Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 18:19:40 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Henry Armistead <74077.3176@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Horseshoe Crab rage MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline George Reiger gave me several "save the horeshoe crabs" bumper stickers a couple of years ago ... I think he got them from the American Littoral Society. I put one on my previous car. Going over the Delaware & Chesapeake Canal in Delaware (Route 1) a few years ago and this enraged man pulls up parallel to me shaking his fists, screaming. A few weeks later someone else pulled up parallel to us on the same bridge (Oh, boy, here we go again ... ?), this time applauding and giving the thumbs up. As far as I can see the locals (and this is not meant to be a perjorative term but probably sounds as if it is), most anywhere in the world, will continue to exploit a resource (even more so) even as it dwindles. They think locally and act locally. In this connection it is sad to see the anti-Chesapeake Bay Foundation signs along the channels going into Smith Island, MD, and Tangier Island. Most of us, I think, want there to be a healthy, robust harvest of blue crabs and horseshoe crabs, as long as the evidence indicates it is not threatening to wipe out the species (and therefore the industry). In the late 1960s when I was mist netting on Hooper's Island (with written permission from the landowners) a drunk materialized one Sunday morning with a revolver in a holster on his hip. While his family watched from inside their car he accused me of sending messages to the Communists on the bird bands. About 10 years ago at 3 in the morning in southern Delaware a man stopped to ask what we were doing. We politley showed him our binoculars and field guides and explained we were listening for night birds. Nearby later on he showed up again, seeing us as some kind of real threat to democracy, started ramming our car from behind, we stopped, and he began assaulting Carl Perry, who was driving. Finally (days before cell phones) we went to a house, woke the occupant up (who was most sympathetic and helpful), and asked him to call the police. One of our party, Rick West, was scheduled to be honored (in the best communist tradition, one supposes) by the governor in a few days for his work on the state bird atlas. Dealing with such hostilities can happen to any of us. What is really scary is irrational hostility. I have an unfortunate tendency to want to reply in kind, which has come close to getting me in real trouble a few times. But this never wins any policy debates. I think it's is best to try to be humble, even deferential, restrained, and to leave, and to say you're leaving. But it's galling to give in to such idiocy. Keep your cell phones handy and fully charged. Good birding (anyway) and best to all. Henry ("Harry") T. Armistead, 523 E. Durham St., Philadelphia, PA 19119-1225. 215-248-4120. Any off-list replies, please, to: harryarmistead@hotmail.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================