It mystifies me why anyone would want to kill the bugs that share this planet with us, but I guess we are all different. Our garden is run on organic principles and we aim to have a variety of plants that will attract birds and bugs to keep the 'bad' bugs under control.
Imagine my dismay, therefore, when I saw a guy getting ready to spray bifenthrin all around a home near us. When I confronted him - politely, I hope - he said the homeowner needs to get rid of the ants and spiders on her property.
Get rid of all ants and spiders? Wow! Armageddon for insects and arachnids.
And, in the long run, death for every fish in the local waters, danger for local cats, and - sadly - eventual death for birds, as they gorge on the dying insects.
In the long run, of course. All these effects won't be immediate. And as long as it's rare for anyone to create a kill-zone in their garden, I guess the results will be minor and will be dealt with by Mother Earth.
But what about Penny? She's been locked inside the house all day, with all windows closed, and she's desperate to go out to relieve herself, so as soon as I finish typing we'll hop into the care and walk somewhere distant from our now poisoned street.
Here's an interesting and informative site that discusses bug sprays from a vet's perspective.
And here's a toxipedia article that I found helpful.
You know what? That house nearby will soon have lots of new spiders and ants as the local survivors move in to their garden.
By the way, it's deadly for bees.
And bad for cats.
Showing posts with label insects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insects. Show all posts
Friday, 18 November 2016
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
how will we feed protein to our dogs in the future?
Twice this week I've heard about 'test-tube meat' but I can't recall which radio program said that in the Netherlands they've grown pork in a test-tube. I found an old link here. However, I think on the program this week the speaker said that one problem with the experiment is that the cells, as they grow, start to differentiate, to specialise, so that the product is not just muscle meat. (I'm not sure about that, though.)
It is the second mention of the topic, though, that has me writing this post. One of the most informative bloggers around is the US vet, Dr. Patty Khuly, who has written a discussion of the ways in which we might find protein to feed our pets in the future. She looks at the possibility of feeding our animals laboratory-raised meat, or insects, in part referring to a story on npr about in vitro meat.
I think the idea of lab-raised meat is somewhat repulsive, but not half as much as I find it repulsive to think of the cruel way in which we humans treat animals as 'things' and raise them in ghastly factory-farms. If we could create artificial meat in a petri-dish (a GIANT one, lol), perhaps it would be the end of our cruelty to food-animals.
But might it also be the end of those species? Would creatures like cows, chickens or geese, for instance, survive into the future if we stopped farming them? Perhaps it would be another one of those mass extinctions that have dotted history.
If our dogs ate insects or artificial meat, I wonder how they would get the calcium they need? I like feeding Penny meaty bones on occasion, not just to clean her teeth, but to add calcium to her diet. (I'm not very well-informed about all this, so maybe I've got it wrong.)
It's an interesting topic, at any rate. And I think it's a conversation we'll be having over the next decade or so, because it's obvious there just isn't going to be enough protein to feed humanity in the near future, let alone other species.
It is the second mention of the topic, though, that has me writing this post. One of the most informative bloggers around is the US vet, Dr. Patty Khuly, who has written a discussion of the ways in which we might find protein to feed our pets in the future. She looks at the possibility of feeding our animals laboratory-raised meat, or insects, in part referring to a story on npr about in vitro meat.
I think the idea of lab-raised meat is somewhat repulsive, but not half as much as I find it repulsive to think of the cruel way in which we humans treat animals as 'things' and raise them in ghastly factory-farms. If we could create artificial meat in a petri-dish (a GIANT one, lol), perhaps it would be the end of our cruelty to food-animals.
But might it also be the end of those species? Would creatures like cows, chickens or geese, for instance, survive into the future if we stopped farming them? Perhaps it would be another one of those mass extinctions that have dotted history.
If our dogs ate insects or artificial meat, I wonder how they would get the calcium they need? I like feeding Penny meaty bones on occasion, not just to clean her teeth, but to add calcium to her diet. (I'm not very well-informed about all this, so maybe I've got it wrong.)
It's an interesting topic, at any rate. And I think it's a conversation we'll be having over the next decade or so, because it's obvious there just isn't going to be enough protein to feed humanity in the near future, let alone other species.
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