c12d46bd   
   XPost: soc.culture.indian, alt.fan.jai-maharaj, alt.religion.hindu   
   XPost: alt.animals.ethics.vegetarian   
      
   On Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:03:52 -0800 (PST), library101    
   wrote:   
      
   >Thank you for your post; Can we Research this to get exact numbers ?   
      
   "rice farming is ~20 pound (arithmetic follows).  this works out a bit   
   less than two vertebrate deaths per square foot, and, again, is *quite*   
   conservative.  for conventionally grown rice, the gross body-count is   
   *at least* several times that figure.  collateral included deaths from   
   'conventional' agriculture are more inferential than from 'organic'   
   production (explained later) and, although the number of deaths is fewer   
   in organic v. conventional, they are far more visible in organic   
   production.   
      
   the vertebrate deaths come from: frogs (5+ species), toads (common   
   bufo), anole lizards, shrews (3 species), voles, mice, rats, snakes, a   
   couple of kinds of turtles, cats, rabbits, skunk, nutria & muskrats,   
   raccoons, possums, deer (never less than a pair of fawns harvested per   
   50 acres), pheasants, quail, pigeons, cattle egrets, sparrows,   
   starlings, waxwings, ....  although all of these are not harvested   
   *every* time, they are the 'regulars.'  occasionally a canvasback, teal,   
   heron, mallard, black duck, coot, spoonbill, crow, hawk, kite, eagle,   
   buzzard ... is shredded, as is the occasional feral pig or lost calf,   
   coyote or dog.   
      
   for information, an acre has 43,264+ square feet.  the vast majority of   
   the deaths are (as one would imagine): frogs, toads and anole lizards;   
   rodents and insectivores.   
      
   - when cutting the rice, there is a - literal - green waterfall of frogs   
   and anoles moving in front of the combine.  sometimes the 'rain' is just   
   a hard shower (± 10,000 frogs per acre) crossing the header, other times   
   it is a deluge (+50,000 acre).  never is it a drought; never a mist.   
   sometimes, the number of frogs swimming across the cutter-bar is so   
   massive, we have to reduce travel speed of the combine - there is just   
   too much rice lost by being pressed into the rather thickish 'arroz con   
   gracielà paté' which travels across the screens, rather than falling   
   into the hopper as good grain should.   
      
   these numbers may sound extreme to those who believe there is a wildlife   
   de-population crisis, but considering one can easily see 10-20-30+ frogs   
   (and several anoles) within the top few inches of a foot stand of rice,   
   the numbers making gracielà paté are trivial.   
      
   most times, judging from the visible continuious population swimming   
   across the header, it is somewhere between 10K & 50+K per acre   
   harvested.  a good, reasonable, annualised (but still conservative)   
   number of amphibian and anole deaths through the combine is 35,000 of   
   all species harvested per acre, combined average for two cuttings.  in   
   spite of these seemingly large numbers, far, far more frogs & lizards   
   escape than are combined.  i would guess that the 35,000 amphibian   
   deaths represents less than 20% of the total population, and probably   
   far less, but that is just a guess - plenty, plenty, plenty are not   
   killed."  -  didderot   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)