Rod Liddle on invasive species. I agree of course.

I would like to think that Rod Liddle has read some of what I have written about invasive species before writing his article in The Sunday Times (11th Aug. 2024). What I say is that the authorities focus too much on the damage that invasive species do to native species and not enough on the damage that humans do to native species through all kinds of ways such "as housing developments, pesticides, the fragmentation of habitats and "people paving over their front gardens so they can park their hideous Nissan Jukes. In other words, it's us." 

Ron Liddle. Pic from his X account.

That's a quote from Rod Liddle and it is the kind of thing I could have written myself. For years I've been bleating on about the way people pass the buck to animals for the depletion in biodiversity in their country. Australia is the worst at this. Australia contributes to global warming by mining coal and selling it to China. And then they complain about the Great Barrier Reef turning bleached white because the sea temperature off the Australian coast has risen because of global warming and that this rising sea temperature has chronically and catastrophically damaged one of the world's most amazing natural wonders.

And I wonder if there's any coming back from it. I don't think there is. But Australia is contributing to the catastrophic damage to the Great Barrier Reef and yet they complain about feral cats in their country killing small native mammals and marsupials. They need to look inwards, at themselves, in the mirror, and decide what they can do to help protect nature and biodiversity in their country before they attack animals such as foxes, rabbits, kangaroos and camels. Foxes, feral cats, rabbits are all non-native in Oz as are camels!

But in Britain a particular non-native species has hit the headlines and that is the wallaby which is a nice connection to Australia.

The wallaby is a marsupial. They apparently exist in the wild in the UK because they escaped from a private zoo or something. Apparently there's a colony around Loch Lomond. One was seen in the town of Calverton. Minding its own business. The head of Communications of Nottingham Wildlife Trust said: "If numbers of wallabies are present and establish a breeding population this would be a concern as our native UK wildlife is already under threat."

Yes, he's probably correct but as I've said we should be looking at ourselves first in order to protect wildlife. The British human population is growing rapidly thanks mainly to immigration. There are calls in Britain to build far more homes. The Labour government wants to build 1.5 million new homes annually.

They're going to build the homes on "brown sites" or "grey sites". But ultimately they'll start building houses on green belt which is countryside in the UK. And that will automatically damage wildlife, reduce biodiversity and destroy habitat.

People need to look inwards, at what they are doing to damage wildlife and what they can do to protect it. This is an issue which irks Ron Liddle. He wants to respond to the statement by Nottingham Wildlife Trust with the following: "Listen, mate. It's not a few wallabies that pose a threat to our native wildlife. It's housing developments, pesticides, the fragmentation of habitats and people paving over their front gardens."

Yes, exactly, and the RSPB dislike parakeets because they take British nests. Ron Liddle believes that it is unjust to constantly blame non-native species for damaging British wildlife. He is right. It's human arrogance. It is the concept of humans having dominion over animals. I have written about that as well in the past numerous times.

This comes from Christianity and the legacy is still present today. It's time we started to share the planet with animals and treat them with greater respect. We are so far from that. We really are. Animals are commercial assets to be abused and used to make money. And if they get in the way and become a nuisance they are shot. Conservationists have a hard time of it. It's a losing battle actually.

About Mr Liddle

Rod Liddle (born 1 April 1960) is an English journalist, and an associate editor of The Spectator. He was an editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme. His published works include Too Beautiful for You (2003), Love Will Destroy Everything (2007), The Best of Liddle Britain (co-author, 2007) and the semi-autobiographical Selfish Whining Monkeys (2014). He has presented television programmes, including The New Fundamentalists, The Trouble with Atheism, and Immigration Is A Time Bomb. - Wikipedia.

----------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.