Enough is enough! Stop slaughtering all the birds!

In a striking trend that spans North America’s key ecosystem regions - grassland, shrubland, forest, wetland, and urban - almost a third of 654 bird species native to North America are in “statistically significant decline,” according to a first-ever “State of the Birds” report unveiled last month by the Audubon Society. (csmonitor.com)

Too many people, their overuse and development of land, and non-native species are among the main culprits for this decline.

Time for a quiz, readers, to test our knowledge of the natural world:

“What mammal is responsible for annually killing 38 million songbirds, four million cottontail rabbits and 100 million small mammals in Wisconsin?

(A) Skunk
(B) Fox
(C) Raccoon
(D) Pine Marten
(E) All of the above
(F) None of the above

If you chose (F), you are correct.

Can you name the mammal? If you say “cat”, step to the head of the class.

A study on predation by cats found that old Tabby is one of the major predators of wildlife in Wisconsin and throughout the United States…” (bird-dog-news.com)

These poems give a bit of a lift to our friendly little birds:

“A Minor Bird” by Robert Frost

I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day;

Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.

The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.

And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.

“Let the Little Birds Sing” by Edna St.Vincent Millay

Let the little birds sing;
Let the little lambs play;
Spring is here; and so ’tis spring; —
But not in the old way!

I recall a place
Where a plum-tree grew;
There you lifted up your face,
And blossoms covered you.

If the little birds sing,
And the little lambs play,
Spring is here; and so ’tis spring —
But not in the old way!

Televisions are informing us that scientists and environmentalists claim human pollution is causing potentially disastrous consequences decades down the road. Yet glossed over in the arguments about global warming is the immediate effect that vehicle exhausts, industry smokestack fallout, and poisoned streams and rivers have on us and corrective measures to curb them.

People don't need to hem and haw over the possibility that the ice caps will melt in the distant future, raise sea levels and drown humanity. The effects of pollution are already present and detrimental: buses and trucks spewing out loads of choking black smoke, sky-blocking clouds of chest tightening smog, and unfishable lifeless bodies of water are not questionable as to their cause or effect on our quality of life.

However, what we already know is not exciting enough so popular media latches on to a terrifying future of humanity drowning in water. Hollywood media joins the groundswell of fear mongering and churns out movies about future environmental disasters. Newsflash! Earth is already a disaster because of human exploitation and indifference.

Corrective measures to improve our quality of life and environmental surroundings have been available for centuries. We choose to ignore them in favor of hopping our blood pressure up from watching movie theater shows and evening news casts.

"To see a problem perfectly is too see the solution or answer within that same sight." -Unknown