Mr. Angry Tonight!

[Briandajew]

I got my Mr. Angry head on tonight, a bee in the bonnet type thing.

We have a chunk of land, about 20 Rai, and last night I was out spraying Roundup around the last couple of rows of Lam Yai when I came upon a rather long fishing net, it was tied to one of my Lam Yai trees and was about 15 foot off the ground. As there is a klong about 10 metres or so away, I wrongly presumed one of the villagers was drying out their nets after fishing.

Oh how wrong I was!

I was up spraying the last part of the grass tonight and the net is still there, and what is in the net? Fish? no, the bastards have hooked this up to catch BIRDS!

OK, I know this is Thailand and not the UK/US, but to hook a net up to snare birds like this is simply cruel.

I pulled out one small Dove type of bird and it got away, however, the second bird was completely mangled in the net.

It took me and my son about half an hour to carefully cut the threads to eventually release it. It was bleeding from its wings and legs from the net. I thought it was dead for sure but after getting it out of the mess, we put it on a tree branch and the little bugger flew off!

These birds are not much bigger than a house sparrow, how on earth can you get a meal from that?

Anyway, the said nets have been shredded and thrown away. I am going to check everyday for these things and will slash everyone I find. If they want to eat baby birds at least shoot them or kill them quickly, not left like that to suffer.

I had a rant a few years back about the same issue, we never had birds here when we first moved - The locals had rigged traps in some of our trees and I think the birds sort of got smart. I told my wife that if I found any traps here they would be destroyed and the birds freed, it worked for a few years, now they are resorting to nets.

It is bad enough the "natural" bird hunt by our cats, but that does not deter the birds, our place is teeming with all different types, killing them by catching in nets is just damn cruel!

[Kilgore Trout]

Sounds reminiscent of roald dahls mr twit catching birds by smearing glue on a tree branch

He loves his bird pie:D

[Trembly]

Well done for saving the birds and slashing the nets . . . I hope the birds don't eat anything covered in Roundup.

[dave2]

re

These birds are not much bigger than a house sparrow, how on earth can you get a meal from that?

i might be wrong but i think they are selling them to

the sellers in the temples where the thais release them to

make merit : (

dave2

[apetley]

Well done for saving the birds and slashing the nets . . . I hope the birds don't eat anything covered in Roundup. 

Yes we always know when someone has been spraying near our property when dead birds start appearing in the garden.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[canuckamuck]

We had a net like that at our place, but it seemed to catch small birds of prey. I didn't know it was there until my parents visited and i was showing them the land. It never returned after I complained about it.

[rubberduck]

re

These birds are not much bigger than a house sparrow, how on earth can you get a meal from that?

i might be wrong but i think they are selling them to

the sellers in the temples where the thais release them to

make merit : (

dave2

Guess so yes, so the people can keep fooling Buddha for their own feelgood and think they will be rewarded and win lotteries.

But Buddha ain't stupid and one day he will let them know. Birds will rule and xxxx all foolish people on their head once a day, for the rest of their miserable life !

Edited May 14, 2013 by metisdead
Profanity

[Briandajew]

re

These birds are not much bigger than a house sparrow, how on earth can you get a meal from that?

i might be wrong but i think they are selling them to

the sellers in the temples where the thais release them to

make merit : (

dave2

I would go along with that if the birds weren't so tangled and maimed or even left for dead - This is sick man, kill it if you are going to eat it, don't leave it there for hours suffering.

[Briandajew]

Well done for saving the birds and slashing the nets . . . I hope the birds don't eat anything covered in Roundup.

Yes we always know when someone has been spraying near our property when dead birds start appearing in the garden.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I use Roundup as it is "supposed" to be one of the safer weedkillers, it is supposed to degrade when it hits the soil, I don't get problems with dead birds after using it. I can only trust what it says on the Data Sheet - I could however save considerable expense and buy a Thai local version, which probably kills everything that it contacts in the next 20 years. I do actually try to be careful.

I like birds, we never had any here before, it took almost 7 years to get to where we are now, we have birds everywhere, despite the odd bit of collateral damage by the cats, but that is a damned site better than a bird strangling itself and maiming itself in a tangled mass of net, it is absolute torture.

I will check my place every night, and I will slash and trash every net or bird trap I find. I will still continue to use Roundup unless someone can tell me otherwise, like I say, I don't find any poisoned birds on my land, only birds killed by Thais in a horrible manner!

[Briandajew]

re

These birds are not much bigger than a house sparrow, how on earth can you get a meal from that?

i might be wrong but i think they are selling them to

the sellers in the temples where the thais release them to

make merit : (

dave2

Guess so yes, so the people can keep fooling Buddha for their own feelgood and think they will be rewarded and win lotteries.

But Buddha ain't stupid and one day he will let them know. Birds will rule and xxxx all foolish people on their head once a day, for the rest of their miserable life !

Where I am, they generally don't release the birds in the manner mentioned. I have seen it at the bigger temples and larger towns, but I think here it is a matter of food, or maybe as a caged bird to sing them a song!

[Briandajew]

We had a net like that at our place, but it seemed to catch small birds of prey. I didn't know it was there until my parents visited and i was showing them the land. It never returned after I complained about it.

This net is almost like hair, you don't even see it until you walk into it, the birds that were trapped were those STUPID BLOODY LITTLE DOVE LIKE BIRDS, purple freckled chest - barely move out of the way for you in a car...they are really just too trusting. They even come up into the bottom of our house to eat the old rice, despite having 9 cats, luckily the cats are too bloody lazy to chase them. They look like small Turtle doves.

[uptheos]

re

These birds are not much bigger than a house sparrow, how on earth can you get a meal from that?

i might be wrong but i think they are selling them to

the sellers in the temples where the thais release them to

make merit : (

dave2

Guess so yes, so the people can keep fooling Buddha for their own feelgood and think they will be rewarded and win lotteries.

But Buddha ain't stupid and one day he will let them know. Birds will rule and xxxx all foolish people on their head once a day, for the rest of their miserable life !

Where I am, they generally don't release the birds in the manner mentioned. I have seen it at the bigger temples and larger towns, but I think here it is a matter of food, or maybe as a caged bird to sing them a song!

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou

[Briandajew]

Anyone know how to upload a short video (WMV Format - It is quite funny)

[true blue]

always wondered how they catch all them small birds,they give to thais doing merit,in the early hours of the morning at the road side by sompet market,missus told me she paid 100bht this morning to release two small yellow birds????

[rubberduck]

Anyone know how to upload a short video (WMV Format - It is quite funny)

Just dump it on YouTube, must have a Google account. I just uploaded a video of a heavy shower with thunder here

http://www.youtube.com/upload

[Trembly]

Well done for saving the birds and slashing the nets . . . I hope the birds don't eat anything covered in Roundup.

Yes we always know when someone has been spraying near our property when dead birds start appearing in the garden.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

I use Roundup as it is "supposed" to be one of the safer weedkillers, it is supposed to degrade when it hits the soil, I don't get problems with dead birds after using it. I can only trust what it says on the Data Sheet - I could however save considerable expense and buy a Thai local version, which probably kills everything that it contacts in the next 20 years. I do actually try to be careful.

I like birds, we never had any here before, it took almost 7 years to get to where we are now, we have birds everywhere, despite the odd bit of collateral damage by the cats, but that is a damned site better than a bird strangling itself and maiming itself in a tangled mass of net, it is absolute torture.

I will check my place every night, and I will slash and trash every net or bird trap I find. I will still continue to use Roundup unless someone can tell me otherwise, like I say, I don't find any poisoned birds on my land, only birds killed by Thais in a horrible manner!

PM sent.

[BAYBOY]

When we came to live here.......front house on a 13 rai plot of land owned by the wife's family we noticed the lack of birds. A few weeks later found several of the same fine thread nets strung up between many trees. We caught the trap setter, a worker for my Brother in law, he got the short shift from my wife and the MIL told him he would have to find another job if he put them up again.

Sixteen years later we have a host of birds about the place and visitors comment about the singing from early morning to into the night.

Feel sorry for all the fish hunting birds looking for food as most klongs and ponds are so dry at the moment.

My wife's family devout Buddhists but never like to see birds in cages, especially small cages. They never pay to have birds released at Temples as they see it as a small con.

BAYBOY.

[BAYBOY]

Re Roundup and spraying.

Have used Roundup for some years about the plot 13 rai. Have never noticed any dead bird bodies on the land here. However the neighbors spray with very strong smelling stuff to knock their weeds back. They are brown and burnt within 3 days max,and so would imagine the birds on their land would not cope with their spray.

Thais and their way of spraying the land and their produce would be a great thread.

BAYBOY

[jvs]

The doves are called zebra doves and very nice birds to have in your garden,nice sound and very trusting.

I think the main reason people around here put up the nets is to catch the birds which are eating the rice crop.

I have seen them catch a lot of weaver birds also.

Most Thais probably do not realize what they are doing,i have never seen a Thai using any kind of safety gear while spraying the fields.

Farmers who use a lot of chemicals do not tend to live a long life.

Education is the answer i guess,but the French are still killing millions of migrating birds each year because they say it is tradition.

[Kitsune]

You spray Round Up and you are angry at Thais for trying to hunt birds ?

[Banzai99]

Un freeking believable, so, once again it time to slag Thai people off cos we Farangs are more civilised.....what a load of crap.

Look here and tell me we are.

www.earthlings.com

Edited May 14, 2013 by Banzai99

[Eesat]

re

These birds are not much bigger than a house sparrow, how on earth can you get a meal from that?

i might be wrong but i think they are selling them to

the sellers in the temples where the thais release them to

make merit : (

dave2

Guess so yes, so the people can keep fooling Buddha for their own feelgood and think they will be rewarded and win lotteries.

But Buddha ain't stupid and one day he will let them know. Birds will rule and xxxx all foolish people on their head once a day, for the rest of their miserable life !

Where I am, they generally don't release the birds in the manner mentioned. I have seen it at the bigger temples and larger towns, but I think here it is a matter of food, or maybe as a caged bird to sing them a song!

They used to do it all the time on Bangkok on Soi 4 and around that area.I must admit I haven't seen it for a few years now!

[OldChinaHam]

Netting birds? They do this all the time in the mountains in Taiwan, also. But these are not actually birds they are snaring.

Those things caught in the net?

Flying Mice.

Or they might as well be

The birds procreate like crazy and the population in Taiwan never seems threatened.

I am not sure what species of birds are being caught in Taiwan anymore,

My memory is not what it once was.

They also use a type of snare made from stalks of young bamboo.

You should try it some time.

They are very good char broiled on the old hibachi.

If they were threatened or endangered, then obviously

Who would be joking already.

Please find out the species and see if I am wrong.

I am NOT saying I am right about the birds you see being caught in Thailand

And I would like to hear your clarification if you get around to finding out.

Edited May 14, 2013 by OldChinaHam

[BAYBOY]

Kitsune,

yes I spray Roundup in the garden. Always with care re the amounts used. Never spray when their is the slightest wind, no other people about, and usually early morning or evening. In the years I have never noticed dead bodies of any birds or other animals.

Not like our vegetable growing neighbors who spray the vegs. at night with sprays to improve color and texture and pick and sell them the next morning when the spray has a 10 day recommended stand between spraying and picking.

Or my ex mango buyer who recommended spraying the fruit the night before "to freshen them" with insect killer, again a stand down period of 10 days from spray to pick.This spray has a dosage of one cap( about the size of a soft drink cap per 20 liters of water.) but no he uses 3 caps to 20 liters to "be sure"

Never once have I seen a sprayer with mask face protection whilst spraying.......in fact try and buy a quality spray face mask in Thailand.

Not slagging Thais just stating what I see about the place. You know as well as I, the care, attention, effort etc. that Thai's put into animal care is not great.

Notice how the symbol of Thailand, the Elephant is still poached in National parks due to a lack of funds to pay the park rangers, but spending 66 million baht per year to have a caged Panda in Chaing Mai is being balanced animal care. Plus there is another 15 years to run on the new Panda agreement with China. Pity the Elephants.

BAYBOY.

[rene123]

I understand Briandajew's comments and anger. I have wondered the same thing many times in the short time I spent in Thailand I grew up loving nature with my father. I was Daddy's little girl and we hunted and fished together in Canada. Although we killed deer and grouse, it was always within the regulations in a reasonably well managed environment. That is not what I experienced in Thailand. Every living creature that is remotely edible, or of any monetary value has been hunted and killed to a point of extinction.

Netting birds and netting fish to a point of extinction is basically wrong. The use of certain pesticides is also not practical. DDT was supposedly the greatest pesticide since man started inventing new chemicals. It turned out to be a disaster of immense proportions. There have been many tests on Roundup and so far have not had negative results.

[thhMan]

Have you ever thought that those nets might be a way of earning an income to feed some children?

Perhaps their food crop they where selling suddenly died of from someone spraying roundup.

Im not bashing you or anyone.... Im just saying that things may not be so black and white!

[rene123]

Have you ever thought that those nets might be a way of earning an income to feed some children?

Perhaps their food crop they where selling suddenly died of from someone spraying roundup.

Im not bashing you or anyone.... Im just saying that things may not be so black and white!

They never are black and white. It is similar to the burning and smoke issue in northern Thailand. But, that doesn't make it right. At some point humans have to have the environment's best interest at heart. There are ways for the poor to earn a sustainable life.

[OldChinaHam]

I forgot to mention that in Taiwan there is growing significant support for now protecting the environment and what is left of devastation of a once beautiful natural habitat. The birds in the mountains in the south of the island so I have heard cannot be netted by law. Taiwan has a population density which is about 640 square persons per square kilometer placing it 2nd or 3rd in the list of most densely populated countries. (Some say province, but I say country).

Dramatic industrialization since 1960 and serious pollution has wiped out much of the fauna and now the flying mice I mentioned, what are they sparrows?, are too high in number and really should be controlled some way.

I recall that sometimes we wold see large streams flowing red from some form of industrial dye. There is no natural forest as it existed 100 years ago, to speak of. The people living in Taiwan who are about 40 to 50 years in age often talk about their recollections of a much changed environment where they could catch fresh water shrimp in the many streams that flow down from the mountains, which are no longer present, the shrimp and the streams. Most people have not lived in a country with such a high population density. The people and the culture are wonderful but you really can't swing a cat without hitting something man made in Taiwan. Luckily we don't often swing too many cats anymore, the cats are too busy catching birds, unfortunately.

I love the natural environment, the birds, the animals, the solitude of communing with nature, and dislike KTV with a hatred that knows almost no bounds.

I don't much like people, really.when it comes to masses of them.

Obviously, there has been far too much ignorance and apathy regarding the causes of over population, and a much more general understanding among people of the subject of demography is sorely needed. We get too many people these days not from too much doing you know what, but due to poverty, lack of education for women, and lack of status for women. When women have the status and the education and the power in the family that they deserve, then everything tends to go right with the world.

So if you want to save this world for your kids, then do everything you can to stamp out poverty around the globe.

One of my favorite bird scenes is always the white bird that sits atop the water buffalo in the rice paddies. What do they call that thing an egret? I dunno but it is pretty darn beautiful. And more peaceful than one of those jackhammers that are continuously tearing up the street looking for who knows what, gold?, in Hong Kong.

People are way over represented in numbers and way under represented in democracy in the US as well.

But I have not been there for ages.

I hear there are flying rats in the sewers of Manhattan though, or maybe they have all been eaten by the pet alligators that the children of New Yorkers keep flushing down the toilet.

Edited May 14, 2013 by OldChinaHam

[bangkokburning]

Spraying RoundUp, worried about nature...oh the folly.

Hell with the nature, think of the humans.

Not to mention simply giving your money to Monsanto.

[Berkshire]

Have you ever thought that those nets might be a way of earning an income to feed some children?

Perhaps their food crop they where selling suddenly died of from someone spraying roundup.

Im not bashing you or anyone.... Im just saying that things may not be so black and white!

You would certainly be within your rights to bash Mr. Briandajew, aka, Mr. Self-righteous. How dare the locals try to make a living to feed their family!

And what the heck is the difference between putting out nets to catch birds or fish? Oh, because the little birdies are so much cuter and more pleasant to listen to. Give me a freakin break.