THE SET-UP: Did you know Yuma, Arizona is the “dove-hunting capital of the nation”?
Well, it is and dove hunting season is now underway around the US. Notably, two of the dove species hunters kill by the dozens are invasive species with populations that number in the millions. And at least some dove hunters do actually eat their quarry.
That’s far easier to swallow than the grotesque delusion expressed by the purveyor of the Safari Club in Wyoming. She believes trophy-killers (like her prolific father) are somehow more noble than “most hunters” who “just kill and eat” their prey because the trophy-killer is “memorializing” the “dead elephant, rhinoceros, water buffalo, lion and leopard” through taxidermy.
It’s not a view shared by J Dallas Gudgell, the Tribal Policy Director for the International Wildlife Coexistence Network, who recently expressed support for an upcoming measure on the Colorado ballot that would end trophy hunting of big cats.
He wrote:
As an indigenous person concerned with and raised in a framework of right relationship with the natural world, I find trophy hunting and egocentric activity upends nature’s natural balance.
The only “memorial” I see is to the ghoulish vanity of someone who collects corpses.
TITLE: RIP Africa’s ‘super tusker’ elephants – nearly wiped out by tourists on trophy hunting holidays
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/rip-africas-super-tusker-elephants-nearly-wiped-out-by-tourists-on-trophy-hunting-holidays-3240926
EXCERPT: It’s hard to hide the killing of a creature ten feet tall weighing six tons. But the hunters who killed one of Africa’s semi-tame elephants knew they’d done wrong – so they took Gilgil’s massive ivory tusks and burned his body.
Now wildlife experts fear that foreign hunters may soon wipe out the last of Africa’s “super tusker” elephants which have all become habituated to humans – meaning they trust people and have no expectation of harm from them.
The experts say the latest killing threatens the gene pool of these huge elephants with giant tusks each weighing over 100lbs (45kg).
Gilgil was 35 when he was allegedly killed last December, the age when an elephant bull begins his prime breeding years. He was from a group of at least 30 male elephants who use the West Kilimanjaro in Tanzanian territory as a “bull area” to put on weight ahead of breeding in Kenya, says Cynthia Moss who has been studying the elephants for decades.
He was one of five mature African elephant bulls that have been shot dead by foreign hunters, close to Tanzania’s border with Kenya and the Amboseli National Park.
While all hunting is banned in Kenya, in Tanzania hunting is seen as a revenue stream for conservation.
Dr Moss summed up the outrage felt by conservationists after the deaths of Gilgil and the other “super-tuskers” since last September.
“Killing an Ambosel bull is about as sporting as shooting your neighbour’s poodle,” she said. Dr Moss denied that the hunters had shared photographs of elephant they had killed.
Joyce Poole, another elephant expert with decades of work in Amboseli, says that hunters in a vehicle could have got within six feet of Gilgil.
“Amboseli elephant are less tolerant of people on foot but would not have run from human scent,” said Dr Poole, director of Elephant Voices.
Zidane Janbeck, director of Kilombero North Safaris who took a client to hunt the elephant identified as Gilgil insisted that the tusker that was shot by his client was a different animal altogether.
Three of the elephants killed since September were taken by clients with the Kilombero North Safaris and shot by American tourists who are still allowed to bring tusks home as private trophies from their killings.
TITLE: It Is Time to Stop Killing Colorado’s Mountain Lions and Bobcats
https://yellowscene.com/2024/09/03/it-is-time-to-stop-killing-colorados-mountain-lions-and-bobcats/
EXCERPT: The time has come for us to put an end to the cruel and senseless slaughter of Colorado’s magnificent mountain lions and bobcats. Colorado voters have a new and incredible opportunity to save thousands of innocent lives — while at the same time — bringing an end to one of the cruelest and most cowardly practices that I have ever witnessed.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Cats Aren’t Trophies ballot measure will enable us to take a major step in the right direction. This new initiative, when passed in November by the voters of Colorado, will bring an end to the trophy hunting of Mountain Lions, while still allowing for the necessary control of problem animals that threaten human safety or livestock.
Let’s be clear: mountain lions and bobcats are not a food source as many callous individuals like to suggest. Instead, they are hunted for their heads and beautiful coats. This practice is extremely outdated, completely wasteful, and simply barbaric.
Trophy hunters, who are often wealthy outsiders, come to Colorado in order to hire guides and unleash packs of dogs to chase and harass these innocent animals to their demise. It’s a cowardly and inhumane practice that guarantees a kill, regardless of the animal’s age or sex. This is not hunting; it’s exploitation!
Contrary to popular belief, mountain lions are essential to our ecosystem. They play a vital role in regulating deer and elk populations and helping to prevent the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease. Tragically, trophy hunters disproportionately target female lions, which causes vulnerable kittens to be orphaned and left to fend for themselves – often leading to starvation or death. It’s time for us to put an end to this senseless killing! Let’s protect our wildlife and ensure a healthy ecosystem for generations to come.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Cats Aren’t Trophies ballot measure will enable us to take a major step in the right direction. This new initiative, when passed in November by the voters of Colorado, will bring an end to the trophy hunting of Mountain Lions, while still allowing for the necessary control of problem animals that threaten human safety or livestock.
TITLE: Relocation of Colorado wolf pack leaves people wondering: Where they will go, and what will happen next?
https://www.skyhinews.com/news/relocation-of-colorado-wolf-pack-leaves-people-wondering-where-they-will-go-and-what-will-happen-next/
EXCERPTS: Colorado Parks and Wildlife has begun an operation to capture and relocate the Copper Creek wolf pack in Grand County following numerous attacks on livestock.
The adult pair, who have three pups, in the pack have caused the “main issues in depredation,” as Reid Dewalt, deputy director of policy for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told the commission last Friday. Since the wolves were released, the wildlife agency has confirmed that wolves have killed 15 cattle and nine sheep.
The decision to relocate the pack comes less than a month after the agency denied a chronic depredation permit that was requested by the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association in May. A depredation permit, issued for 45 days, would allow producers to protect herds by killing wolves that were chronic or consistent depredators.
Tim Ritschard, president of the Middle Park Stockgrowers, said the decision was “overdue.”
“We’re glad to hear they’re going to remove the pack. If a wolf wanders in and kills a cow or a calf, that’s tolerable. But when they set up camp and repeatedly (depredate) on livestock … that’s where the problem is,” Ritschard said, reading a statement. “I’m glad the fed stepped in and took action before a rancher or local CPW staff had to. Hopefully, CPW can learn from this and eventually learn from this and prevent something similar happening in the future.”
Before requesting the chronic depredation permit, the Middle Park group had sent Colorado Parks and Wildlife numerous letters requesting help, including asking the agency to lethally remove the two problem wolves or relocate them to a sanctuary. In April, the group received a $20,000 grant from the wildlife agency and Colorado Department of Agriculture for nonlethal deterrents including nighttime patrols and herd protection, such as hiring range riders.
Ritschard said that “from the get-go,” after the first depredation, the Middle Park group used nonlethal deterrents including fox lights and critter getters. They also set up a range rider, who was using spotlights, voice commands and had cracker shells on hand, he added.
“Just recently, we got more into the non-injurious hazing permit, which is rubber bullets, so we had that capacity too, and then we’ve got into guard dogs recently,” Ritschard said. “After snow melted, we were able to move cows out of areas and tried to get them away from locations where the wolves were.”
Adam VanValkenburg, president of the North Park Stockgrowers, echoed that the removal of this pack was “necessary and long overdue.”
“I think it’s a great thing because you know these wolves are obviously chronically depredating,” VanValkenburg said. “And either relocation or lethal management, it was that time to either do one of those options because they were clearly chronically depredating and needed to be managed as such.”
While some agreed that something needed to be done with the depredating pack, wildlife advocates expressed their concerns over Parks and Wildlife’s decision. Mike Senatore, senior vice president of conservation programs for Defenders of Wildlife, called the decision “deeply flawed” in a press release.
“This decision is being driven by politics, is not rooted in science-based management and stands to significantly delay the progress of the reintroduction program,” Senatore said. “All parties involved in the events that led to this deeply flawed decision should be held accountable for failure to effectively utilize proven coexistence tools.”
Delaney Rudy, Colorado director at the Western Watersheds Project, stated that it was “disappointing that those wolves may now be deprived of the chance to live wild lives on the natural landscape in Colorado,” in a press release.
While the pack’s next destination is unknown, there are still concerns.
“They’ve been depredating on livestock now, and so you know I don’t think that’s going to not stop ever,” Ritschard said, adding that he hopes the wolves “go to a sanctuary.”
VanValkenburg said, “whoever is going to be getting the wolves, it’s going to be a great concern on their part.”
“Once a wolf learns that, you know, beef and sheep are an easy meal or an easy prey source, it’s not like you can train it out of them,” he said. “They’ve got that ingrained in their brain.”
VanValkenburg added that the agency may need to consider lethal action in the future.
“With any wildlife management, lethal control is part of the equation, and as we get more wolves in the state, that has to come into play,” he said.
Still, VanValkenberg called the agency’s decision to relocate “a small step forward in the right direction.”