of their nature, right or wrong.

amujinx (5170

)“Great Answer” (2

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I don’t see people complaining about when they call exterminators at home to kill rats or other insects. So how can it not be okay?

Hibernate (9091

)“Great Answer” (3

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As mosquitoes carry a myriad of diseases I am not bothered at all about efforts to kill them off.

I feel very sorry for the University of Victoria as they have had to deal with the dilemma of culling hundreds of feral bunnies from their campus.

tranquilsea (17775

)“Great Answer” (3

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I’d be up for the extinction of wasps, oh yeah. From a distance of course.

ucme (50047

)“Great Answer” (3

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Well it’s okay if you think they’re just pests meant to annoy humans as if they have a mind and a direction. I guess people don’t eat or use them as pets so they’re more likely to kill them. Of course people who eat animals are also okay with mass killings of those animals so that’s no better.

Simone_De_Beauvoir (39052

)“Great Answer” (3

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Comparing the killing of mosquitoes to the other species you mentioned seems like an apples to oranges scenario. In this case, it sounds more like a person offering preventative measures in populated areas. It isn’t as if there won’t be an abundant supply of water elsewhere for mosquitoes to breed, carry on their life cycle and be available as food for those that eat them, like dragonflies.

Pied_Pfeffer (28141

)“Great Answer” (3

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The mass killing of animals and insects is already OK with people. An estimated 3.5 million to 4 million cats and dogs are killed every year. The number of chickens, pigs, and cattle is in the hundreds of millions, if not billions.

I can’t even find any statistics on the number of spiders, mice and other household pests that are routinely done away with, but I suspect billions a year.

YARNLADY (46378

)“Great Answer” (6

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Sorry, but there’s not enough people that care about them for them to matter. It’s an effing bug. They’re annoying and they deserve to burn in hell!!!

Blackberry (33949

)“Great Answer” (4

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Eliminating standing water isn’t necessarily killing mosquitoes – it’s forcing them to breed elsewhere.

Seelix (14947

)“Great Answer” (4

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We had to close our windows every Thursday evening in the town we just moved from because that was the night the city sprayed for mosquitoes. Apparently it’s ok in Illinois.

jonsblond (43664

)“Great Answer” (2

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Mass killing of mosquitoes sounds just fine with me. People knocking down swallows nests is NOT! and come on… I thought this post was going to be some silliness of the Morrissey variety.

In Singapore they fine you BIGTIME if you have standing water on your property. Why not think of the children and old people who die each year of mosquito spread disease, like malaria, yellow fever and West Nile virus. Or consider the horses that are affected as well.

No mercy for the mosquito.

cazzie (24516

)“Great Answer” (4

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@cazzie Right, I left out the fact the it seems to be OK with people to let 20 THOUSAND men women and children starve to death every single day of the year.

YARNLADY (46378

)“Great Answer” (2

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Depends on if they are cute. That has always been the deciding factor, consciously or subconsciously, for the populace on whether mass killing was cheered on or condemned.

ragingloli (51958

)“Great Answer” (4

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I’m sure it’s not okay with the bat population there :(

SpatzieLover (24606

)“Great Answer” (1

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Mosquitos are considered the deadliest disease carrier known to man. More people die from mosquito bites than from any other animal on the planet. As long as we can’t eradicate the disease, we should eradicate the mosquitos.

PhiNotPi (12681

)“Great Answer” (5

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Two words- heartworm disease. Yeah kill em off.
I wish we had that problem now ,where we are, there is no water, so, no mosquitoes. Tough trade off.

woodcutter (16377

)“Great Answer” (2

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Yep. It is. Unfortunately.

tinyfaery (44083

)“Great Answer” (3

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i think a mosquito is a bug not an animal, so yeah it’d be fine by me. Another thing, mass killing animals i think is okay as long as we don’t make them extinct AND make sure we eat or make use of them.

tifa (667

)“Great Answer” (4

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What a beautiful idea they have there! Honestly, I really hate mosquito. Just think about it if those disease vector multiply and spread disease in your neighborhood.

Mass killing for animals have already happened long time ago, those meat we consume are from animals that were killed in large number, periodically, aside from this mosquito version.

As long as it’s for a purpose and beneficial I don’t think it’s much of an issue.

Your_Majesty (8235

)“Great Answer” (3

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It’s us or them.

lemming (3918

)“Great Answer” (2

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Massive amounts of people, bugs, or animals all comes down to if they are seen as something the masses or powers that be love or loath. Lets say in the spirit of this question that some mutant strain of a virus spawned via the dander of dogs and cats. It was untreatable; there was no way to stop it or to cure it. Once the animal has it that was it, the virus would breed and fall off in their dander, get airborne, and infect another animal eventually. Further complicate matters, the virus crossed over and a strain mutated to effect humans. When it effected humans death was 98.9% certain and though quick, 96hr or less from infection to death, and very painful at that. One scientist, or a small group of scientist say the best way to stem the carnage would be to eliminate all dogs and cats and make sure none enters the nation again. That would be the logical thing to do. There would be an uproar, these scientist would be called quacks, and worse. They would have death threats on their voice mail. People would be so emotionally attached to their feelings for dogs and cats, it would take the deaths of 100s of thousands to shake even a small percent to wake up and smell the oat bran; it is either dogs and cats, or humans that are going to be the last one standing. People hardly ever do the right or logical thing unforced because they want to attach some emotion or feeling to the action or belief.

Hypocrisy_Central (26879

)“Great Answer” (4

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In the event of serious plague type diseases, it has to be done.
I’m big on the ‘harm no thing’ mantra, but, face it, it is impossible to live without harming anything, regardless.

Rub your eye, squish an eyelash mite, wash your sheets, kill thousands.

100’s of thousands of geese, poultry and swine were killed during the H1N1 hype a few years ago.

Sometimes it’s a necessary evil. I prefer to focus on the happy stuff and there are two very spoiled geese at my place. :-)

Coloma (47193

)“Great Answer” (4

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Honk honk

woodcutter (16377

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