Tweet
Another week, another Guardian 'biodiversity' scare...
The Telegraph (UK)
March 4th, 2013
By James Delingpole
Hello everybody. This is a guest post courtesy of Bufo75. It's a small
skirmish in the war against what is arguably the global environmental
movement's biggest lie apart from CAGW - the great "species loss"
meme. (For the last word on this, read this masterly critique by the
great Willis Eschenbach of Watts Up With That?) Over to you, Bufo.
As my avatar Bufo may indicate one of my interests is
herpetology. When my boys were younger I took them on reptile- and
amphibian-hunting expeditions all over the world. So naturally
whenever I read a headline like the one by John Vidal in last's week's
Guardian `One in five reptile species faces extinction' my gut
response is deep concern.
At least it would be if I hadn't read this sort of claim many times
before.
Scarcely a week goes by without some environmental pressure group from
the WWF to the Zoological Society of London issuing dire warnings on
behalf of large animals at the top of the food chain, down to the no
less aggressive 'butterfly lobby' at the other end.
In essence the message is - 'Critters are at risk, and it's all your
fault'.
But I must confess, this emerging and vocal `lizard lobby' is a new
one on me. It seems to involve an alliance between the Zoological
Society of London and the IUCN.
The 'who' ? You may ask. The 'International Union for the Conservation
of Nature' no less. Funded by the world's governments, with an annual
turnover of around $100 million and over 1000 staff in 45 offices,
they are not anorganisation to be sneezed at.
They claim to be a 'neutral forum', but tell us that they 'demonstrate
how biodiversity is fundamental to addressing some of the world's
greatest challenges such as climate change, sustainable development
and food security'.
They also issue the 'dreaded' IUCN 'Red List' of species at risk,
which categorizes each one according to the perceived threat on
population size.
The list of Snakes and Lizards alone names 3755 species from
'Ablepharus bivittatus' - The 2 Streaked Snake-Eyed Skink of Armenia
and Azerbaijan, to 'Zygastris nigra' of Angola and Zambia.
Last week the Guardian's Environment Editor John Vidal, cut and pasted
the report from IUCN under the headline 'One in five reptile species
faces extinction',even though the original report used the words 'is
struggling to survive'.
Alarming stuff, you would say, but are we really about to lose 751 of
them?
Fortunately not. It's all down to 'lies, damn lies and statistics'.
Of those 'Under threat' - 47% are said to be 'vulnerable', 41% are
'endangered' and only 12% are 'critically endangered'.
Only 90 of them then, out of 3755: it's starting to look better
already!
But let's look a little more closely at those 90 which are 'critically
endangered'.
Many years ago, when I first visited the Canaries, there was one large
charcoal grey lizard which was found on all seven islands. Boys with
airguns used them for target practice and no-one seemed concerned.
Now we find that 'Gallotia galloti' (Gallot's Lizard) is not one, but
eight different species, with four of them described as 'critically
endangered' and the others listed as being of 'least concern'.
I will not here try to argue whether each IS a distinct sub species or
not, but suffice it to say that 'Gallotia bravoana', the one on La
Gomera, now has its Government and EU funded 'Centro de Recuperation'
on the island.
As a herpetologist I applaud this or any other attempt to avoid the
loss of any species, but let's not get too excited about 'imminent
bio-diversity loss', the IUCN can only find three out of the sample
they checked of the 3755 snakes and lizards which are already
'extinct', and even they might be found by the next search party,
unless their habitat has been totally destroyed.
This usually occurs when local people, having no electricity, tear
down the trees and other vegetation for cooking.
Sadly, for the Guardian, the IUCN and the Zoological Society of
London, the threat to the 'critically endangered' Canarian lizards
comes not from 'Climate Change' or 'Habitat Destruction' but from that
most-feared of all predators, 'Felis catus'.
So if you want to help to save a 'critically endangered' lizard, hang
a large bell round your pussy's neck.
The Telegraph (UK)
March 4th, 2013
By James Delingpole
Hello everybody. This is a guest post courtesy of Bufo75. It's a small
skirmish in the war against what is arguably the global environmental
movement's biggest lie apart from CAGW - the great "species loss"
meme. (For the last word on this, read this masterly critique by the
great Willis Eschenbach of Watts Up With That?) Over to you, Bufo.
As my avatar Bufo may indicate one of my interests is
herpetology. When my boys were younger I took them on reptile- and
amphibian-hunting expeditions all over the world. So naturally
whenever I read a headline like the one by John Vidal in last's week's
Guardian `One in five reptile species faces extinction' my gut
response is deep concern.
At least it would be if I hadn't read this sort of claim many times
before.
Scarcely a week goes by without some environmental pressure group from
the WWF to the Zoological Society of London issuing dire warnings on
behalf of large animals at the top of the food chain, down to the no
less aggressive 'butterfly lobby' at the other end.
In essence the message is - 'Critters are at risk, and it's all your
fault'.
But I must confess, this emerging and vocal `lizard lobby' is a new
one on me. It seems to involve an alliance between the Zoological
Society of London and the IUCN.
The 'who' ? You may ask. The 'International Union for the Conservation
of Nature' no less. Funded by the world's governments, with an annual
turnover of around $100 million and over 1000 staff in 45 offices,
they are not anorganisation to be sneezed at.
They claim to be a 'neutral forum', but tell us that they 'demonstrate
how biodiversity is fundamental to addressing some of the world's
greatest challenges such as climate change, sustainable development
and food security'.
They also issue the 'dreaded' IUCN 'Red List' of species at risk,
which categorizes each one according to the perceived threat on
population size.
The list of Snakes and Lizards alone names 3755 species from
'Ablepharus bivittatus' - The 2 Streaked Snake-Eyed Skink of Armenia
and Azerbaijan, to 'Zygastris nigra' of Angola and Zambia.
Last week the Guardian's Environment Editor John Vidal, cut and pasted
the report from IUCN under the headline 'One in five reptile species
faces extinction',even though the original report used the words 'is
struggling to survive'.
Alarming stuff, you would say, but are we really about to lose 751 of
them?
Fortunately not. It's all down to 'lies, damn lies and statistics'.
Of those 'Under threat' - 47% are said to be 'vulnerable', 41% are
'endangered' and only 12% are 'critically endangered'.
Only 90 of them then, out of 3755: it's starting to look better
already!
But let's look a little more closely at those 90 which are 'critically
endangered'.
Many years ago, when I first visited the Canaries, there was one large
charcoal grey lizard which was found on all seven islands. Boys with
airguns used them for target practice and no-one seemed concerned.
Now we find that 'Gallotia galloti' (Gallot's Lizard) is not one, but
eight different species, with four of them described as 'critically
endangered' and the others listed as being of 'least concern'.
I will not here try to argue whether each IS a distinct sub species or
not, but suffice it to say that 'Gallotia bravoana', the one on La
Gomera, now has its Government and EU funded 'Centro de Recuperation'
on the island.
As a herpetologist I applaud this or any other attempt to avoid the
loss of any species, but let's not get too excited about 'imminent
bio-diversity loss', the IUCN can only find three out of the sample
they checked of the 3755 snakes and lizards which are already
'extinct', and even they might be found by the next search party,
unless their habitat has been totally destroyed.
This usually occurs when local people, having no electricity, tear
down the trees and other vegetation for cooking.
Sadly, for the Guardian, the IUCN and the Zoological Society of
London, the threat to the 'critically endangered' Canarian lizards
comes not from 'Climate Change' or 'Habitat Destruction' but from that
most-feared of all predators, 'Felis catus'.
So if you want to help to save a 'critically endangered' lizard, hang
a large bell round your pussy's neck.