r4u0~2 189,PAGE 7 PAGE SEVEN ECONONUCS/ECOLOGY Item #1: A few weeks ago we witnessed the spectacle of g o it o, rawattntin t, te fct hattheAfrca *elephant is. We were also shown the handiwork of these poachers who hunt -with high power automnatic weapons and remove the tusks with chain saws leaving whole herds to, rot in the hot Afican sun. Dr. Kaunda is caling for a world-wide ban on the sale of African ivory in' order to cut the rug from under these poachers. Import bans on such things as crocodiler handbags and tortoise sheli jewelhy have been effective in helping preserve the endangered creatures they corne from. The principle harmn of the ivory trade is not the extinction of the elephant, but rather the growth of a powerful crirninal element that doesn'* cp'e a whit about elephants, people, the à _ environment or anything else. Item #2: European "greens" are stilI trying ta get a ban on the importation of aIl furs from Canada on the grounds that the hunting and trapping of fur-bearing animaIs is done in an inhumane inanner. Trapping is one of the few mainstays of our natives and a ban would have a similar effect ta, them _______________________________________ that the seal pup ban has had on the Newfoundland outports - higher unemployment and more welfare. This campaign by the European environmentalist move- ment bas nothing ta do with extinction or even dwindling numbers. It focuses purely o humane trapping. This is nothing new - people have been trying for years tai develop a -replacement for the leghold trap but none of the numerous modèes built bas proven satisfactory. The European campaign is a viclous one with images offrir coats dripping in blood. In their zeal ta keep animaIs from freezing to death on the trapline they are ikely to cause far greater hardship ta, the human beings wbo rely on fur-tapping tassty off welfare. Item #3: Whxle some Europeans are fuming over our i treatinent of animaIs, other Europeans enter our fishing grounda - huge factoiy ships ta vacuum a dwinding stock of fisb off ge ocean.iloor. Although the fish are not likely toi become extinct, the fishing industry will. What will these trawlers do then - raid somebody else's fishing grounds. Item #4: Last faîl, three grey whales got trapped in the ice south of Alaska. The world watched as television crews converged on the area tai give us a blow by blow of the rescue effort. Mllions of dollars was spent and ultimately it was the cooperation of a Soviet ice-breaker that helped them get free. Ironically, Russia is one of the few countries that still bas a commercial whaling fleet. Perhaps they escaped only ta be bunted down on the high seas. Item #5: For decades, the whooping crane bas hovered on the verge ofextinction. In the fifties, the dwindling numbers- of BESMIENCE 0F WILLIAM BRAS%,AIHUN C. 1890 this bird caugbt the imagination of N. Anierican animal and This bouse at the nortb-west corner of the Ashburn and Mrle Roads, was built in 1887 and bird loyers and since then millions of dollars have been spent was one of the few brick buildings of Ashburn. The buildings on the corners opposite this k bhelp theTn survive an d hopefully multiply. The birds' sole bouse are the general store and the old Wilson House Hotel. Whitï3y Archives photo nesting grounds are in Canada's remote Wood Buffalo National Park on the border between the Northwest. Territories and Alberta. Altbough the numbers bhave 10 YEARS AGO increased, the bird's survival is far from -assured. Are a few from tbe Wednesday, August 1, 1979 edition of the birds worth that mucb money? WHITY FREE PRESS Nineteen-year-old Camre Whyte is the 1979 County Town Carnival Queen. Man's relationship ta bis environment bas received* A $28 million program ta, replace outdated facilities at the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital unprecedented attention in tbe last few years in the face of will be delayed until next year. scary predictions that we ourselves might ha on a spiralling* Family Kartways, the largest Go-Kart track in the world, is planning ta expand. course ta aur own extinction. Whitby doctar Ken Hobbs will deliver a planeload of mesIes vaccine tai India as bis The problems, though, are not new - our interest in tbem contribution ta the International Year of the Cbild. is. As the population of the world increases and urban sprawl consumes buge tracts of rural land, we face the question of how ta, respond ta enviromnental change. It is inevitable that many birds and animals will dwindle wbereas others, like 25 YEARS'AGO starlings and raccoons, will flourish in the new environments. from tbe Thursday, July 30, 1964 edition of the Should we care? We can't make animais adapt and we aren't WHITBY WEEIKLY NEWS going ta suddenly stop urbanizing. Extinction may be* Editar Carl Mantz says: "the Iast tbing [Whitby] needs ils an anti-pollution department." regrettable in some cases is probably inevitable.* Ontario Premier John Robarts will open the new Ontario County Court House on Until the beginning of the industrial revolution, nman lived Rossland Road on Sept. 30. moreor ess n hrmoy wih nture- nt; eeaue o a* The annual Toronto Diocesan Choir Scbool is being held for the first time at the Ontario are or lut essicarmon y atnd ar e h nt beaueof anyheLadies' College. altrismbutbecuse byandlarg, h han'tdevlopd te *The Wbitby Pe Wees won the Ontario County Lacrosse Tournament and the Hillcrest destructive capacity ta- do it mucb ham. The technology of Trophy at the Brooklin Arena on July 18. the twentieth century bas cbanged ail that. We can now kfilI