Cruel Fox Hunters Save Animals. What?
Nine out of ten foxes surveyed said they'd rather be chased and hunted by humans and dogs on 62,000 acres of wild acres than bulldozed into oblivion and buried under the concreate, asphalt and blue grass lawns of a 10,000 population development.
I appreciate people who are concerned about wildlife, but I worry about those who take actions based only on emotion.
It's knee-jerk easy to "hate" hunters for killing any "magnificent, innocent" animal, but... Old Ma Nature herself invented killing. Predation. It's essential. And it must be "good" because it's natural, right? (Lovable predators like wolves and lions, after all, feed their babies with the "innocent" animals they "murdered.") Hunters are essential for the proper functioning of the entire system of life.
To date, wolves have instituted no restrictions on killing does or fawns. As a species they have not closed hunting seasons or set bag limits. It's rumored they might even eat an endangered owl or whooping crane if given half a chance.
Unless you believe
Homo sapiens
dropped in from a distant galaxy far, far away, you understand that humans are a product and part of Nature, too. Just like wolves, lions and chimpanzees (other species that kill and eat,) we are subject to the same natural laws that govern all life on Earth. But there is one major difference: Humans are the only animal that has the insight and wisdom to appreciate the ramifications of our actions, as
. We are the only species that limits our kill. Only human hunters have ever
established closed seasons, proscribed shooting fawns and females, limited harvest to a small, annually replaceable percentage of a given species' population. Only humans pay license and tag fees to fund protection of essential habitat. In the U.S. this has resulted in restoration of most popularly hunted big game species like pronghorn, elk, whitetails, turkeys, wood ducks, Canada geese, etc. while non-hunted species like some kangaroo rats, songbirds, salamanders and wildflowers are endangered.
This fox found no ground squirrels, no nesting birds, not even grasshoppers to eat on this highway.
I was reminded of this recently by an obituary in the paper that, unexpectedly, spotlighted this "conundrum" of hunters and "saving wildlife." Back in the 1960s a fox hunter, one of those despicable wealthy persons who rides about the countryside atop a horse to harass innocent foxes, learned that developers were going to convert his fox chasing grounds into a town of 10,000. They wanted to dam a river and sell lakeside lots. The hunter and two fox hunting friends bought up some of the critical lands and started the Tri-County Conservancy which has since grown into "one of the largest land trusts in the U.S." It has protected from destruction more than 62,000 acres in PA, NY and DE. Instead of growing concrete, asphalt, houses, shopping malls, tennis courts, golf courses and animal rights activists, the
hunter-created
Conservancy lands have been growing foxes and millions of other wild creatures that thrive in woods and fields.
Wildlife has a hard time living beneath concrete, asphalt and houses.
Funny. I can't recall the last time so-called "animal rights activists" blocked housing developments, chained themselves to Mall doors,
, wrote hateful letters to editors that called boaters, home owners, golfers and tennis players murderers. Yet hunters protect 62,000 acres of wild, undeveloped lands from permanent destruction -- and they are called bloodthirsty, cruel, heartless despoilers of Nature.
These popular, emotional, knee-jerk reactions against hunters would be funny if they didn't lead to such sad, destructive outcomes.
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