Huntsman spider in the aviary

[finchbreeder]

Ah but watch me hyperventilate at needles or climb sheer tin walls at the sight of a snake.
LML

[mattymeischke]

Sorry Im on the Killer side

But what about your signature line at present: "Never ever be afraid to do what's right if the well being of an animal is at stake"?
Is a spider not an animal for the purposes of your couplet, or do you make exceptions for ones that scare you?

No offense intended, nor criticism, but like DB and others I am fascinated how our moral sense as it applies to animals is attenuated severely if they are ugly or boring and more so if they are scary or dangerous.

As a primary school kid I got a book at some awards night called "Insects are animals, too", which puzzled me at the time but now makes more sense. I am no "all life is sacred" purist: I kill my own meat, I fish, I take lobbies and abalone when I can and I occasionally control insect pests (mozzies, especially), but as I get older I try not to kill anything gratuitously, and I have taught my kids to appreciate spiders to the extent that they now stop other kids killing them at school because "they eat all the mozzies".

When I am unwell, or in the course of my work, I kill bacteria by the billion with no compunction.

I love snakes and am totally fascinated by them. I find them very beautiful, but I have killed quite a lot of them (most recently, a big brown bastard who had been creeping in through a gap between aviary frame and footing and taking nestlings).

So, I have no moral high ground to stand on, and cast no judgements, but I would be interested to know where the 'compassion line' lies for different people, by which I mean which animals we regard as 'sacred life' and which animals we regard as brutish things which me may (or must) kill. Is it related to our perception of their intelligence, or their motives, or their 'rank' amongst living things, or something else entirely.

[vettepilot_6]

HMMM a bit off topic Matty but just for your info.....I too would usually not harm another animal or human...but if it threatened me or my family lives it would be deceased....and I would happily cull anything with too much population such as Bats, Kangaroos, Donkeys, Pigs, and the buffalo up north etc......I think its ridiculous that we have a viris from bats that is rampant and no gov dept is culling the 10s of thousands of them in Australia.... just last night I was watching them fly over Bundy on their way to their feeding grounds...the sky was thick with them! they colony would be in the thousands here alone....it was about a klm wide and non stop for well over 20mins.....

[ruthieharris]

Yep I know Matty Im the first to say Im a hypercrite .Huntsman cause so much anxiety and fear for us . Maybe its a bit of acting on fear or as simple as doing what you saw your parents do ? My teenage daughter has Panic / Anxiety attacks which Huntsman trigger off so what i need to do for my kid, so Im sorry if this offends you but it has to go and not outside so it can come back. i love animals but i eat them too Humans arent perfect . Sorry members my post is a bit dramatic lol maybe i should add except Huntsmans to my signature hehe

[mattymeischke]

...but if it threatened me or my family lives it would be deceased....

Totally agree, me too.

Im the first to say Im a hypercrite

I am, too.

My teenage daughter has Panic / Anxiety attacks which Huntsman trigger off so what i need to do for my kid

Best reason I could imagine. I'm sure I would do the same.

sorry if this offends you

Absolutely not, I was hoping I wouldn't offend you!
I'm interested in this contradiction that all animal lovers share to some extent; I, too, eat my animal friends after caring for them carefully while they live.

[ruthieharris]

Phew ....thought you were having a go at me , thanks for listening and understanding my views Matty

[matcho]

I think its ridiculous that we have a viris from bats that is rampant and no gov dept is culling the 10s of thousands of them in Australia.... just last night I was watching them fly over Bundy on their way to their feeding grounds...the sky was thick with them! they colony would be in the thousands here alone....it was about a klm wide and non stop for well over 20mins.....

Bit of a harsh attack on the flying foxes. 10s of thousands of them? Try millions!. Without them a lot of our gum and rainforests could not survive because they are the species that pollinates. 20 minutes? That's a little colony, go further north, way north and watch them from an hour before sunset until well after and the sky is dark with them. The virus? If I'm mistaken thay have had it forever. It has only been since the increased interaction between man and them that it has become more prevalent and documented. On the other hand lets cull all the 10's of thousands of sulphurs and corellas because they are carriers of PBFD and lets not forget psittacosis which can have a fairly detrimental effect on humans. This has only opened a can of worms.

After all the original post was about a huntsman in the aviary. If they can eat geckos and small lizards I don't think a day old chick would stand much of a chance.

In my opinion, get it out, if you don't want to kill it then don't, take it out and put it in the wood pile to eat all the woodies. Simple.

[MadOzzie]

[quote="matchoBit of a harsh attack on the flying foxes. 10s of thousands of them? Try millions!. Without them a lot of our gum and rainforests could not survive because they are the species that pollinates. 20 minutes? That's a little colony, go further north, way north and watch them from an hour before sunset until well after and the sky is dark with them..[/quote]

I was told recently that flying foxes eat the gum and rainforest flowers and young fruit. It is the micro bats etc that actually do the polinating. I have wonderd since if thsi is correct.

On the original sunject I wonder if some of my expalined suddenly dead zebs and canaries are a result of spider bites.

MadOzzie

[matcho]

Mad Ozzie,
I think you will find that a majority (if not all) of the microbats are insect eaters. True, flying foxes eat fruit and flowers, that's how the seed and pollen is dispersed.

[ruthieharris]

They eat geckos and lizards ?????!!!!