I've just seen videos of the scenario that I posted above and it struck me as a "sad method to hunt."
It looks as though you may have fell victom to one of many decietfull tactics these groups emplore.
Why haven't raccoon or rabbit hunts been outlawed?
Why just bear and cougar? Is it because they have been portrayed for so long as endangered cute and cuddly animals?
Hey goforchrome,, its ok to slap on a nightcrawler to attract a fish, but unethical to to do that for bear? hmmm
Looks to me like you have fallen victom to the same media campaigns.
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Animal rights groups targeting hunting, fishing
They are pressuring corporations with public campaigns, Fenton Roskelley writes.
September 12, 2001
Fenton Roskelley - The Spokesman-Review
Inland Northwest hunters and fishers are becoming accustomed to being attacked by animal rights groups and their supporters.
Most of them know their enemies. Among their most vociferous and persistent critics are the animal rights activists such as the Humane Society of the United States, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Friends of Animals.
The animal rightists want to stop all hunting and fishing. To the consternation of sportsmen, they have converted many Americans to their way of thinking.
Unfortunately, for hunters and fishers, the rights groups win more battles than they lose. They pick their battles carefully. They know most Americans have little sympathy for trappers; consequently, they've targeted trapping in many states and they've succeeded in getting some states either to ban trapping or drastically curtail it.
Every time they conduct a campaign, they win converts to their cause even though they lose a battle. As a result, they add to the growing number of citizens who believe that hunting should be banned or sharply curtailed.
They know that persuading Americans to ban fishing will be a tough sell. So far, an overwhelming majority of Americans support fishing so they are concentrating on trying to get people to ban hunting.
Woods and fields of the Inland Northwest are filling with deer, bear, elk and bird hunters.
All but a minority are behaving ethically. Among the minority, however, are the poachers and hooligans, none of whom will consider how destructive their actions are to conscientious hunters. Animal rightists are always looking for incidents that will help their cause.
They publicize the transgressions of the poachers and hooligans on their Web sites and send out press releases that infer that all hunters are bloodthirsty louts. They have developed several often-effective strategies to win their fights. They intimidate government agencies, persuade people to boycott big store chains that sell furs or anything made of animal parts and sweet-talk voters into banning certain types of hunting.
PETA last week won a battle to force Wendy's restaurants to change its ways of buying meat. PETA supporters picketed restaurants and intimidated customers. Activists shouted "Wendy's tortures animals." The day after Wendy's caved in to PETA's demands, the organization's Web site carried a story about the campaign. The headline crowed "PETA Wins Wicked Wendy's Campaign."
PETA targets many big companies for allegedly mistreating animals or supporting hunting and fishing. It also picks on federal and state government agencies.
For example, the National Trappers Association recently petitioned the U.S. Postal Service to create a series of stamps honoring trappers. PETA has asked its members to write to politicians and Postal Service officials protesting the NTA proposal.
The stamps, PETA says, "would glorify the cruel mutilation and slaughter of animals.
The group's members are now writing letters urging the University of Florida not to pick an Oregon scientist for an important job. P. Michael Conn of the Oregon Regional Primate Center is one of the finalists for vice president of research at the university.
"Conn conducts painful, unscientific and unethical gland research on marmoset, rhesus and macaque monkeys," PETA alleges.
PETA also is conducting campaigns against several big companies it claims are guilty of animal abuse. It says Nissan "glorifies bullfighting," Isuzu "uses skins to sell SUVs" and Hilton Hotels "holds animals captive."
To avoid bad publicity, many corporations do what PETA wants them to do.
PETA, which recently launched a campaign to ban all fishing, is trying to force the Boy Scouts of America to drop its merit badge on fishing. So far, the group hasn't demanded that states end hunting and fishing, something, they know won't be done.
The Fund for Animals has demanded that newspaper editors and officials of TV cable channels stop promoting hunting and trapping. It's too early to know whether any editors or TV officials have changed their policies.
Incidentally, the Fund for Animals is the organization that wants all Americans to become vegetarians. One of its advertising campaigns is titled "Spare an animal, eat a vegetable."
The Humane Society of the United States, the biggest and most powerful animal rights group, has won numerous battles in its campaign against hunting. It claims that it is responsible for the bans against trapping in Arizona, California, Colorado and Massachusetts, and the ban of steel traps in New Jersey.
HSUS also says it thwarted an attempt to open bear hunting in Florida, Maryland and New Jersey. The society has condemned dove hunting.
HSUS last week claimed the wild services branch of the Department of Agriculture "is violating Washington's law restricting the use of cruel and indiscriminate steel-jawed leghold traps and certain poisons to kill wildlife."
So far HSUS hasn't condemned the latest action by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission enabling hound hunters to kill more cougars in areas where the cats are threatening people and livestock. The commission will issue permits for 109 cougars in 21 game management units. Last year 74 permits were issued. For a permit to be issued, there must be 11 confirmed complaints involving human/cougar interaction, at least four of which must involve a threat to the safety of humans, pets or livestock. Hunters say the requirement is too stringent.
To the HSUS, however, any change easing the regulations to control cougar numbers is unacceptable. Maybe HSUS is too involved with its many anti-hunting campaigns to protest the commission's action.
•You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.
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