Clara, 1. It heartens me to know that you have discovered many of us have concern about the ethics involved in our science. I hope that this experience will help all of us stop and think about the implications of our research, and bounce ideas off of others, before moving forward. Often we are so excited by discovery about something we "could" do, we don't think about if we "should" do it
2. Depending on on others to monitor the ethics of your own experiment is in itself, unethical. As scientists we hold a position of authority, and it can be difficult to for others to know if it is a true experiment or just "play". What would you do if a sample of endangered species showed up on your door? Having a scientist on a "legitimate" listserve request bushmeat may provide the justification someone less informed than you needs for killing that endangered species. 3. There are no controls as to who can access and read the list serve. We are fortunate to reach people from all across the world and of all different walks of life. Saying that conservation biology is "high charged emotionally" is a straw man argument. When resources are limited (such as animals which generally fall under the term "bushmeat") it behooves the community interested in those resources to make sure they are utilized in the most productive way. Destructive sampling, such as killing and eating, benefits a much smaller portion of the community than passive study. It speaks highly of this community that we seek to protect our limited resources (biodiversity), and highly of you that you consider the feedback of your peers. Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2012 18:02:13 -0500 From: "Clara B. Jones" <foucaul...@gmail.com> Subject: ...re: responses concerning my "bushmeat" request... Ecolog-l-ers: 1. ...a few individuals have contacted me with concerns about the ethics of my post requesting "bushmeat"... 2. ...i was not concerned about the ethical dimension for several reasons...perhaps, the most important is that it didn't seem likely at all that anyone here or there, so to speak, would go to much trouble or expense to answer my "call"... 3. ...also, most anybody reading our listserv's posts would be operating from a platform of professional ethics*..... 4. ...further, i was using no monetary incentive to induce respondents to reply to my query, a topic of concern to many professional organizations... 5. ...i was using "bushmeat" broadly...and, though, i would not be averse to receiving samples from outside the US...i was thinking not only of domestic folivore or folivorous taxa that i've not sampled [tasted] such as, opposum, but, also, was thinking of tissues from zoo animals, post-preparation museum specimens, tissues culled at animal "farms", and, the like... 6. ...my opportunistic project aside, i've studied the topic of "defensive mimicry" in mammals, and it has occurred to me that organisms may advertise unpalatability via several modalities, not only olfactory, visual, & auditory [most common in mammals]... 7. ...John Garcia's work showed that rodents, anyway, may base future food selection and foraging decisions on taste of a food product 8. ...there are many questions that pertain that, in my opinion, would justify rigorous treatment.. 9. ...the area of Conservation Biology is highly charged emotionally, possibly, preventing us from addressing the topic of when and under what circumstances we support the conduct of invasive experimentation with animals in natural conditions...whatever their Red Book status may be...and, related to this, whether we have an ethical right or responsibility to prevent others from doing so [within legal bounds]... 10. ...it remains to be seen whether there will be sufficient interest to continue these conversations... 11. ...i appreciate all communication received to date...sincerely, clara *...leading one to trust that the respondent would behave professionally as we all do when we, for example, share a pre-print w a colleague, requesting that it not be quoted... -- Clara Director Mammals and Phenogroups (MaPs) Blog: http://vertebratesocialbehavior.blogspot.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/cbjones1943 Cell: -828-279-4429 Brief CV: http://vertebratesocialbehavior.blogspot.com/2012/10/clara-b-jones-brief-cv.html "Where no estimate of error of any kind can be made, generalizations about populations from sample data are worthless." Ferguson, 1959
