Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/68594
Wild I H eritage By Ron Spomer It's time to stand up against the insidious propaganda of the self-appointed animal rights police. Either that or surrender more and more of our autonomy and freedom. f you've ever wondered what it would be like to live under the jurisdiction of an official government religion, check out the State Legislature in laid-back, tolerant California. According to a February, 2012, article by Marisa Lagos in the San Francisco Chronicle, ". . . 40 lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom" called for the resignation of California Fish and Game Commission President Daniel Richards, saying "his actions showed he is not fit to lead the commission . . . because he does not represent Californians' belief that mountain lions should not be hunted." else's beliefs? Nothing about performance or behavior. Just beliefs. Do they have him confused with a priest or rabbi? He does not represent someone in the Washington Post National on-line newspaper, Newsom questioned the wisdom of having a hunter as the head of an agency responsible for natural resources. Aha. Now we're getting to the nub, and there's the rub. According to a March 3 article The duly elected lieutenant governor of one of the largest, most progressive states in the USA said a hunter is not qualified to lead the California Fish & Game Commission. Hear ye, hear ye! Never mind that hunters were the political force that initiated the Fish & Game Department. And ignore the fact that hunters fund the California Department of F & G by buying hunting licenses and paying self-imposed excise taxes on firearms, ammunition and other hunting tools. Forget that hunters were the wellspring behind the North American Wildlife Conservation Model that stopped unregulated market hunting, established the National Wildlife Refuge System, trained biologists, reintroduced wildlife to former ranges and saved many species from extinction. Don't even mention how hunters hired game wardens to stop poachers. Pretend hunters weren't the political force that established the Duck Stamp, which has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for waterfowl restoration. Overlook Ducks Unlimited, which has saved millions of acres of wetlands that annually produce untold numbers of ducks, rails, geese, terns, gulls, wrens, sparrows, crayfish, bobolinks, garter snakes, horned larks, deer, cottontails, badgers, skunks, foxes, moose . . . Pretend that hunters did not form the National Wild Turkey Federation and restore wild turkeys to abundance across the land. Or that they organized the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to save essential wintering grounds for elk, SPOR TIN G CL ASSICS 57 SPOR TIN G CL ASSICS 57