> ----------
> From:         Webb, Russell
> Sent:         Friday, January 16, 1998 11:18 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      FW: "true value" and hurricanes- a collector's friend.
>
> The first half of the truncated message- i hope you can glue them back
> together ! Never mind, i just did!!
>
> Dear Russ(and Sue, too!);
>       You need not feel sorry for me, nor guilty for yourself, in my
> opinion!  I used to agonize over the death of every invertebrate i
> manslaughtered or killed outrigtht-unless they were actively trying to
> bite me, ie!  However, i have developed the art of rationalization
> rather well recently: "scientific value";,   think of all the good i
> am
> doing for the children ADRA helps with the loot i send them;,  as long
>
> as habitat was not signifigantly harmed;  surely knocking off a few
> snails is not in the same category as murdering  a deer or dolphin;
> natural forces and pollution
> and habitat destruction and degradation kill thousands or millions of
> times the creatures collectors take;  so long as i stay far away from
> endangered spp.........and so on and so on.....  Perhaps there is no
> justification for what we do, perhaps ther is after all, but i no
> longer
> worry too much about it, per se.  I DO still do my best to protect
> habitat, raise public awareness about what is really going on in our
> species' mad rush to exploit every iota of the biosphere we live in
> and
> should therefore take care of, other nobler motives notwithstanding.
> If
> i take a few specimens, or hire a few shell-mercenaries along the way,
> I  hope i will be forgiven.
>
>         Now, about those innocent slugs you keep offing......
>
>
> Take care,
>
>
> Ross M.
>
> PS:  if you wish to post your letter  and this reply to the list,  i
> would not mind- i am a very slow typist (or "keyboarder",  to be
> up-to-date!), and it seems a pity to ..you get the picture, i'm sure!!
> > ----------
> > From:         Webb, Russell
> > Sent:         Friday, January 16, 1998 11:10 PM
> > To:   [log in to unmask]
> > Subject:      RE: "true value" and hurricanes- a collector's friend.
> >
> > Ross
> >
> >       I am sitting here amongst the seashells that my wife and I
> have
> > killed. Fondling the trophies from the "hunt". Actually it was more
> > like manslaughter than murder since we only took them out of the
> > water. They died on their own. Most of the shells we have came this
> > way-- we killed them ourselves.
> >
> >       So here I am trying to rationalize my actions so that I can
> > sleep tonight. Ross, I feel sorry for you. Because of my
> > rationalization, if I am bad then shell dealers must be worse. This
> > makes me feel better. After all I have  never been able to employ
> any
> > shell-mercenaries to collect for me in the Philippines. Not that I
> > wouldn't--
> >
> >       More than once I have been standing on the deck of a dive boat
> > with my goodybag, facing another diver who is holding a bloody
> string
> > of fish and someone asks "Are you going to kill those shells". I
> have
> > found  that it makes them feel better if you tell them your going to
> > eat them. " They make great chowder" or "I spread them on toast". It
> > seem that you can kill just about anything if your going to eat it.
> >
> >       After all, every year there is no less than a massacre in our
> > tomato garden. Seems nobody feels sorry for those garden slugs.
> > Anything to save those hard green tomatoes that never seem to get
> > ripe. At least if they had a shell---
> >
> >       So now we try to hide our shell collecting activities. Don't
> > carry a goody bag. Stuff them shells in your BC pockets. Then again
> I
> > have been busted with cowrie snot running down my leg. WHAT IS THAT
> > STUFF?? Seems a shell that small couldn't hold that much mucus. "Hay
> > mister is there something wrong with you---"
> >
> >       Well, maybe.
> >
> >       By the way we do have a few extras to trade. We can include
> > recipes and full data including flavor and texture and of course
> > request the same.
> >
> >       Does anybody have plans for a "shell trap". Can't seem to find
> > anything that works well?
> >
> > Russ Webb
> >
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> > ----------
> > From:         ross mayhew[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent:         Saturday, January 17, 1998 8:23 AM
> > To:   [log in to unmask]
> > Subject:      Re: "true value" and hurricanes- a collector's friend.
> >
> > Am i being collectively ignored, or does anybody else agree with me
> > that
> > a shell in a collection can mean many things to the collector,
> > scientist
> > or educator, even if its data is less than perfect??  Let's not make
> > people with "non-purist" attititudes regarding  our hobby/passion
> feel
> > badly  or that their collections are somehow "inferior" to
> absolutely
> > "environmentally-friendly" collections with great data for every
> > shell!!  I have a streak of elitism myself, but a few of the recent
> > posts here, have sustaatially diminished it.
> >         Yes, shells conveniently tossed up on the shore by
> hurricanes
> > ar
> > eminantly collectable- one can often obtain some very interesting
> > species  in this manner.  Good "dead-collected" specimens are only
> > differnt from live-collected ones in the amount of data they
> possess,
> > and the strong  bias in the shell world against dead-collected
> > specimens
> > has always struck me as being a bit "elitist".  With a rare species
> > especially, sometimes a dead one is all you might ever get, or be
> able
> > to afford.
> >
> > -Ross Mayhew,
> >                                 your
> "not-quite-ideal-but-trying-hard"
> > Schooner Specimen dealer.
> >
> >
>