The Metropolis

And so the parakeets must die

Mike Pollitt | Wednesday 21 September, 2011 17:17

It seems the Isle of Dogs just doesn’t love monk parakeets enough to save them, after the Wharf reports that only 35 people turned out to protest against a cull:

Despite the low turnout campaign organiser Lorraine Cavanagh pledged to continue the fight. She said: “It was a disappointing attendance…But people were there in spirit…We’ve heard Defra have been to Mudchute to find out where they can put swoop nets to catch the birds, but when they bring them in we’ll be ready to come down and scare the birds away so they don’t get caught.

What will become of the little rapscallians? According to Defra, this:

We want to get rid of the wild population. There will be trapping, rehoming in aviaries and we will probably have to shoot some as well.

Ah, the little tragedies of life. Who then is to blame for these impending deaths? Not Defra, who rightly want to protect native farmers from a pesky escapee. Not the RSPB, who back the cull to protect native birds from a threatening invader. Not the protesters, for whom every life is worth protecting. Least of all the birds, who being birds took their chance and flew to freedom through a cage’s open door, and made the best of their new lives in a land far away from their ancestral home. But who now will die unmourned in some corner of a foreign field. In the end, it’s just the world who is to blame. Goddamn you world. God damn you to hell.

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