We often here of Yankee ingenuity and how America was built on hardworking pioneers that conquered the brutal wildernesses of North America. This is complete nonsense and he extinction of the passenger pigeons shows how easy if was for the early pioneers to get a meal. basically they had like free KFC chicken meals anytime thy wanted with flocks of billions of these beautiful birds flying around all over the North American continent. One shot into a sky full of these birds would bring you fifty meals. The flocks were reported by ornithologist's of the day and reported to be five hours in lengths. These birds were so numerous and provided such easy protein for early settlers that food was really never a problem. It is amazing how quickly these birds ere decimated as flocks extended two hundred and forty miles in some cases. A hundred years ago man slaughtered the last passenger pigeon on earth and then thankfully moved on to slaughter other men in the First World War. The skys that were once blacked out like a rain storm with these birds was soon devoid of the unique noise of a million strong flock fluttering in one direction.
The hard working pioneers would had a much actual hard time if not for these huge flocks that provided a man with a gun plenty of eating opportunities in harsh conditions. basically the pioneers raped the resources and habitat back in the day as well. The problem with this was that many of the natural resources were not lack slime gooey fluid but living things that served a purpose in nature. There was no government regulation to save this species and when people finally wised up to regulate hunting it was too late. 
Fifty thousand birds were being killed on any given day in the 1850's to 1870's. The passenger pigeon is as much as a symbol of America's over abundance exploitation and destruction of nature as the buffalo. The only place to see these birds now is stuffed in a museum and I wouldn't be surprised if America exterminates and eliminates the turkey as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment