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Harry Potter Blamed For India's Disappearing Owls
GillBates0 writes "Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blamed fans of Harry Potter for the demise of wild owls in the country as children seek to emulate the boy wizard by taking the birds as pets. 'Following Harry Potter, there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls,' Ramesh said Wednesday, according to comments reported by the BBC."
Right, and it absolutely, positively has nothing to do with diwali. Move along, move along. Blame Harry Potter!
Hands with 4 fingers, kids wearing eyepatches, and all the M. avium & Cryptococcus infections.
I'm amazed to be the first saying this, but clearly the problem here is not Harry Potter, it's parents who aren't willing or able to tell their children "no". An owl is not a pet.
The original source for this article, an article by the World Wildlife Fund's TRAFFIC division, explains this problem as one of illegal trading in the birds and the illegal capturing of wild owls.
http://www.wwfindia.org/news_facts/?4940/Black-magic-behind-illegal-owl-trade-in-India
The word "endangered" is used in several articles referencing this problem. However, no article provides the wild owls' population numbers. Endangered species should be protected, but it should be shown that the species are indeed endangered.
I'm sure Harry Potter did provide some impetus behind taking these animals as pets, especially among young children, but the problem in India is further exacerbated by the belief in the magical properties of the owls, especially tufted owls. The culture of taking these birds from the wild is longstanding, and not traceable back to Harry Potter at all.
They've got seven years to perfect replicant technology anyway.
/sarcasm
Yes, clearly the problem is Harry Potter rather than lousy parenting. If a child wants something that's both impractical and could be damaging to the ecosystem, a responsible parent says, "I'm sorry, but you can't have that." Real children are a lot more reasonable than Veruca Salt. And seriously, I'm amazed no one has made the comparison with baby alligators yet.
My fascination with owls came much earlier than that, namely Farley Mowat, and reading Owls In The Family
Course other than seeing a few in the wild and in zoos, I've never tried to capture one.
What if it is actually the demise of the wild owl that causes the popularity of Harry Potter?
The owls didn't see that coming....
Oh my! I think I made even myself ill.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
...for our own weakness and stupidity? Hooray! Hey honey, it wasn't me that was unfaithful, it was Harry Potter. Damn that evil genius socerer! Burn him at the steak (with chips please)!
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
And exactly how are they catching wild owls? Have you ever tried to catch a wild bird? The closest I've ever gotten to a wild owl was probably 30 feet. Well, with one exception, but it had a broken wing, was blind in one eye, and was being nursed back to health by a local farmer.
I seriously doubt children have any significant impact on wild bird populations. I haven't known too many children who are good enough to build a trap for any sort of animal.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
What if they were all getting pet Alligators, and then when they got bored, flushing them into the sewers?
What horrors!
Wait till they finish the later parts of the series. Dragons and snakes will be gone too.
I suppose it won't be long before movie producers and book publishers are required to do research, prepare environmental impact statements, and seek approval before they can publish a film or distribute a book
Something tells me, a few public service announcements, and temporary moratorium on trafficing of owls, and fine/jail time for capturing an owl without a permit, could end the idiocy fairly quickly.
Wait till they get to the later parts of the series. Dragons and snakes will be gone too.
Catching a carnivorous wild animal on their own. Doesn't seem likely - even given that they're nocturnal.
to ban your children from reading fiction.
... to have an owl as a pet in the first place?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
... there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls ...
Hoo knew?
There was no rush on owls reported anywhere in Europe or the US that I recall. Is Harry Potter more popular in India, or do Potter fans in India just get much more into it?
...we shouldn't blame the people who actually TOOK the owls.
THL phish sticks
Too bad they didn't have pet politicians in the book instead of owls.
Imagine if they started to emulate Harry Potter's friend in NYC. Sounds like a public service to me. Sure someone right now is thinking of a way to use it a tax write-off.
To bad they didn't have pet politicians in the movie instead. I wouldn't mind some disappearing politicians myself.
They overheard their kids that they loved that "O RLY?" picture.
In soviet Russia, God creates you!
They overheard their kids that they loved the "O RLY?" picture.
In soviet Russia, God creates you!
O'RLY?
They should blame Blade Runner instead.
To bad they didn't have politicians as pets in the movies I wouldn't mind having less of them around, or maybe lawyers.
What we waiting for? Lets kill the insensitive little clod!
Quickly realized it was a bad idea . Have fun India :|
I had no idea Harry Potter could be as bad for owls as Peter Pan was for crocodiles.
...think about the owls?!
The CB App. What's your 20?
Owl my god.
Segmentation Fault in "Life, Universe and Everything" at line 42. Don't Panic.
Stop killing owls for your sick, sadistic pleasure. Hedwig is dead, get over it.
At least they aren't blaming Harry Potter for children converting to Wicca or trying to practice witchcraft, and that it is a tool of Satan.
Surely defanging a cobra and sewing its mouth closed so your baby can play with it is stranger.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OR--0zJoIs
These people are going to find out rather quickly why owls are among the worst possible animals to keep as pets.
leave out the part about the Pure One's stealing their young away in the night to work as slaves in the fleck mines.... *that's* all a myth...it's the wizards, really!
It was worth getting my ear pecked to a bloody stump!
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
Thats crazy.. i have never seen "any" owl in cities. let alone own them..!!
leave out the part about the Pure Ones coming and stealing their youth away in the night to work as slaves in the fleck mines. *that's* just a myth...it's the wizards. really!
I would think that upper classes would just import an already magically trained Owl from a breeder "somewhere else", where breeding has been outsourced (Indonesia? :) ), and lower and/or rural middle classes would just catch their own in the wild...
Which leaves only "urban middle class" to try to aquire one on an open market, so, no surprise there!
(and yes, I do like owls, no harm wished towards them, as opposed to the summary editors! :) )
Paul B.
I don't give a hoot!
Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
leave out the part about the Pure Ones coming to steal their young away in the night to work as slaves in the fleck mines. *that's* just a myth...it's the wizards. really!
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/fl-endangered-sharks-20101030,0,1055241.story
This happened with sharks after Jaws and continues to this very day. The original author of Jaws, Peter Benchley, said that he regretted writing the novel and the creation of the film because it lead to the mass killing of so many species of sharks.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/books/news/article_1097132.php/Peter_Benchley_author_of_Jaws_dies_at_65
It sounds like................ a real hoot
YYYYYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
This post was made in complete sincere seriousity; as such any attempts to derive humour are doomed to instant failure.
This sounds like some sort of Harry Potter Cargo Cult.
Who gives a hoot?
*runs*
Who gives a hoot? --------- Also, why the hell didn't it submit the first time I tried to post this?
*runs*
First post! Such a buzz kill to be on such a lame topic.....
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
So I guess we won't have a future where owls are a major pest problem like pigeons, according to Futurama's prediction.
silly stories like this as the hype campaign ramps up in the run up to release day...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
People started taking dogs and cats as pets and you don't exactly see them going extinct.
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Now we know what happened to Puff the Magic Dragon.
Whenever in an argument, remember this.
Harry Potter? Fuck it.
-Karthik
But is anything to blame for Slashdot's disappearing comments?
To bad they didn't have lawyers or politicians as pets in the movies, I wouldn't mind them disappearing.
The next Harry Potter (or other such insanely popular movie) should feature wild killer possums with rabies as pets. That should take care of the problem.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
O RLY?
i,m a Harry Porter fan. we must have a lot to chat, focus on you man.
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YA RLY.
O'RLY...
for the meme retarded: http://www.google.com/images?q=O'RLY
Why he calls it strange? It's rather obvious that people (especially chldren) emulate they book heros.
His remarks came as wildlife group Traffic presented a report called "Imperilled[sic] Custodians of the Night" which warned about the declining owl population in India.
Please tell me something was lost in translation. There is also a misspelling in the quote so I hope "Custodians" was meant to be a slightly more endearing term.
...predators with fast reflexes and sharp talons and beaks?
I'm sure Harry Potter will be blamed for India's increase in child-owl related injuries.
Don't forget the high demand in children for thick rimmed glasses.
-- Braden's law of data: All data spends some of its lifetime in an excel spreadsheet.
This reminds me of my little sister's christmas wishlist she left on the fridge. One of the items reads "Kitten OR IPod Touch".
What's the threat here exactly, some kids taking owls as pets, or crowds of religious fanatics killing these birds in offerings to their gods?
This reminds me of my little sister's Christmas wishlist she left on our parent's fridge. One of the items reads "Kitten OR IPod Touch".
I had no good thing to say 20 minutes ago. Then I happened restarting the browser, the story refresh and it's showing no comment. This is just not an interesting topic for nerd.
The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the 'social sciences' is: some do, some don't
Wild animals should never be kept as pets. And there is a lot of people that shouldn't be allowed to have domesticated animals either.
When asked why, the answer is almost always: "It's 2014".
When I was a kid growing up in Oregon, we kids almost "collected" the Spotted Owl to extinction and we didn't need any Harry Potter books to do it.
Them owls are good eatin.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.
Maybe JK Rowling can write another book that has Harry ditch his owl for an alligator. Bam - Problem solved.
I gave up sigs almost a year ago.
Strigiformes Obscuro! Wonder when the effect wears off?
Owl does not enable user to fly.
Don't take the above poster too seriously. He doesn't.
Well you can't account for the fuckwit effect. Put a suggestion in a fuckwits head and they'll follow it.
The food is rather hoot over there.
People are blaming Harry Potter / J.K. Rowling for the demise of owls? How about blaming the steaming idiots who are trying to have owls as pets. The fault lies squarely with them.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Perhaps they are disappearing due to massive pollution and the owls eating prey that has been munching on and concentrating poison.
I really find it difficult to believe that kids getting owls are indeed at fault. However, thanks to the captive population that will become established, maybe India will be able to reintroduce its owls once they stop polluting their environment as badly as they are now.
I Don't believe it. Harry was innocent, he's been framed by Draco
Tastes just like chicken vindaloo.
$sig not found
we're going to see a bollywood version of hp
and when they grow tired of the owls, you just flush them down the toilet!
soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!
and when they tire of them, you just flush them down the toilet!
soylentnews.org Go there to enjoy the people!
inB4 "O RLY!"
I'm glad they are not fan of "Free Willy" and "Flipper" ...
They aren't blaming the fictional Harry Potter for the demise of the owls - they're blaming fanbois. I'm sure everyone here on Slashdot can empathise with blaming ills on fanbois.
He owl's an own.
They'll all be driving flying cars.
"What's the use of a good quotation if you can't change it?" - Doctor Who
He owl'n an own.
Researchers found that a growing number of owls were being trapped, traded or killed in black magic rituals.
If they are killing owls in black magic rituals, they either have a pretty strange translation of Harry Potter, or very bad reading comprehension. Or maybe somebody did not understand that not every trend that started some times after 1997 is caused by Harry Potter.
owl
Delivered by owl
They sleep all day. They are up all night. They eat raw meat. On second thought they sound like me. I want one....
"Daddy... DADDY! I want an owl. I want an owl NOW! Why does Harry get to have an owl and I can't? I WANT AN OWL, NOW! I don't CARE about how many presents I got for my birthday, or the stupid trip to the zoo! I! WANT! AN! OWL!.. NOOOWWWW!" You sure they aren't trying to emulate Dudley Diddums?
...India has experienced a sharp rise in children having their faces disfigured by wild owls that were given to them as presents.
I guess Owl's only became cool after Harry Potter, stupid people blame stupid examples.
While it does mention it in the story, they seem to be getting the order of things backwards. I suspect there are far, far more owls being sacrificed than there are ones being given as pets.
which is totally what she said
4. ???
5. Profit?
Whenever in an argument, remember this.
Yes. "Hunting of and trade in all Indian owl species is banned under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972."
This is a very nice story ... enjoyed reading it very much
to voluntarily lodge a nocturnal killing machine in your own home.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
It can't be imaginary, I've seen it!
http://kingscrossstation.com/?page_id=10
In 1969, Ken Loach's film, Kes, sparked a craze for kestrels as pets in Britain. The RSPB (The UK's largest wild bird conservation charity) were really worried that so many kestrels were being taken illegally from nests, especially at a time when the species was in trouble thanks ot the DDT poisoning scandal of the time. The RSPB was concerned that Hedwig may spark a similar craze in the UK, but it simply hasn't happened. Whether that is because there are very few owls around (and no snowy owls breeding in the UK), or the result of 40 years more environmental education is debatable. However, as India has comprehensively trashed its biodiversity in the recent years (eg 99 per cent decline in vulture populations in the last 10 years), perhaps Harry Bloody Potter is as convenient a scapegoat as any other.
O RLY?
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
Personally, I try to my hands on as many hooters as possible too....
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Yep... obviously the movie ate them all! :)
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Must be expensive.