Hunting
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Why Is the Nature Conservancy Killing Animals?
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Ethical Hunting Awards That Ignore the Actual Victims
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Elk "Calf Production" Down? Kill More Elk!
"Shooting a Moose Is an Accomplishment Whether You're 12 or 38"
Published October 22, 2009 @ 04:03AM PT
The latest in the ongoing series of "Yay! We taught kids to kill!" stories: "12-Year-Old Bags a Moose in Hunt of a Lifetime."
"I feel really happy and proud,’’ Kelly said Wednesday. "Shooting a moose is an accomplishment whether you’re 12 or 38 – you’re going to put the same amount of effort into it. It’s a big sense of accomplishment because I am 12. The moose is as wide as I am tall. I can sit inside his antlers.’’
Wolves Are Not the Dangerous Predators; Humans Are
Published September 22, 2009 @ 06:39AM PT
If you want an example of essentially all that's wrong with the way humans think of, talk about, and interact with their fellow animals, do I ever have an editorial for you. The publisher, editorial board, or some unnamed journalist from an Oregon newspaper (the byline is vague) yesterday published this doozy: "Give Ranchers Right to Kill Problem Wolves."
Early on in the editorial, the authors set up wolves as the indisputable bad guys. First we learn that wolves in one general area killed twenty-something sheep total in April and August incidents, and thus those wolves were deemed "rogue" and were tracked and killed by the trusty U.S. Wildlife Services. This, it is argued, was justifiable because the wolves clearly intended to cause the ranchers trouble: "Since the wolves were bent on mayhem, and since efforts to relocate them did not work, it’s right that they were killed."
Bent on mayhem? Seriously? I mean, seriously? It gets better:
When Some Species Are Special
Published September 10, 2009 @ 02:36PM PT
I was in a pretty sour mood this morning. (What, you noticed?) So I figure it's only appropriate that I also now direct you to this more optimistic response to the ruling on the wolf hunts out west, which focuses more on the hope that the wolves will be returned to the endangered species list.
But I suppose the reason I can't get too excited about this is the same reason my reaction to the news out of Japan didn't carry much relief either. Sure, it's great that people can't indiscriminately kill individual members of endangered species. And it's great that so far the Japanese village spotlighted in The Cove hasn't killed any dolphins this year. But when the only reason not to kill an animal is because of the "endangered" or popular status of his or her species -- when the focus is on the numbers and the species, rather than on the unnecessary killing of animals in general -- we're pretty well stating that it's OK to kill animals in general, as long as they're not special animals.
I don't know how to celebrate that some of those dolphins in Japan weren't killed this week when so many of them were still ripped out of their homes and away from their families to serve as captive entertainment and when so many pilot whales were still casually slaughtered. And I don't know how to get too excited about the possibility of wolves being relisted if being on a list is the best reason we can come up with for not killing them, when we still as a society see nothing morally wrong with gunning down animals in forests, orphaning the young, slitting throats in slaughterhouses, traumatizing and separating families, etc. until or unless those animals are on a special list. An animal whose species isn't endangered doesn't want to die any more than an animal whose species is.
Updates on Wolves, Whales, and Dolphins: The Hunts Go On
Published September 10, 2009 @ 06:31AM PT
In Japan's village of Taiji, the rounding up of dolphins and shipping them to aquariums, to live the rest of their lives in unnatural, miserable captivity, has begun. The killing of pilot whales has begun. Whether and when the killing of dolphins right there in the cove will resume is yet to be seen. Read more here. (See last related post on this blog here.)
The district judge out in Montana who had the power to stop the wolf hunts underway in Idaho and set to begin next week in Montana passed up the chance: He acknowledged that environmental/wildlife groups may be right that the wolves shouldn't have been delisted, but has ruled that the hunts can go on while the painfully slow process of enviro/wildlife groups suing the government over the delisting continues. Read more here. (See last related posts on this blog here and here.)
Oh--and tens of millions of land animals will be killed for food today, 20,000 every minute, just in U.S. slaughterhouses alone, along with the killing of a mind-boggling number of aquatic animals. There's no failed injunction or grand-scale outrage or media frenzy to report on in relation to those equally tragic deaths because people aren't as horrified by the killing of pigs and cows as they are by the killing of dolphins or as disgusted by the terrorizing of chickens as they are by the hunting of wolves, so this isn't exactly news. But while we're noting the day's bad news for animals, it seems wrong to leave out the ones being killed so casually en masse, who are the same as dolphins and wolves in all the ways that matter.
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Photo of dolphin in Texas aquarium by Flickr user See1,Do1,Teach1
1 of Only 3 Wolf Pairs Killed in Oregon -- For Ranchers, For Us
Published September 08, 2009 @ 07:10AM PT
Some may remember a short post from May titled "Worst Case for Wolves -- And How You May Be Playing a Part." It concluded,
But while we're expressing our outrage at the citizens itching to pull the triggers and the politicians who are allowing it, let's not forget, friends--why is everyone so eager to shoot and kill wolves? For the benefit of ranchers -- and by extension, the benefit of those who eat and wear animals and what comes from them. The killing of wildlife, the further endangerment of endangered species, the destruction and pollution of habitat, the eating and wearing of animals (from the flesh of a cow to the wool of a sheep): it is all connected.
It's worth repeating now that the hunting of wolves is happening in Idaho, now that the hunting of wolves in Montana is just days away, and now that we have this news from the Center for Biological Diversity about the killing of a wolf pair in Oregon, courtesy of the USDA's Wildlife Services -- in a state where there were only three wolf pairs to begin with. The crime committed by these two wolves? Trying to survive, by killing the animals we wanted (but don't need) to kill for ourselves. They killed "livestock" three months ago. So they had to be gunned down. Not because they were doing something unnatural or evil, but because we set up shop in their habitat and because we want to kill and eat and wear sheep and lambs and cows.
All. Connected.
Further reading (off-site): The USDA's War on Wildlife
See also "Gov't Employees Kill Mountain Lions for Sport, Gov't Fires Whistleblower," related to the mass killing of wildlife by the government for animal agribusiness.
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Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Hunting of Wolves and the Fight to Stop It
Published September 02, 2009 @ 06:37AM PT
Hunting wolves hasn't been legal in the contiguous United States in decades. That changed yesterday, when it became legal to kill wolves in Idaho as a result of the wolves' inappropriate delisting. Organizations such as NRDC, Defenders of Wildlife, and Earthjustice are fighting to stop it--and to stop the hunting of wolves in Montana too as of September 15--but it's up to the court at this point. I appreciate the way a New York Times editorial opposing the hunt ended yesterday:
To us, the wolf hunt in Idaho and Montana seems indecent. Hunters want to kill wolves because wolves kill elk — and the human hunters want the elk. A second reason is a love of killing things. A third is an implacable, and unjustified, hostility to the wolf. It is well past time to let gray wolves find their own balance in the Rockies.
Precisely.
And for an insider's look at what's happening in the legal arena as nonprofits present their solid arguments and fight to stop the killings, see "Wolf Delisting Court Battle 2.0" from NRDC's Switchboard. Here is one frustrating (but telling) relay of information, from outside the courtroom:
Have You Spoken for the Cayuga Heights Deer Yet?
Published August 24, 2009 @ 05:53AM PT
Last week, I wrote about the dire situation for deer in Cayuga Heights, a village in Ithaca, New York. The trustees will likely vote on their deadly, cruel, and unnecessary plan tonight. And recall that public comment on the deer situation will be banned at this meeting. If you have not yet e-mailed the trustees and mayor via the online petition, please do so today, remembering also to copy the message and e-mail the trustees whose e-mail addresses appear in the summary leading up to the petition. As noted last week, you may also call (607-257-1238), and at this point, that may be a good idea, but remember to be polite. (And if even if you did read the original post on this, I recommend returning to also read one comment on the post in particular, that written by George Nagle, covering in detail why this plan is ill-advised from a deer management standpoint.)
But New York is far from the only place where deer are regularly killed and threatened with cruel "management" plans--nor is California unique in this regard, but nevertheless, stay tuned later today or tomorrow morning for a look at the planned youth hunt that advocates are battling in a county in that state.
