Conservation

Press, 2 August 1985, Page 16

Conservation

Sir,—Habitat loss is now the most significant cause of further losses of native bird species, according to the Wildlife Service. Conservation of species and conservation of habitat are the same thing. In a few years we shall see the results of continued destruction of forests and swamps, as species now seemingly safe are suddenly discovered to be endangered. Now is the time to stop more species joining the black stilt and black robin on their precarious perch. Carolyn King, author of “Immigrant Killers in New Zealand,” severely censures two groups of people — last century’s bird collectors, and those who today still persist in destroying forests and wetlands. Both groups destroy not for survival and in honest ignorance, but for calculated commercial profit, regardless of the consequences. Birds cannot live on fresh air any more than we can. The diet of contemptible and unreasoning abuse some people offer to conservationists is certainly inadequate. — Yours, etc., D. J. ROUND. July 31, 1985.