DAILY TRIFECTA: Human Beings Suck

Trophies Are For Children

TITLE: Wyoming hunter, 42, poses with exhausted wolf he tortured and paraded around his local bar with its mouth taped shut before shooting it dead - as his family member REENACTS the sick scene
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13282963/Wyoming-hunter-Cody-Roberts-wolf-parade-bar-killed.html

EXCERPT: The family of a hunter who tortured a wolf and paraded it through his local bar before shooting it dead have posted a bizarre reenactment of the scene.

Cody Roberts, 42, was cited and fined for being in possession of the live wolf in Daniel, Wyoming, on February 29, but it was not illegal to kill it.

Roberts posed with the exhausted animal, cracking a beaming smile while gripping it by the scruff of the neck and raising a can of beer.

The wolf, which was injured when Roberts ran it over with a snowmobile, had its mouth taped shut and cowered like an abused puppy.

Witnesses said not long after this photo was taken, Roberts dragged or carried the animal through the Green River Bar as patrons swilled beer.

He then took the wolf away behind the bar, allegedly tortured it, then shot it dead.

Jeanne Ivie-Roberts, a close family member of Roberts who lives in Daniel, reenacted the strange scene with a wolf skin in the same bar.

She posted photos to Facebook of herself with her mouth taped shut, just like the wolf, while holding the skin in front of her.

Ivie-Roberts wrote in another post after Roberts' antis went viral: 'I love and support you Cody'.

She also celebrated the news that animal cruelty laws didn't apply to Roberts' case, and another family member claimed they were getting death threats.

Animals rights campaigners reacted with fury, and were even more upset when it was confirmed Roberts would only face a small fine.

'Roberts' actions clearly warrant a punishment more severe than the $250 ticket he received for possession of live wildlife the Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy wrote in a letter to officials. 

'Such an anemic response on the part of law enforcement will be seen by some as tacit approval of his crime and can only motivate other like-minded individuals driven by hatred of wolves to engage in similar, repugnant behavior.'

Roberts, who is a father and owns a trucking company, first encountered the wolf when he ran it down with a snowmobile and disabled it.

But instead of killing the animal there and then, he kept it, took it home and brought it to the bar.

TITLE: It's 2024, Not 1924. Why Are We Still Trading in Elephant Trophies? | Opinion
https://www.newsweek.com/its-2024-not-1924-why-are-we-still-trading-elephant-trophies-opinion-1888047

EXCERPT: A lot of elephant trophy hunters are U.S. citizens, and the United States imports more mammal trophies than any other country in the world, by far—more than 10 times the number of the second-highest importer. We're a huge part of this problem, and we have a responsibility to set a strong example.

Elephants in Africa are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which means the federal government can control trophy imports.

Our government's new rule ratcheting down those imports is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't go far enough. Bowing to trophy interests, the final rule walked back a requirement that elephant populations be stable or increasing for trade to be permitted. Instead, the regulation allows trade under a looser "biologically sustainable" threshold. And the final rule delays a requirement for range countries to strengthen national legislation, giving them until 2026. This means Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia have more time to join the other major exporters such as Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Namibia that already have compliant legislation.

Why condone such a colonial holdover at all? The United States could ban all trade in threatened and endangered species hunting trophies, including of elephants, through regulatory changes. The language of the Endangered Species Act doesn't specifically allow killing for conservation. We need to learn to coexist with the species sharing our planet, not seek to possess them and reduce them to décor.

African savanna elephants are endangered, and forest elephants are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world's leading authority on biodiversity threats.

Poaching and habitat loss are the major reasons they're suffering, but these animals face myriad other threats. Killing elephants for fun and sport is less and less defensible, assuming it ever made sense at all.

In 2014, with poaching escalating, the Obama administration effectively banned elephant trophy imports from Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

Instead of tinkering with permitting details, the Fish and Wildlife Service could look to Europe, a top wildlife trade importer, for inspiration. Finland passed a landmark law in December banning all imports of trophies from the most endangered species. The United Kingdom is considering a proposed ban on trophy imports of thousands of imperiled species.

Halting imports of sport-hunted elephants and all other threatened and endangered species should be politically feasible. People on both sides of the aisle find killing imperiled species like elephants reprehensible. As biodiversity dwindles, it's past time to stop catering to a small group of wealthy hobbyists and focus on combatting the extinction crisis.

TITLE: Anger as trigger to be pulled on duck hunting season
https://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/8584388/anger-as-trigger-to-be-pulled-on-duck-hunting-season/?src=rss

EXCERPT: [Australian] Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell said she was "furious and still in shock" the season was going ahead.

"We're going to see thousands of native birds wounded and left to die out on the wetlands, languishing on their own," she said.

"Birds have to suffer with injuries such as pellets in organs and it can take weeks to slowly succumb to their injuries.

"This is a level of suffering on a scale that is simply unimaginable."

Wildlife Victoria, a statewide animal emergency response service, will send veterinary triage units into wetlands during the opening week.

Chief executive Lisa Palma said there were animal welfare issues related to duck hunting due to the state's unique flora and fauna.

"Wildlife Victoria will need to divert veterinary resources away from hardworking volunteer wildlife rehabilitators ... to provide veterinary care to injured waterbirds illegally left in field," she said.

"If the government were truly concerned with improving welfare outcomes and hunter behaviour, they would have cancelled the 2024 season and waited until improvements in safety and compliance were made."

An estimated 320,000 ducks were killed in the five-week season last year, according to the Game Management Authority.

BirdLife Australia chief executive Kate Millar said there was concern hunters would be able to request wetlands be reopened if they reported an absence of threatened species at a site.

"The fact that sensitive sites that have protected species will remain open to hunting this season also shows that recreational duck hunting is not a sustainable practice," she said.