Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/09/25/yellowstone-grizzly-bear-hunt.html
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Some of my best friends are bears.
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why does the us agency want to kill grizzlies? its like there are too many of them. also, why kill the wolves? why is the us agency getting involved with killing animals? or has the agency been infiltrated by nra types?
Which agency? The… “U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service”? Because regulation of fishing and hunting has been part of it’s mission for over a century. (Or rather the entities that later became the USFWS.)
Fun fact - did you know hunters and fishers are the primary source of conservation funds in most if not all states? That is on top of the the various conservation groups hunters and fishers contribute to for habitat preservation. ETA - Also guns and ammo sales are taxed for conservation.
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Sometimes signing pettions and calling your Rep and Senator does make a difference. Hurray for grizzlies!
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Hi Bubby!
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I don’t care what funds hunters bring in. There is no reason to kill bears. Govt agencies should not be enabling recreational hunters.
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Drinking Buddy Ben…
… hopefully gentle.
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It’s not enabling, it is regulating.
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What? This is bullshit! The protein requirements of…
Oh, humans hunting bears. Right.
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There was a recent 60 Minutes episode describing the wildlife photographer Thomas Mangelsen. One of Mangelsen’s years-long project was documenting a particular grizzly bear, denoted as Grizzly 399. The article concludes with Mangelsen noting that, with grizzlies leaving endangered status and being opened up to hunting, he’s heard that hunters are specifically getting ready to hunt murder 399, just because 399 is now famous (thanks to Mangelsen), and because, you know, freedom. So, this cancellation is good news for 399. (This must have happened in spite of all efforts by Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke.)
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Man, humans are the worst.
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I don’t know what government agency does this either but it is documented that the Federal government proactively kills a staggering amount of wildlife each year. I’m pretty sure it is an agency that by the name you would think is protecting wildlife. I’m pretty sure it is the Dept. of Fish and Game. I can find it if I were not so lazy at the moment. But, not in this day and age. “War is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.” Holy shit, this nails the trump admin to a ‘T’.
I used to work for Utah Dept. of Agriculture and Food. They have a division called, ‘Predatory Control’. They did exactly what the name says, unfortunately, they looked at racoons, beavers and other non predators as predators. The numbers of coyotes and bobcats they kill in Utah on an annual basis is mind numbing. Nobody holds them accountable. The state pays blood thirsty killers to just wontonly destroy wildlife. FREEDOM!!
I wholeheartedly agree.
Well I don’t have the specifics of either Yellowstone or what you are talking about in Utah to make an educated statement on the prudence of these actions. But population control is part of the factors in determining the amount of hunting or fur licenses to give out. The feds get involved with things like migratory animals (i.e. ducks and geese) or animals on federal land. As I said earlier there have been many successful campaigns to increase game populations. It all requires a balance. And it is important to remember these things are area specific. While something may be uncommon in one area, an overly dense population in another can lead to over population leading to disease and starvation as well as migration into other areas.
Two specific examples are rabbits and the deer at Shawnee park. Rabbits will often have a huge population spike on a good year, eat everything, and then half of them starve to death in the winter. I remember a particularly bad year as a kid where you didn’t even both trying to eat them, they were so scrawny and sick.
In Shawnee park they finally had to employ bow hunters to come in and cull the herd that had taken up residence there. Not only were they getting hit constantly by cars, destroying vegetation and habitat, but they were all riddled with an STD.
So the Federal and State Wildlife Depts. purpose is two fold. It protects some species, and allows others to be harvested or controlled. The money from hunting say raccoons goes to protecting salamanders or other endangered animals. They are the regulating arm for this and fishing as well.
It is clear by this statement you know nothing about hunting or why the average person hunts.
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