What bothers me the most is that people introduced these birds into the environment and now since they are becoming an issue, they are quick to exterminate them. Something has to be said on the birds behalf, because dispite nature, they have thrived.

I am in agreement that if they are causing signifigant problems (IE damage to electrical equipment, crops etc) then a humane way should be explored first. A mass extermination isn't the answer because one, obviously it is cruel and two, historically, planned (I say planned because humans have succeded in making a species extinct several times already quite by accident) mass exterminations haven't worked. Look at what happened with rat control long long ago. The more people tried to exterminate them, the more they thrived. I'm also convinced that trying to exterminate a species in a non native environment is a lot harder than causing a species to go extinct in its native habitat. I think that they have more of a survival instinct bread into them because they have to adapt and thrive in a place that is totally foregn.

I think a quote from Jurassic Park sums up my point

"Nature always finds a way"