The canary in the coal mine

By David Dawson

About 25 years ago one could buy strychnine, a very potent poison, to control skunks and gophers.  For skunks the method was to get a chicken’s egg and, using a syringe, suck out a little of the egg replacing it with the strychnine.  The egg was half buried where the skunk would find it and next morning there was usually a dead skunk.  The problem was that crows would eat the dead skunk and the crows would die.  Then a fox or coyote would eat the crow and the fox would die. And so on. 

Then about 20 years ago the use of strychnine in this way was banned and the sale of the liquid product was stopped.  But some enterprising people started injecting a certain farm insecticide into the eggs instead of strychnine.  In fact this farm insecticide was far more potent than the strychnine it was replacing.  Even in the minutest quantity it would kill up to seven cycles of one animal being eaten by another and by another.  On one occasion a bald eagle was found dead after eating one of a string of dead animals and that really got the attention of the authorities because the effects were far worse than the strychnine that had already been banned.  So a $100,000 fine was imposed on anyone caught doing it plus jail.  Fortunately this put a stop to a very bad environmental practice and luckily this particular insecticide has now been banned.

But similar chemicals are being used across Manitoba all the time.  Farmers spray their fields with insecticides then flocks of birds come down to eat the dead insects, and the birds all die.  There could be hundreds of dead birds in a field but as no one can see them no one takes any notice.  But if hundreds of dead birds littered Main Street in Steinbach or a few cows were killed, there would be serious consequences.

Keen birdwatchers everywhere are reporting fewer and fewer sightings of many species of birds.  Today there are many more species on the endangered or threatened list including some that were common only a few years ago: grosbeaks, barn swallows and siskins to name a few.

No doubt you have heard of ‘the canary in the coal mine’.  In the old days miners used to take a canary in a cage down the mine.  If the canary fell off its perch and died, the miners knew the air was foul and got out – quick. 

Today the birds are dying in their thousands but our so-called leaders are doing nothing about it.  They continue to turn a blind eye to the constant use of these extremely powerful chemicals that will soon affect us all.  What is really surprising is that you, dear reader and the public in general, are not writing thousands of letters to your MP and MLA, to this newspaper and government departments – (Agriculture or Environment for example).  Is it because you don’t care about these environmental issues?  Or is it that you expect your elected representatives to attend to these things on your behalf?  Believe me, politicians do the bare minimum, their main aim being to get re-elected.  So, please, please if you think like me this is wrong, write to your MP.