Wildlife/FreeLiving Animals
"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.’’
Elk "Calf Production" Down? Kill More Elk!
Published September 29, 2009 @ 07:17AM PT
Welcome to the latest episode of Hunting and Wildlife "Management" Logic! (See WTF? 101 here, and try using a browser other than IE if the long comment thread is making it difficult to open the page.) Today we head to South Dakota's Custer State Park, where elk numbers are dropping rapidly; the elk are giving birth to only half as many calves as usual.
The "management goal" is 750 elk, yet there are only around 450 of the animals left. But don't worry, hunters: the state of South Dakota still absolutely encourages you to go out there and get yourself a permit and a "trophy" kill; there are still bulls out there just waiting to be killed, and all the state asks is that you quickly stick a needle in the dying animal and get a blood sample after you shoot him.
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:
Animals, Nonviolence, and the International Day of Peace
Published September 21, 2009 @ 02:40PM PT
Today is the International Day of Peace, calling for nonviolence and ceasefire, as I learned last night from Kelly of easyVegan.info. And although my plans to post on a related topic this afternoon have been derailed along with the rest of my day, I'm lucky that Kelly (also a periodic contributor to this blog) wrote her thoughtful post on the topic last night, including this:
The day’s “ceasefire” most certainly does not include the millions of cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, horses, dogs, rats, seals, foxes and other domestic and wild-living nonhuman animals who will be slaughtered for food, clothing, vivisection, entertainment and the like. Quite the contrary: humans’ exploitation of nonhumans will continue, unabated, throughout the day and across the globe.
A Chance to Help Midwestern Waterfowl
Published September 17, 2009 @ 12:44PM PT
The compassionate advocates behind the Deep Roots Animal Sanctuary of Bloomington, Indiana, have a new project in the works -- and fellow animal advocates have a chance to help them over the next several days. As explained on the project page for the in-progress Waterfowl Rehab Center,
After finding that there are currently no waterfowl rehabilitation facilities in southcentral Indiana, we spent the summer setting up just such a facility. A small amount of your time and money will help us complete this project and create a new chance for hundreds of birds.
Agency's Disregard for Desert Species Ruled "Arbitrary and Capricious"
Published September 15, 2009 @ 07:12AM PT
Yesterday, the Center for Biological Diversity released some good news, courtesy of a federal court ruling against irresponsible, unethical, and illegal actions by a federal agency with regard to animals and environment in Arizona. Disregard for animals is the norm, not the exception, in government agencies, including the very ones set up to protect them, so it's good to hear judges loudly calling foul now and then:
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.
