I began writing everyday online about five years ago. Before that, I was a reader and never paid a whole lot of attention to what I was reading. I have to admit that like millions of other readers, I assumed that what was being presented in the mass media must be the truth. Wow! Was I wrong.
Once I began writing and doing my own research, putting together articles and educational pieces for readers interested in the meat and potatoes of the hunting, fishing and outdoor world, I soon realized that it was "monkey see, monkey do," all over the media world.
An example of this comes from the Associated Press, a world-wide news organization that sells and distributes its stories. Whatever they write, thousands of other outlets simply copy and paste their information into the columns of their papers and online sites. The world reads them and believes the information to be accurate.
Without getting into whether or not the AP knowingly prints false information, we must be reminded that a lot of what is printed was handed them by public relations personnel within businesses and organizations all across this planet, each with an agenda and no one interested in verifying information.
Some of us are fighting back. For too long, hunters, fishermen, outdoor nuts, etc. have spent so much time enjoying what we love to do outdoors, those who dislike what we do have had their way for too long, working through various channels, many of which are lawsuits, to put a stop to such things as hunting, trapping, access to public lands, etc.
One of the tools that has become a handy instrument for these special interest groups, is the manipulation and outright abuse of the Endangered Species Act. In the early 1970s, Congress signed into law this act that was intended as a means of assuring that no longer would we as a species be allowed to stand idly by while we watched another species run extinct. Great were the intentions.
Like with most laws, people found ways of taking advantage of this Act and began to use it to gain an upper hand in the promotion of their personal agendas. Now, things have gotten out of control. No longer is there much common sense in our courts. Special interests and judges are willing and seemingly quite eager to watch Americans suffer personal loss and be stripped of their property rights, all under the guise of saving the environment.
Anyone would have had to be living in complete isolation to not know of some of which I speak – spotted owls, wolves, polar and grizzly bears, only to name a few. It has gotten so bad that it seems we are willing to kill one species while attempting to save another.
A perfect example of this is the reintroduction of the gray wolf into portions of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Aside from the fact that the act itself may well have been illegal (introduction of a non-native species), what was sold to the American people 15 years ago and what has transpired are worlds apart.
Wolf recovery has been emotional and political. We had to believe that our scientists used the best available science to determine at what point recovery of the wolf would be deemed successful. Now that we have exceeded the goals set forth for full recovery, some animal rights groups don't agree with that science and are suing to stop the delisting. In the meantime, in the name of saving the wolf, the human species stands idly by watching as other species are destroyed. In places the elk population has dwindled to near extinction as well as mule deer and moose. Wolves are running unchecked and unmanaged, bringing with them destruction and the spread of disease.
These are only the obvious species being negatively affected by politics and personal agendas, while disregarding what science is telling us.
In this seemingly sick love affair of promoting a Disney-like wilderness, untouched by human hands, thousands of Americans are being affected each and every day. Property destroyed and people put in danger because activist judges love wolves too and will do anything to make sure they are not harmed.
Recently, a Montana judge granted a temporary injunction putting the gray wolf back under protection of the Endangered Species Act. It is clear, reading the judge's ruling, that he selected aspects of science and the Endangered Species Act to fit a decision we wanted for an outcome.
Our priorities are skewed. Animals have more rights than humans, ignorance abounds, rights are ignored and the American people's dreams are being snatched from them.
Some see this movement toward a "natural" form of wildlife management as good and a result of a progressive society in which it sees killing of animals as a bad thing, that society has no place for hunting. Our biased and ignorant media have taken the bait, hook line and sinker and eagerly passes on to unknowing readers information riddled with lies and not backed by science, much due to the failure of them to do their jobs well. Then when science is presented, the people have already been brainwashed by the well-fed media.
It's time to fight back. I have watched over the past five years as more and more Americans are beginning to speak up to protect their way of life, their heritage of hunting, trapping and fishing as taught them by their fathers and saying, enough is enough. Let's hope it's not too late. No longer should we sit and watch while small but very vocal and well-funded organizations dictate to us how we will live.
This is America, land of the free and home of the brave. Isn't it time we began acting like that again?
August 18, 2008
