End the barbaric practice of killing rare species in the name of science!

Perhaps you read the recent story in the news "Scientist Takes First-Ever Photo of Rare Bird, Then Kills It in the Name of Science" and you were as angry as I was. Well, I was angry enough to try and do something about it by creating my first Care2 petition.

Here’s a summary of the article. Chris Filardi, director of Pacific Programs at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, finally caught a Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher after more than 20 years of searching for this extremely rare bird. This bird lives in the high forests of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. It is a stunningly beautiful bird, about the size of a crow, but orange, white and brilliant blue, with a large head and long yellow beak for snatching fish from the water while in full flight. So what do Chris Filardi and his team do after they catch this beautiful, possibly nearly extinct bird? After taking pictures of it and recording some of its calls. They killed it….in the name of science.

When I read this I was shocked. Why would a presumably very intelligent scientist, who works for the highly prestigious American Museum of Natural History, kill a creature that may be on the brink of extinction? Why would the American Museum of Natural History – an institution that prides itself on environmental sustainability, allow this to happen? Isn’t this contrary to science – to help a creature on the brink of extinction go extinct?

So, I am looking for 2 things from this petition:

1. I’m demanding that the American Museum of Natural History fire Chris Filardi for his poor judgement, to set an example that this practice is not acceptable.

2. That the American Museum of Natural History change its policy of killing rare animals in the name of science and ensure anyone working for this institution will never kill a rare animal again.

If you’re upset about this too, please sign my petition and then share it. Thank you!