Tristan : Tristanians Do NOT Eat Mutton Birds
Submitted by Tristan Times (Juanita Brock) 05.07.2005 (Article Archived on 19.07.2005)

The man with a Tristan sir name obviously didn’t check out the facts when he wrote an article about Greater Shearwaters washing up on the shores of the East coast of the United States.

TRISTANIANS DO NOT EAT MUTTON BIRDS!

An Editorial by J. Brock (SARTMA – TdC)

The man with a Tristan sir name obviously didn’t check out the facts when he wrote an article about Greater Shearwaters washing up on the shores of the East coast of the United States.  “Deaths of seabirds have wildlife officials puzzled” by Jon W. Glass reflects that he either didn’t research background information for the article or he has a poor knowledge about the world’s oceans.  Personally, I think it’s a bit of both.

Mentioned in the article, published in the Virginian-Pilot is an obviously un-researched and naïve statement that Islanders in the South Atlantic are allowed to kill seabirds – Greater Shearwaters – at the rate of 50,000 per year for human consumption.  At that rate it is a wonder why the 274 residents of Tristan da Cunha – the remarks indicated culprits – don’t lay eggs themselves.  Even if the 10,000 normally resident people in the South Atlantic ate the birds – that’s 5 birds a year!  A bit much for people who like the real mutton, don't you think?

In truth, it is people in the South Pacific, and not those in the South Atlantic, who possibly are allotted 50,000 the seabirds for human consumption.  The vernacular name for Greater Shearwaters is “Mutton Birds.”

I have never knowingly eaten Mutton Bird meat and seeing that many are washing on the shores of North Atlantic Countries – mainly the United States – I don’t think I would want to eat one.

Hopefully the researchers will find our the real cause of these needless seabird deaths.