Hunting
U.S. Forest Service, Louisiana Declare "Emergency" to Pander to Hunters
Published July 03, 2009 @ 07:29AM PT
In a move that I haven't yet found a way to make intelligent sense of, the state of Louisiana--upon the U.S. Forest Service's request--declared a "state of emergency" (and no, there's no real emergency) to allow the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission to vote yesterday "to eliminate the need for a special permit to hunt with dogs on Kisatchie National Forest and the requirement that hunters use electronic tracking collars and other forms of identification on their dogs." Even putting aside consideration for the animals intentionally wounded and killed (as everyone involved in this has), this move completely disregards the safety of the dogs exploited and endangered by hunters as well as the other people endangered by hunters.
In Louisiana, hunters barrel recklessly through Kisatchie National Forest to hunt deer, shooting recklessly as well and not paying much attention to the dogs they're using as hunting tools either, dogs who run off and get lost. And apparently, some landowners have complained (not, it seems, because they're terribly worried about deer or dogs, but because the dogs end up on their property). But the state government (and apparently even the federal government now) has moved to protect hunters' so-called right to do whatever they want, rather than protect animals, public safety, or other non-hunting humans.
Watch how this played out--how the federal and state governments went from moving to limit hunting and promote safety to trying to entrench and protect hunters' practices in law; it's nauseating-fascinating:
Missouri Offering New Incentives to Get Kids Killing Too
Published June 26, 2009 @ 07:01AM PT
Earlier this week, I lambasted Wisconsin's plans to lower its hunting age for kids, remove safety training requirements, and lower the price for kids' hunting licenses. So it's only fair that I now point out that my own less-than-progressive state is cutting its prices for kids' hunting permits too--in half--and that Missouri's minimum hunting age is even ridiculously lower: 6 years old. (But of course, as I briefly noted in the previous post on this topic, the majority of states don't have a minimum hunting age at all.) Like Wisconsin, Missouri hopes that this will encourage more kids to hunt or, perhaps more accurately, that it will encourage more adults to teach kids to hunt and kill.
Teach kindergartners to kill. And then complain about violence. That's what we do in this nation of "traditions."
Abuse and Torture an Animal, Get a Free Pass, from NC to CA
Published June 25, 2009 @ 06:58AM PT
Wisconsin, California, North Carolina--all three are places where in recent days those who've abused animals have been defended or received a wagging finger as punishment, by the court system and by their employers. From deer run over by snowmobiles to baby farm animals left to languish by a high school ag teacher to a police officer being demoted for caring about abused horses, with the horses going straight back to their abusers--it's a sad world out there this week.
Wisconsin Encourages 10-Year-Olds to Hunt, No Safety Training Required
Published June 23, 2009 @ 02:00PM PT
Note: I removed the photo that was included here because of increasing discomfort with how visible the kids' faces were. The photo showed too very young boys posing with a gun about as big as their bodies and a dead bloody-mouthed deer.
The state of Wisconsin is worried that not as many people are hunting these days, but they have a plan: start legally arming grade school kids.
The legislature has passed, and the governor is expected to sign, a bill making it easier for children to hunt, by lowering the legal age from 12 to 10 (that's fourth or fifth grade) and by removing safety-training requirements.
Now the kids--according to the law, and we could have a whole other conversation about how likely it is that all the points of law will be (or currently are) followed by everyone--need merely be accompanied by an adult, with only one weapon between them and with the adult staying within arm's length of the child. And I want to be clear: it is my understanding that there was a safety training requirement when only kids 12 years and older were allowed to wield deadly weapons and kill animals for fun, but now that the kids will be two years younger, two years less mature, and two years less responsible, no more safety requirement--and they're "offer[ing] youngsters reduced license fees in an effort to preserve the state's hunting culture" too. Someone, please, explain the logic to me. Explain to me how arming "youngsters" is a good idea.
Oh wait--here's the logic:
New Scientist: Japanese Whaling Activities Are Not Research
Published June 17, 2009 @ 11:08AM PT
Japan has already been widely criticised for its whaling, which is generally seen as a thinly disguised hunting operation. But with the 2009 IWC meeting looming, it is worth rehearsing the arguments against scientific whaling.
The New Scientist article's authors go on to explain just why Japanese whaling is unnecessary for research purposes. Check it out.
On a related note, have you been watching the second season of Whale Wars? I'm missing it because I no longer have cable (actually, I no longer have television service period, given that I've kept putting off getting a DTV converter box), but if you do get Animal Planet, you can tune in on Friday nights; it just started in the last week or two, I believe.
(Thanks go to Alex Felsinger for the tweet about the New Scientist article.)
Gov't Employees Kill Mountain Lions for Sport, Gov't Fires Whistleblower
Published June 16, 2009 @ 07:05AM PT
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility announced last week that "a federal agent who reported that his colleagues had illegally used government airplanes to hunt mountain lions was fired in retaliation." What we have here is not even an friend to animals reporting the killings, but a fellow hunter. The U.S. government hires hunters to kill incredible numbers of free-living animals every year, mostly on behalf of ranchers who don't want the hassle of competing with predators (who must kill to eat and survive) over who gets to kill domesticated animals or of dealing with animals whom they consider just a general nuisance.
Indeed, the press release from PEER explains,
A Lesson in Beauty
Published June 07, 2009 @ 11:03AM PT
If there is one instinct
I just can't get with at all,
it's the urge to kill something beautiful
just to hang it on your wall.
-Ani DiFranco, "Unrequited"
Some friends and I are Twittering Ani lyrics today, and I figured I'd let that little project blend into the blog. We'll forgive her the unfortunate "something" and "it" this time.
Beautiful, natural:
