When hunters control the hunted

[YankeyMCC]

(snip)
THE MASSACHUSETTS Division of Fisheries and Wildlife recently issued new coyote regulations. And even though a wide variety of wildlife advocates had urged otherwise, the hunting season is to be extended by five weeks, making the season on coyotes and foxes the longest for any game animal. The new rules also put coyotes on the list of "nuisance" wildlife to be controlled by Problem Animal Control agents.

Perhaps the new regulations are a response to human-coyote encounters and a step to reducing coyote population in the state? That is not the case. Marion E. Larson, a wildlife biologist for the state, said in a Springfield newspaper that the longer season isn't being proposed as a population control measure, but rather a way to provide more chances for recreational hunting.

In fact, she said, hunting has little effect on the numbers of coyotes; more trapping or hunting pressure may even increase their birthrate. Since MassWildlife and its board have admitted that the extended hunting season will not bring down the coyote population, the new rules are designed solely to satisfy hunters.
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The taking of an animal's life is not a form of recreation on a par with bowling. The time is long overdue for the composition of the board to reflect the fact that Massachusetts citizens have evolved from their gun-toting image of a century ago. These days, the vast majority of us value our wildlife, seeking connection to it not through killing but by exposure to it, walking in the woods and scanning our skies and our waters.

The huge margin of victory for the Wildlife Protection Act indicated that the public holds a far more benign attitude toward wildlife than do those in charge of policy. The next opening for a Fisheries and Wildlife Board member is scheduled for September.
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by Virginia Fuller, former president of the New England Wildlife Center
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/09/04/when_hunters_control_the_hunted/

[Submariner]

1. It's the dollars

It's all about hunting license fees for the state coffers. It is sad to say, but in order to keep their jobs, my brother and sister biologists have to sell their souls to politicians to keep the campaign contributors hunters happy. Same story for fishing and wetland habitat preservation.

The human race just keeps chipping away at every resource until they will eventually disappear one by one.