PHOTO IN THE NEWS: "Extinct" Bird Seen, Eaten

[WriteDown]

Source: National Geographic

February 18, 2009—A rare quail from the Philippines was photographed for the first time before being sold as food at a poultry market, experts say.

Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester's buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago.

Scientists had suspected the species—listed as "data deficient" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 2008 Red List—was extinct.

(See related bird photo: "Rare 'Smiling' Bird Photographed in Colombia.")

A TV crew documented the live bird in the market (above) before it was sold in January, according to the Agence France-Press news agency....

Read more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090218-extinct-bird-photo.html

---

Feel like crying tonight?

My only question is why didn't the TV crew buy the bird?

[chatnoir]

1. I just read the 2nd cat abused by teenagers thread

And now this... My faith in humanity right now is about nil. :cry:

[Hissyspit]

8. Where is that thread?

I was up really late that night the video was posted on YouTube.

[chatnoir]

18. It was in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5086668

:-(

[1Hippiechick]

2. Who knows?!? Why would a photographer document a starving child with a vulture following

in the background and do nothing? If that story and the picture is true, that same photographer later committed suicide. I guess they don't wan to "interfere."

[WriteDown]

5. Off topic

Are you a Carolina alumni?

[1Hippiechick]

20. Not off topic. You closed your post wondering why the tv crew didn't purchase the bird.

I interpreted that to mean "Why didn't the crew intervene?" My post was...probably for the same reason the photographer didn't interfere after documenting a starving child being followed by a vulture.

I am an Elon University alum, but I have worked at Carolina for almost 30 years, and my blood runs Carolina Blue!

[WriteDown]

21. Haha...

I meant it was off topic to ask you about Carolina. I do miss Chapel Hill.

[galileoreloaded]

11. I read that and he (photographer) didn't do nothing...

it messed him up and he helped. French dude if I remember correctly. Google it, great story, after all.

[derby378]

3. Let's hope there's some more in the bush

Really tragic. I hope that wasn't the last one.

[WriteDown]

4. I have my fingers crossed too. nt

[liberaltrucker]

6. Why, indeed

The local people had no clue as to the status of the species.
They were hungry. The bird, to them was food. Nothing more, nothing less.

:cry:

[Prometheus Bound]

24. True. It reminded me of this BBC article last summer.

Philippine farmer eats rare eagle
22 July 2008
Prosecutors in the Philippines have been told to file charges against a farmer for killing and eating one of the world's rarest eagles.

The man faces up to 12 years in jail if he is found guilty of shooting the Philippine eagle earlier this month.

The bird is among the largest and most powerful eagles on Earth but it is also critically endangered.

...A 22-year-old farmer, Brian Balaon, later came forward to say he had shot the eagle with an air gun and had eaten it with his friends. He said he did not know it was an endangered species.

...If the farmer is found guilty he could be jailed for between six and twelve years.

edit: url: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7519717.stm

[bertman]

7. Maybe the photographer just thought it was a really cool bird and didn't know it was

on the endangered list until later.


:shrug:


I'm trying to stay positive here. Really, think about it. You are traveling in a foreign country and see exotic birds in cages all the time. They're beautiful, so you photograph them. Does that mean you are an expert on birds of the world? Or that you know all the birds on the endangered species list?

[OnyxCollie]

9. Sigh. nt

[XemaSab]

10. That SUCKS

One of the worst parts: there is so little information about birds of that part of the world that determining what an extinct species is is harder than one would think. x(

[undergroundpanther]

12. it is adorable

Damn.Makes me sick.

[babylonsister]

13. Picture, I hope. ...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. Poor creature must have been terrified...

:cry:

[jberryhill]

14. I doubt a TV crews knows every bird which is "known only from drawings"

I suspect the bird was identified by an ornithologist who happened across the footage after the fact.

[acmavm]

15. Hopwfully the last paragraph is true:

<snip>However, the buttonquail is from a "notoriously cryptic and unobtrusive family of birds," according to the nonprofit Birdlife International, so the species may survive undetected in other regions.

[closeupready]

17. That's what I'm thinking, because while this hurts

to know that a member of a species which was thought extinct was killed, there are probably others out there - I mean, there would almost have to be. What a beautiful bird it is.

[The Stranger]

26. Maybe they can EDUCATE the locals not to EAT THE LAST OF THIS SPECIES.

Just fucking eat something else already. God damn.

[Thothmes]

28. Many of the people in the Philippines do not

have the luxury of being to selective in what they buy at the market. If its edible, its fair game. The poverty in that country is widespread.

[semillama]

34. yes, look at the picture of the bird

then imagine trying to find that bird out in the undergrowth, especially if it is "unobtrusive."

Heck, I have yet to see a Ruffed Grouse here in Ohio, and not for lack of trying, and those birds aren't even considered cryptic!

[dipsydoodle]

16. That is so sad

x(

[Hell Hath No Fury]

19. We suck as a species. :(

Sometimes I don't think we deserve this amazing planet with all its fantastic creatures. :cry:

[Blue_Tires]

22. ...

:banghead:

[AngryAmish]

23. How was it prepared?

I would hate to think something as precious as this was just fried.

[spinbaby]

25. Reminds me of the story of the ugly chickens

http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/waldrop/waldrop1.html

[Fumesucker]

32. You beat me to it..

That was just about the first thing that crossed my mind too..

[The Straight Story]

29. Did someone from Iron Chef buy it?

:hide:

[Herbalizer]

30. What makes everybody think it was eaten?

I've been a lurker here for years and joined DU just for this post.

I'm a expatriot American and I've been living in the Philippines for 15+ years.

A majority of Philippinos love and care for animals just like most Americans. To automatically assume that a rare bird was eaten just because it was photographed at a market is blatantly racist.

I've never seen anyone here eat a quail, but I have seen quail eggs for sale in lots of places. It's considered a delicacy here.

If this story is even true, I'd say the bird was bought either for a pet or for breeding for eggs.

I'm quite disappointed at the attitude displayed by DU'ers in this thread.

[Canuckistanian]

33. That's true, there was no evidence that it WAS eaten

It was just speculation on the part of unnamed "experts".

Besides, it sure didn't look big enough to be made into a meal.

[Bake]

35. Maybe it was the first line in the story, about "being sold as food in the poultry market"

That would sorta give one the idea ...

Bake

[BluePatriot21]

31. Makes me want to read a story like that but have...

the word bird replaced with "republicans" in it, and some tribe in the Amazon eats them, maybe Hannibal Lecter could help. Then the world would know peace :)

Last Republican eaten by Cannibal
Now all we have are hand drawn pictures of them.

[Bake]

36. One local quoted as saying, "Mmmmm; tastes like chicken."

It had to be said.

Having said that, this is a sad sad story. I rather doubt this is the last of the species, however. And I certainly hope it isn't.

Bake