
Why North Korea is a safe haven for birds - tomkat0789
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36533469
======
cjensen
In the US, shorebirds declined tremendously not because of habitat loss, but
because of market hunting. [1] For example, in the South San Francisco Bay,
market hunters killed everything in sight and shipped the birds to San
Francisco for food. Around 1900, SF consumed around 250,000 ducks annually.

Considering the food situation in North Korea, I'm really surprised those
flocks exist. Perhaps it is due to a lack of shotguns outside of the military?

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_hunters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_hunters)

[2] _PDF_
[http://downloads.ice.ucdavis.edu/sfestuary/skinner/archive10...](http://downloads.ice.ucdavis.edu/sfestuary/skinner/archive1007.PDF)

~~~
cdr
Now shorebirds are declining because of overfed geese which we don't shoot
enough of.

[http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1028942/farmland-
buffet-...](http://netnebraska.org/article/news/1028942/farmland-buffet-helps-
snow-goose-population-boom)

~~~
ChuckMcM
That makes a pretty good case for farming the geese as well. Every year, near
thanks giving, I listen to the food banks implore people to donate turkeys for
the meals they prepare for the homeless and poor. And every year I hear this
while walking around piles of Canadian Goose crap from birds that have stopped
being migratory having found enough food and comfort in the Bay Area. And
every year I think, "There is a very simple solution to this problem, at least
for the short term."

~~~
gozur88
I've never eaten one, but I've read they taste terrible.

~~~
ams6110
I've never had a wild Canadian goose that I know of, but roasted gooose is
quite tasty, used to have it every Christmas as a kid.

~~~
WalterBright
I'm waiting for Wabbit Season.

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myth_drannon
On a related note, during the Chinese cultural revolution Mao declared war on
sparrows(Great Sparrow Campaign) and billions of birds were killed (not only
sparrows...). It's considered as one of that catalysts of The Great Famine
that killed 15 million Chinese. They had to import birds from Canada and USSR.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign)

~~~
jonsterling
Chief, this was not the cultural revolution, this was the Great Leap Forward.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution started in 1966.

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ascotan
Sorry, I simply can't trust anything that comes out of the DPRK. Everything
over there is a propaganda photo op.

>>> But we were able to show local people shorebirds through our telescopes.

North Korea regular issues propaganda about staying away from foreigners. The
fact that these guys were 'mingling' with the locals tells me that the whole
thing was staged.

For all we know these guys visited the one place in the country where there
are birds, and they were then instructed to write how the 'great leader' is
protecting the environment for animals elsewhere the country.

Notice how the kids in the photo seem well dressed and well feed....

~~~
benbristow
I don't know what someone who is 'well feed' looks like.

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jmnicolas
This is probably the first time in my life that I read something not negative
about North Korea.

Western propaganda is not what it used to be ;-)

~~~
gardano
That was my first thought too.

Would it be even possible in today's world to have a country that is
purposefully underdeveloped/feudal, but without an oppressive regime?

~~~
vinceguidry
I wouldn't call North Korea _purposefully_ underdeveloped. It just refuses to
accept foreign investment like every other country on the face of the planet.
It's modernizing, albeit slowly and on its own terms.

~~~
jonknee
> It's modernizing, albeit slowly and on its own terms.

On the terms of its dictatorship. Not on the terms of the people.

~~~
vkou
South Korea also modernized on the terms of its dictatorship. It did so very
quickly, though.

Rate of modernization has little to do with the form of government.

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MattSteelblade
It's one of those things that makes perfect sense, but you probably didn't
think about.

~~~
aab0
It's probably up there with the Korean DMZ, Chernobyl, and Bikini Atoll as
unintentional nature preserves.

~~~
prions
I'm a engineer inspecting an unrelated project next to a superfund site in NJ
(Toms River). The superfund site is now 22,000 acres of untouched wilderness.
The municipal workers say it's now filled with all sorts of wildlife including
coyote and turkeys.

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aufheben
It seems to me that the situation is very fragile and worrisome, mainly for 2
reasons. China once (1958-1962) had a Four Pests Campaign (除四害运动), which
defined four pests to be eliminated: rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows. In
less than 1 year, nearly 2 billion sparrows were systematically exterminated.
I'm not saying that North Korea will do the same thing, but a starving country
with a totalitarianism government is one of the worst threats to nature, as
China has clearly shown. On the other hand, should the political situation
change in North Korea (in any direction), nature will as well be the first to
suffer, as China has clearly shown.

~~~
emodendroket
Well I think the situation in the US, Europe, and others shows that it's not
like other political arrangements do better here.

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gesman
All non-korean bird photographers are bearded. Is that's where SD cards with
_real_ pictures are hidden?

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pvaldes
Meanwhile, in Lebanon...

[http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/lebanon-bird-
hunt.html#...](http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/lebanon-bird-hunt.html#cr)

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apecat
"Stalinism - Lovely weather for ducks"

~~~
mark_edward
Joseph Stalin is well known for the lack of industrial development under his
leadership?

~~~
sverige
Papa Joe was no environmentalist. There are still places that were completely
wrecked by his policies 80 years ago.

~~~
apecat
Yep. To overclarify: my post was a joke about the (surface level)
environmental benefits of an unde(r)veloped economy within North-Korea's
current form of bizarro pseudo-stalinism.

