OPPONENTS OF TRAPPING

There is a pro-trapping organization called the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance which erroneously equates hunting and trapping with 'wise wildlife management'.  In an effort to generate increased activism among members, they published a list called America's Top 10 Threats To Trapping.  Each entry includes descriptors intended to discredit the anti-trapping group it names.  Ironically, those descriptors lend credibility to the groups instead.

Here are the 'threats' to your right to torture and murder wildlife ~

1. The Sierra Club
2. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
3. Humane Society of the United States
4. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
5. Defenders of Wildlife
6. Born Free USA
7. In Defense of Animals
8. Animal Welfare Institute
9. Center for Biological Diversity
10. Footloose Montana

Pretty scary list, huh?

I grew up in the hunting culture of northern Montana.  I understand the pleasure of being out in nature, the satisfaction in learning the habits and signs of wildlife, and the thrill of getting close enough to see one's quarry in detail.  But when I became an adult, I also realized that there is no rational justification for the gratuitous taking of life, whether for sport or as a profession.  One can achieve the same satisfaction by carrying a camera rather than a weapon ~ and the target remains unharmed.

In nature, predators and prey existed in a state of dynamic equilibrium for millenia before humans arrived.  It was we who drove countless species to extinction through over-hunting and habitat destruction.  Our self-serving manipulation of wildlife populations hardly qualifies as 'wise wildlife management'.  Neither science nor experience supports that claim.  If we had our heads on straight, we would learn to co-exist with our fellow passengers on the planet ~ further, we would learn to be caring stewards of wilderness and wildlife.  Our supreme intelligence demands nothing less.

Toward this end, I invite every reader to join one or more of the organizations in the list above.  (They forgot to mention the National Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Earth First!, and others.  But hey, this is a good start.)