Geneva Convention fails to save Boca citrus tree

Boka Raton News ^ | April 23, 2005 | Sean Salai

[bookworm100]

A squadron of law enforcement agents and chainsaw-wielding contractors descended on a suburban Boca Raton home Friday, destroying a healthy ruby red grapefruit tree whose owners had attempted to save it from Florida’s citrus canker eradication program by citing the Geneva Convention...

...Barry Silver, the Gersteins’ attorney. “The only safe place for citrus in Florida is on a license plate.”

Silver added, “This citrus eradication program will end when there’s no more privately owned citrus in South Florida. That’s the Department of Agriculture’s goal. They’re not trying to eradicate canker, they’re trying to eradicate private trees.”

[newgeezer]

Added FL to the TOPICS list for our FRiends who monitor Florida news in the sidebar.

Instead of just scrolling past them all, please take a moment to click the applicable state on the Topics screen when posting news of local interest.

[thoughtomator]

Is this a joke?

[bookworm100]

You are right. Thank you for the advice.

[bookworm100]

Is this a joke?

No

[Nyboe]

Good grief ... whatever happened to property rights in this nation !

[Muleteam1]

If the disease is truly citrus canker, it has the potential to destroy all the citrus in Florida, and in California for that matter. Plant diseases are no respecters of property rights. These people would have saved a lot of money had they taken the time to learn more about the disease before hiring an attorney.

Muleteam1

[bookworm100]

With increasing frequency, the wildlife/agriculture/forest departments are seizing and destroying private property "for the good of the many."

[bookworm100]

If the disease is truly citrus canker, it has the potential to destroy all the citrus in Florida, and in California for that matter. Plant diseases are no respecters of property rights. These people would have saved a lot of money had they taken the time to learn more about the disease before hiring an attorney.

It was a a healthy ruby red grapefruit tree.

The article says:

“Rudmann also said she had been studying the state statutes on canker eradication.

“It was 125 feet in the early 1990s and now it’s 1,900 feet,” Rudmann said. “It’s just a little too arbitrary.”

Canker alters the physical appearance of citrus fruit, but is not unhealthy for people or fatal to citrus trees. Brazilian juice is made from canker-infected fruit. ”

[bookworm100]

Here is another report:
"Wildlife Officials Destroy Deer in Precautionary Move

Authorities have destroyed about 30 white-tailed deer that were trapped for more than a year on a private elk farm in Sheridan County.

The action was a precaution against the spread of disease from wild game to livestock kept for food or hunting operations, said Greg Link, assistant wildlife chief with the state Game and Fish Department.

"Once wild deer come in contact with captive deer or elk, we can't let the entrapped deer return to the wild because the risk of disease transmission is too great," he said.

Link said the animals had to be killed to reduce the likelihood of such health problems as chronic wasting disease, tuberculosis and brucellosis.

The deer carcasses will be tested for disease. Results are expected in about a month. Link said if they come back negative, meat from the deer will be donated to food pantries.

The animals were found on a game farm owned by Orlan Mertz. Link said wildlife officials waited to kill the deer until a fence was fixed.

Susan Keller, the state veterinarian, said the case will be reviewed next month by the Board of Animal Health.

Source: The Associated Press
May 27, 2004 "

[Muleteam1]

I'm not an epidemiologist or even a plant pathologist so I cannot speak to whether or not the quarantine buffers are arbitrary. However, I can say with some certainty that if Florida decided to allow canker to persist in the State, California, Texas, and foreign export markets would have much to say about this. In the grove the disease can cause defoliation, dieback, and premature fruit drop. Also the disease-blemished fruit have a lesser value, or may even become totally unacceptable, to fresh fruit markets both domestic and foreign. This is a case where the protection of a State's economic health intrudes upon property rights.

Muleteam1

[Nyboe]

quote "The action was a precaution against the spread of disease from wild game to livestock kept for food or hunting operations"

WTF ! do these guys know ANYTHING about how cattle are raised in this country? there are wild deer running around every cattle operation in Texas... These guys dont have a clue !

[farmfriend]

Silver added, “This citrus eradication program will end when there’s no more privately owned citrus in South Florida.

The homeowner who will not cut the tree voluntarily should be held liable for any damage his tree does.

[AnOldCowhand]

“This is about saving children in time of war,” Laura Gerstein told him.

Unngh??

[editor-surveyor]

"The homeowner who will not cut the tree voluntarily should be held liable for any damage his tree does."

And the government that destroys property without proven cause should be found in contempt of freedom, and euthanized forthwith. There is no legitimate cause for destroying a healthy tree.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

If the government discovered someone had inherited a vial of live smallpox and was keeping it at home. Would the government have a legitimate interest in serving a search warrant and confiscating the smallpox vial? What if it was learned that the smallpox might be free to blow around the neighborhood and infect others?

[farmfriend]

There is no legitimate cause for destroying a healthy tree.

True, but what is the remedy if the tree is not healthy? Should the tree spread disease as the government claims, who should be financially responsible for the damage? The tax payer?