The WI DNR's mission statement emphasizes stewardship and sustainability for "all life" - -
chasing tormenting of bears and annual coyote killing contests like this fit into those high-minded pledges:
Props to Dave Zweifel and Patricia Randolph at the Cap Times for raising alarms.
"To protect and enhance our natural resources, our air, land and water; our wildlife, fish and forests and the ecosystems that sustain all life."- - so how do sanctioned wolf-hound conflicts, the
Wisconsin DNR Chief Warden Todd Schaller recently told WXPR News in northern Wisconsin that wildlife killing contests like the planned KB Memorial Predator Hunt in Oconto County next week, are perfectly legal in the state of Wisconsin. The radio interview was in response to Wolf Patrol and other wildlife organization’s opposition to contests where prizes are awarded for the largest and smallest coyote, as well as the number of animals killed during the contests.
Coyote-killing contests etc. are legal only because they haven't yet been addressed in law.
ReplyDeleteIt's time to address them in law.
They don't fit into the "high-minded pledges of the WI DNR mission statement," but the contest organizers and participants skew the meaning of "wildlife" to mean "game animals" and the meaning of "environment" to mean "lands and waters maintained for game production." Beyond that, they ignore the problems of those unnatural environments, lacking in predators and thus lacking in selective pressure on prey populations.