Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 14:07:42 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marty Subject: another view on Quail decline MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hello All, In the overall scheme of things habitat loss seems to be the = main culprit in the decline of many bird species. Whether due to = urbanization or changes in farming practices habitat loss is certainly a = serious problem and I'm not sure it can be reversed. In the immediate = area of Point Lookout I have noticed that when the local population of = Red and Gray Foxes decline dramatically the population of many bird = species including Quail increase proportionately. Feral populations of = both cats and dogs seem to also contribute to the decline. Another = situation. Many of these former "house pets" were deliberately "dumped" = by there irresponsible owners. This is a major problem here at Point = Lookout as these *&%#$@ feel that once they dumped there unwanted pets = they can live off the land and survive and they do for awhile but = eventually (especially the dogs) the animal dies a slow death due to = starvation, disease or drags themselves off a highway to die on the side = of a road after being hit by an automobile. Even responsible pet owners = contribute to the problem by bringing un-vaccinated pets to a wildlife = area and spreading disease such as Distemper. Of course the State has a = responsibility also in not enforcing the existing laws in the State = Park. I apologize in advance if I have offended any pet owners but I had = to get this off my chest after reading about this the last several weeks = in MDOsprey. Thank You for reading this. =20 Marty Cribb, Point Lookout, St Mary's Co, Md pauraque@olg.com =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================