Is 'helping' nature good or bad?

[kenny]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N0CGfApxfw

Please watch this 3-minute video, in which a woman holds a hatching egg.
She helps crack open the egg.
Then she helps separates the two sides of the shell, so the chick get out with less effort.

A good thing?
A bad thing?

 

[Matata]

I'm neutral if she's raising birds for pet trade. Each one that dies is a loss of money for her and I'm not going to judge that unless a person is unscrupulous.

I'm totally for helping nature when dealing with animals in a wildlife rehabilitation situation and when helping animals whose numbers are threatened. Both situations are caused by human interference in animals' natural habitat and general degradation of the planet due to human activity. When we help nature that way, we're helping ourselves.

 

[VRBeauty]

As I understand it, in many cases it's actually important for baby birds to get out of the shells without help - that exertion helps strengthen things that need to be strenghthened. So she might actually be harming the baby bird with her assistance. I've watched video feed of owlets hatching in owl boxes (thanks to something YOU posted years ago, Kenny) and although the mother owls are in the boxes when the eggs hatch, they don't normally lend a helping beak.

(There's a moral in there somewhere... ).

 

[momhappy]

Hard to say, but I'd say that in general, it's not necessarily a good idea to interfere with a natural process (like the example provided here).

 

[telephone89]

I've seen some videos of turtles hatching, and they get picked off before they even get to the water, and that breaks my heart! I would have to be restrained not to be running around trying to protect them haha.

In the example provided, it wasn't even necessary. I mean, if the chick was in there for like 3 days and couldn't get out, then *maybe*, but just to make it so he doesn't have to use any effort is kind of silly.

I do however like when people rescue baby animals that are abandoned. Just yesterday I saw a video of a lame newborn fawn that momma deer abandoned. The guy filming made a little brace for his leg, nursed him until he was strong enough to go on his own and then put him back in the wild near where they saw the momma. Maybe that's bad too, but I dunno, I was ok with it.

 

[kenny]

I've seen some videos of turtles hatching, and they get picked off before they even get to the water, and that breaks my heart! I would have to be restrained not to be running around trying to protect them haha.

That's a good example.
I'd also want to help the baby turtles reach the water.
Baby turtles are cute.
But then, isn't it wrong to deny the birds their annual gourmet feast?
Even when the turtleletts reach the water the vast majority will become food for sea critters.

I'm stuck being human so I want to help animals I like while I have no problem swatting a mosquito or killing a roach. Not fair.

Also, good points Matata.

About this egg video ...
If a chick is too weak to break out of the shell perhaps it should not survive to pass on those inferior genes.
That's nature's way.

 

[kenny]

Here's another of someone helping an ostrich egg hatch.
It's 12 minutes so the FF button is handy.

The comments are interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtJMXNU_ltg

 

[House Cat]

Helping people...animals, etc is fine until it isn't.


When helping becomes self-serving to the helper and crippling to the helped, then there is a problem. I think in the case of animals this kind of malignant help can be seen very quickly because the young animal will show signs of crippling almost instantly. In the case of humans, codependent help will take much longer to show its crippling effects, possibly even a lifetime.

My husband's parents are completely enmeshed with one of their drug addict children. They continually bail him out, take him in, pay for everything. Ultimately, they do this to make themselves feel good because making him grow up would hurt all of them. Now that he is almost 40, it is apparent that he will never hold down a job, never have a normal relationship with a woman, and will never get sober. His entire life has been destroyed by the help of his parents.


If a person is helping others for their own personal gain...it is very, very bad.

 

[jordyonbass]

It depends on the situation. I agree with VRBeauty where I wouldn't want to be assisting in natural processes like this too much, I can't help but think that if a bird can't break out of it's own shell then it may not survive as it is. Also natural predation makes many people upset, but it's important to not interfere with that at all either.

However I also concur with Matata that if there has been some kind of unnatural event with a wild animal then I don't see it as an issue for human's to intervene. This doesn't necessarily mean a man-made event, rather something that is out of the ordinary. For example I have seen a video where two stags had fought and one had died but their horns were entangled, leaving the live stag immobilized. A couple of hunters helped to free the deer despite nearly getting charged for their efforts.
Of course I also feel it would be necessary to assist nature when it's man made interference, just recently my father's crew on his boat did a 15 minute operation at sea on a 600lb Mako Shark that had 50-100 yards of longliner gear wrapped up and some hooks embedded in it's body.

 

[VRBeauty]

Here's another of someone helping an ostrich egg hatch.
It's 12 minutes so the FF button is handy.

The comments are interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtJMXNU_ltg

This baby ostritch, "Pip," lived just one week.

Just saying.

 

[kenny]

It depends on the situation. I agree with VRBeauty where I wouldn't want to be assisting in natural processes like this too much, I can't help but think that if a bird can't break out of it's own shell then it may not survive as it is.

If the chick can't hatch naturally then maybe it shouldn't survive.

 

[jordyonbass]

It depends on the situation. I agree with VRBeauty where I wouldn't want to be assisting in natural processes like this too much, I can't help but think that if a bird can't break out of it's own shell then it may not survive as it is.

If the chick can't hatch naturally then maybe it shouldn't survive.

Yep although I don't know if I would say the chick 'shouldn't survive', but that's just semantics about the English language on my part, I know what you mean Kenny lol
Evolution is survival of the fittest so if the chick is not fit enough to break out of the first stage of it's life then it most likely won't make it through the next. As sad as that seems to be, it's simply the nature of nature.