Can you imagine a world without piping plovers? Actually, yes (Opinion)

So with all the budget crisis that we face annually in Trenton, it's nice to know that the Department of Environmental Protection is hard at work killing foxes in Jersey. We've got foxes in our backyard and they haven't posed any threat...kind of annoying when they travel in the middle of the night getting our dog all riled up, but more of an annoyance than anything else.

So why is our government so focused on fox elimination? Because apparently the NJDEP has taken on the task of making sure the world is not denied the right to share the beach with two bird species that are endangered. That's right, can you imagine living in a world without Piping Plovers and Red Knot? The beaches would never be the same. Thankfully the NJDEP has the extra resources to trap and euthanize the main predator threatening the birds at the shore. The dreaded red fox.

I realize I'm not a scientist nor do I play one on TV and radio, but doesn't it make sense that if the birds were nearly extinct, they were not contributing a whole lot to the local ecosystem? Scientists disagree with the number of species that actually go extinct every year because they are based on computer modeling. We do know that about 800 species have gone extinct over the past 400 years. Do you miss them? I don't, I hardly knew 'em.

Let's face it, extinction is natural. Even if the process is happening at a faster rate because of the growth of our human population, so what? Despite the alarmists who panic every time there's a major storm that the sky must be falling, planet earth is doing great. Stable for billions of years and no end in sight. And if 98% of all the species that have lived on earth are now extinct, I'm sorry, but I'm not gonna get worked up over a few birds. If you're worried about the long term effects of the birds on the ecosystem and the long term food supply, let's just take a minute to discuss how far we've advanced scientifically. Human advances in science and technology have afforded us the ability to modify the food supply to potentially end starvation. We're actually winning through innovation, economic liberty and determination. Still a long way to go to help the third world benefit from the advances, but we're doing pretty well in New Jersey.

So how about this...let's let the foxes eat the eggs of the birds at the shore, if the birds can't adapt, so be it. Then let's spend our valuable tax resources on helping the humans trying to live, work and raise families in New Jersey.

Who speaks for New Jersey?

Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him @NJ1015 or @BillSpadea. The opinions expressed here are solely those of Bill Spadea.

More from New Jersey 101.5: