Don't get me wrong - I'm very much aware and in favor of preserving endangered species on planet earth. It seems that species once common and plentiful are becoming scarce and in danger of extinction. Then we have hamsters. Not just any hamsters mind you, but the Great Hamsters of Alsace. Go figure!
The French government was warned by a EU legal adviser that it must make a greater effort to protect endangered hamsters living near Strasbourg in Eastern France. Perhaps the warning might have come as a surprise or even shock as it did to me, having never realized there was a difference in hamster species. I figured one hamster is the same as another. The cute rat-like creatures live their lives in cages (at least a lot of them do) and spend their free time working the wheel. But I digress.
If France doesn't heed the warning, the country could be fined if the European Court of Justice rules that it has failed to heed a final warning from the European Commission in 2008. The root of the problem is that their numbers are dwindling and a mere 298 burrows were found in 2010, a drop from 1,167 in 2,001. Hamster numbers are calculated on the basis of one hamster per burrow. Perhaps - pure speculation on my part - some hamster family members were out at the time a count was conducted.
According to EU Advocate General, Juliane Kokott, "if agro-environmental measures were put in place, in 2008, to protect the Great Hamster, they are incomplete at this stage." In other words - my interpretation - if France was making an effort to conserve the hamster, it wasn't obvious. Ms Kokott's opinion has been handed over to judges and in most cases the judges accept the advocate general's opinions and the court's rulings are binding on EU member states. In the recent past, France had been called upon to do more to "combat the agricultural practices and the urban sprawl that are destroying the animal's natural habitat". Furthermore, France failed to fulfil its obligations under the EU directive on conservation of natural habitats.
The hamster, which can grow to 10 inches (25 centimetres) long, has a brown and white face, a black belly and white paws. In old times, the paws were much prized by farmers who made them into trinkets. It wasn't that long ago that people used to hang rabbit paws on key chains.
So what if anything, is your "average" French farmer doing in the way of helping the situation, you may well be asking yourselves at this point. Not much it appears.
They (the farmers) farming in the region have planted maize (corn)instead of the hamster's favourite crop - alfalfa. What can one say or write? If the farmers don't cooperate, who will? Then again, should farmers focus on raising crops dedicated to hamster preservation? What about mice? Or bunnies? Or deer?
Given the state of starving humans all over the planet, hamsters perhaps don't receive the level of attention they require. For your 'regular' people, there are plenty of hamsters available in pet shops. There is a photo of the Strasbourg hamster here, in case you happen upon one in your travels:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12250291
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agriculture. Show all posts
Friday, January 21, 2011
Saturday, January 08, 2011
News you want to know: insects produce less gas
There is nothing like cyber-surfing to find interesting stories and getting educated about stuff one would otherwise never know. Things like edible insects produce smaller quantities of greenhouse gasses than cattle AND pigs. I mean - go figure! Teeny-weeny insects some of which are barely visible to the human eye, to put it bluntly, fart less than people.
Be that as it may, this fact came to light in the Science Daily with scientists of Wageningen University who recently joined together with government and industry to look into whether the rearing of insects could contribute to more sustainable production. Moreover, insect meat could therefore be an alternative to your regular type meat products. Cattle farming worldwide is a major producer of greenhouse gases.
Far be it to criticize the scientific community but speaking as your "average" human, the idea of eating insects somehow has little appeal. In fact, most of us averages find insects worthy of elimination. Let's just leave it at that.
Why they did this is anybody's guess but the research team for the first time quantified the greenhouse gases produced per kilogram of insect product. This leads one - me - to ponder how they accomplished this. Take your ordinary house fly - please - and try to catch it, never mind assessing the amount of gas it produces. Never even occurred to me that insects - well - fart. The gases involved were methane and nitrous oxide (isn't the latter the laughing gas that dentists use for nervous patients?). The results demonstrated that insects produced much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases than conventional livestock. Duh!
An additional advantage of insects over mammals is that they convert their food into meat quicker. Is this information we need to know? There is, however, some interesting facts one rarely thinks about like did you know that a pig produces between eight and twelve times as much ammonia per kilogram of growth, compared to crickets, and up to fifty times more than locusts. Can't speak for others but this is a revelation to me!
Further research is required to ascertain whether the production of a kilogram of insect protein is also more environmentally friendly than conventional animal protein when the entire production chain is taken into account. This makes one - me again - wonder how much money the scientists received for working on this exciting project. The university, by the way, is located in the Netherlands.
A while back and in the name of science and a TV taping, I ate some chocolate covered grasshoppers. Actually, they were quite good until one of the grasshopper legs became visible after biting into the chocolate. That was it for me! Just thought I'd throw that in since the story focused on insects. thing is and realistically speaking, it's doubtful whether farmers will give up cattle raising et al, in favor of insects. Would love to hear from any insect raisers reading this.
Be that as it may, this fact came to light in the Science Daily with scientists of Wageningen University who recently joined together with government and industry to look into whether the rearing of insects could contribute to more sustainable production. Moreover, insect meat could therefore be an alternative to your regular type meat products. Cattle farming worldwide is a major producer of greenhouse gases.
Far be it to criticize the scientific community but speaking as your "average" human, the idea of eating insects somehow has little appeal. In fact, most of us averages find insects worthy of elimination. Let's just leave it at that.
Why they did this is anybody's guess but the research team for the first time quantified the greenhouse gases produced per kilogram of insect product. This leads one - me - to ponder how they accomplished this. Take your ordinary house fly - please - and try to catch it, never mind assessing the amount of gas it produces. Never even occurred to me that insects - well - fart. The gases involved were methane and nitrous oxide (isn't the latter the laughing gas that dentists use for nervous patients?). The results demonstrated that insects produced much smaller quantities of greenhouse gases than conventional livestock. Duh!
An additional advantage of insects over mammals is that they convert their food into meat quicker. Is this information we need to know? There is, however, some interesting facts one rarely thinks about like did you know that a pig produces between eight and twelve times as much ammonia per kilogram of growth, compared to crickets, and up to fifty times more than locusts. Can't speak for others but this is a revelation to me!
Further research is required to ascertain whether the production of a kilogram of insect protein is also more environmentally friendly than conventional animal protein when the entire production chain is taken into account. This makes one - me again - wonder how much money the scientists received for working on this exciting project. The university, by the way, is located in the Netherlands.
A while back and in the name of science and a TV taping, I ate some chocolate covered grasshoppers. Actually, they were quite good until one of the grasshopper legs became visible after biting into the chocolate. That was it for me! Just thought I'd throw that in since the story focused on insects. thing is and realistically speaking, it's doubtful whether farmers will give up cattle raising et al, in favor of insects. Would love to hear from any insect raisers reading this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)