Mr. Clune is a hunter who supports hunting. Anne Muller is not a hunter
and envisions a wildlife management agency and policies that are not
supported by the firearms industry. That Mr. Clune kills animals because he
says he likes to eat meat is like a robber justifying robbing a bank because
he likes to be rich. That Mr. Clune hunts because he likes meat is as
irrelevant to me as it is to the game agencies, for they don't manage for
subsistence hunting, they manage for sport hunting - the enjoyment of
killing wild animals.
I disagree with several of Mr. Clune's statements. He said that the
game agencies are "above-board" in their connection to the firearms industry.
They are anything but that. They have euphemisms for everything related to
killing. They say "sporting goods" for firearms, ammunition, bows and
arrows; they say "taking" for "killing." Those are
just two terms that they use to cover and soften the fact that they are
inextricably linked to
weapons and the killing of wildlife. In fact, the DEC's role in wildlife
killing is so little known by the public that people often call the DEC
to
report hunting!
Land should be preserved - yes, but not for the sake of growing "game"
and hunting. We need to look at how we interact with the rest of nature.
People who enjoy wildlife non-consumptively far outweigh the consumptive (ab)users.
During the long hunting seasons, non-consumptive enjoyers of nature often
stay out of lovely areas because of the hunting risks. Take a look at our
webpage on "Hunting Accidents" if you would like to see the
danger that hunting poses to the human population and to homes in the
vicinity of
hunting. We've had calls from people who express a desire to come upstate
from New York City but are concerned about seeing the dead bodies on
top of
cars. In fact, this arrogant display of death is so disturbing to the
public that the DEC asks hunters to hide dead deer and bears by putting
them into
body bags or inside vehicles.
A letter that recently came to us was from a Christian cleric in
Missouri. He wrote, "Another big problem is the hunters who are drinking and
intoxicated while hunting... Hunters set fire to the woods by our home (two
times last year)." He refers to his area as a "war zone and a terrorist
zone," describing ricocheting bullets around his house. He said, "Many
a time wounded deer half alive come stumbling through by our home. It
is an
abomination and sin before Almighty God that people are allowed to be
so cruel and barbaric."
I beg to differ with you, Mr. Clune, but wildlife protection groups
do indeed try to protect wildlife by purchasing land. HSUS has thousands
of
acres of land. On the website of HSUS, they state: "The Wildlife Land Trust
currently protects more than 84 properties on more than 72,000 acres in 23
states and four foreign countries (Romania, Belize, South Africa and
Canada). Landowners can arrange to have The Wildlife Land Trust permanently
protect their properties, and they may thereafter be eligible for income and
property tax savings by selecting any one of several conservation options." Additionally,
there are hundreds, if not thousands, of rehabilitation centers and refuges
that individuals and small groups in the
animal-protection movement have bought to support wildlife and try to
keep them safe from aggressive hunters who break in and sadly kill the
wildlife.
We, in fact, have 66 acres of land upstate New York which we patrol on
the first day and first weekend of hunting, and which will hopefully become
a Watchable Wildlife site within a couple of years.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express all of the wonderful
plans that we have to develop and to further educate the readers about the
need for wildlife management change, and the need to see the end of the
cruel non-sense of hunting and trapping. I appreciate it.
You are right about one thing: Wildlife Watch and one of its divisions,
C.A.S.H., are not big. We number several thousand across the country,
but we
are ever mindful of what Margaret Mead so eloquently stated: "Never
doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world.
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Anne Muller
Wildlife Watch, New Paltz
Published by 
