Activists aim to halt wolf-hunting season, Referendum sought to stop Michigan law

[G_j]

Source: Toledo Blade

Activists aim to halt wolf-hunting season
Referendum sought to stop Michigan law

Animal advocates across Michigan are collecting signatures to stop the potential hunting of gray wolves, which were protected by the state for nearly 50 years after they were hunted to near extinction.

A referendum challenge to a new state law could delay the creation of a hunting season for the animals by a year and a half. In December, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law Public Act 520, which gives the state Natural Resources Commission the power to decide whether a wolf-hunting season should be held.

Various estimates place the wolf population at fewer than 700, with the vast majority in the Upper Peninsula.

Sen. Tom Casperson (R., Escanaba) sponsored the bill. The measure designates wolves as a game animal and authorizes the Natural Resources Commission to establish a game season.

Senate Bill 996, also sponsored by Mr. Casperson, would build upon provisions in law to ensure livestock owners receive fair and timely compensation for animals killed by wolves, coyotes, or cougars.

..more..

Read more: http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2013/02/04/Activists-aim-to-halt-wolf-hunting-season.html

[pipoman]

1. Most state agencies

charged with wildlife management do so scientifically. They determine if a species is over populated and issue permits targeting over population or maintaining populations. Over population, in fact historically animal populations of specific species goes in waves...as populations rise predators rise, disease increases, and populations ultimately tumble. Controlled wildlife management is used to eliminate these dramatic fluctuations in species numbers. My state's "wildlife and parks department" is the only state agency which is self supporting, operating without tax revenue, only on hunting and fishing licenses, and park entry fees. My state has more species and healthier populations of wildlife than 100 years ago because of wildlife management. The money paid for fishing/hunting licenses have re-introduced species such as wild turkeys. Since the re-introduction of turkeys, bobcat, coyote, and even cougar populations have increased dramatically...wouldn't have happened if game managers didn't have the revenue to do it. Further, there is much ground in my state which is no longer farmed in favor of acquiring refuge status, tax incentives accompanying that decision make it a win/win/win for land owners, hunters, and wildlife. Part of this agreement in my state is that the refuge land be open to hunters in season.

It is a simple fact that humans exist. And in their existence, must co-exist with animals if we wish to share at all.

[efhmc]

2. Well said. Am so glad to see many animals come back.

[G_j]

3. Glad you trust them, I sure don't

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/31/5153892/us-wildlife-agent-accused-of-trapping.html

U.S. wildlife agent accused of trapping a neighbor's dog

By Tom Knudson
[e-mail]

Published: Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 7A

The arrest of a federal Wildlife Services trapper in Arizona earlier this month on a charge of animal cruelty has sparked renewed concern about the little-known agency.

Wildlife Services, which was the focus of a Bee investigative series last year, is a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that specializes in destroying and dispersing animals considered to be a threat to agriculture, the public and the environment.

Since 2000, employees have killed more than 1 million coyotes and other predators, along with many other species, from nonnative starlings and wild pigs to migratory shorebirds, beaver, porcupines, river otters and other native wildlife.

In the process, they have also accidentally killed more than 50,000 non-target animals, from domestic dogs to golden eagles and black bears, The Bee investigation found.

In Arizona, Wildlife Services employee Russell Files is accused of setting traps with the specific intent of capturing a neighbor's dog he found troublesome.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/31/5153892/us-wildlife-agent-accused-of-trapping.html#storylink=cpy

[pipoman]

4. you must not trust anyone..

I can find someone in every profession who has been charged with a crime. Was the entire agency involved? No. If this is your standard for trusting the government you may look into a milita movement to find like minded souls..

[G_j]

5. Actually it takes a slice of reality

(Your remarks are totally inappropriate btw)

<snip>

In late October, photos posted on a federal trapper's Facebook page stirred anger among wildlife advocates.

The pictures show two dogs savagely attacking a coyote in a leg-hold trap and the employee posing with the tattered carcass of a coyote.

They also show other trapped animals, dead and alive.

The employee, Jamie Olson, works in Wyoming for Wildlife Services.

The photos sparked an agency review, as well as calls from two U.S. congressmen – Reps. John Campbell, an Irvine Republican, and Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat – for a probe of Wildlife Services.

"We continue to see more and more acts of cruelty coming from this clearly out-of-control, mismanaged and misdirected department," Campbell said of the latest incident.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/01/31/5153892/us-wildlife-agent-accused-of-trapping.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cp"/01/31/5153892/us-wildlife-agent-accused-of-trapping.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

[CreekDog]

6. you say you trust science but you seem not to trust math

maybe you just want to make a philosophical argument and when science seems to fit, you make that argument and when math doesn't you change the subject.

I mean of course you changed the subject, you'd lost the argument on the merits and ended up with the laughable (but not funny) position of saying you support scientific arguments but are silent when confronted with 50,000 accidental animal deaths.

In the process, they have also accidentally killed more than 50,000 non-target animals, from domestic dogs to golden eagles and black bears, The Bee investigation found.

[G_j]

7. no, this isn't Ranger Rick

though according to the post above, by not thinking so, I have aligned myself with armed militias waiting to fight the government.