Is 'Merica finally overcoming its more primitive impulses in the 21st century?
US Person doubts it, but some
marginal indications are encouraging. The US Fish Wildlife has banned the inhumane practice of hunting predators from the air on Alaska wildlife "refuges" it manages. That rules change affects some 75 million acres of Alaska wild country, but not all of it. The new rules also prevent killers from targeting
mother bears denning with their cubs as well as trapping wolves and their pups. Of course the killers are distraught about these animals increasing in number because they also prey on their favorite victims, moose and elk. Large carnivores play an important, scientifically established role in maintaining the balance of a healthy ecosystem. Therefore in any conservation scheme that makes ethical sense, wild predators should always have priority over man's depredations for sport. Despite the predictable resistance from the brave nimrods of Alaska, the FWS passed the rule changes in belated recognition that such brutal practices should never have been allowed on land designated a refuge for wildlife and that the state game commission is
hopelessly captured by hunting interests and their economic dependents. Opposition in Congress will continue, no doubt because of the Money Power.
