In a blow to environmentalists and animal rights supporters, President Donald Trump has signed a new law that revokes the Obama Administration’s rule against “predator control” hunting on Alaska’s refuges. The rule prevented hunters from killing bears as they hibernated in their dens or killing wolf cubs in dens. It also bars hunting from helicopters.
Alaska has been pushing for the expansion of hunting in federal wildlife refuges despite, as we discussed earlier, the devastating impact of hunting on iconic wolf packs in Denali. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials held the line in protection of these animals. Now, however, Congress has interceded to reverse the rule. While I respect the right of Congress to reverse such agency decisions, I disagree with this action. These are limited and reasonable limitations for protected areas of Alaska. Given the huge benefits from eco-tourism in the state, I am hoping that eventually the state will join other such areas in actively protecting these animals.
If trump signed …congress passed it first
Congress are predators. Let’s kill them in their dens.
“Congress are predators.”
***********************
JackW are illiterate.
Congress is a singular term so Congress is a predator. The people are predators.
Ah hell, does this mean I have to see pictures of Trump’s sons Uday and Ousay sticking their guns in dens before they take their pictures with them?
If you’re going to put the clown nose on, you might say something creative and amusing, kid.
The problem is that environmentalists seem to favor predator populations (wolf and bear) over their prey (elk, moose and caribou). The only effective way to maintain these prey populations is to decrease the number of predators. That is why the regulations were pulled. It’s about balance of animal populations not emotional appeals to “the environment.”
People simply favor what they want short term, and the devil take the hindmost, as they used to say. Pure uneducated short-term selfishness, Torturing baby animals is simply a fun little dalliance along the way.
Wildlife is a resource to be managed like any other, your sentimental claptrap notwithstanding. It’s not cruelty to thin the predator population to preserve other species even if they do look like Yogi or Buck from Call of the Wild. Toughen up a tad.
Managed for whom? A resource for whom? Everything isn’t just for us, though you seem to believe it is. Killing baby animals in the den is tough, all right. Yup, real tough guy.
Everything is just for us. Self-loath all you want there, dude. We’ll snicker at the utter ridiculousness of your moonbeam philosophy divorced from any notion of reality.
Sick f***k.
I’m in your head now. Funny not much around to see. No surprise.
Where can we find data on the numbers? TIA
I believe this is the entire text of the law:
“Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the final rule of the Department of the Interior relating to “Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures, on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska”.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Department of the Interior relating to “Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures, on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska” (81 Fed. Reg. 52247 (August 5, 2016)), and such rule shall have no force or effect.”
https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hjres69/BILLS-115hjres69enr.pdf
I cannot find language in this law that authorizes anything inferred by Turley’s headline. This appears to be federalism at work relinquishing power back to the state of Alaska to manage their own land.
Yesterday’s news?
Wag The Dog — How Al Qaeda Played Donald Trump And The American Media
Responsibility for the chemical event in Khan Sheikhoun is still very much in question.
04/09/2017 08:57 am ET | Updated 1 day ago
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/syria-chemical-attack-al-qaeda-played-donald-trump_us_58ea226fe4b058f0a02fca4d?
While I respect the right of Congress to reverse such agency decisions, I disagree with this action.
You live in greater Washington. Just what do you know about wildlife management?
And Donald Trump? What does he “know about wildlife management?” And you? Why don’t you enlighten us.
Since when did I make any prescriptive remarks on the subject? It seems sort of cruel. It’s also a venue a city kid knows nothing about.
As for Trump, it’s his legal responsibility to review legislation. Because it’s an ancillary matter, he almost certainly delegated the review to a trusted subordinate and signed the legislation consequent to an endorsing memorandum. The members of Congress who enacted the legislation were relying on the committee with a specialized book.
JT’s headline is purposefully deceptive. He knows dropping Trump’s name in there will guarantee a negative reaction and then the hibernating bears and cubs part has no context. I half expected him to quote some hypothetical hunter who stated “the way you shoot Aleut women and children is you don’t lead them so much.”
JT will typically provide a link to the legislation to support his story. He left that out and all the context behind whatever this law REALLY for. This headline makes no sense. This is not some EO that didn’t require debate within Congress. This had to go through committee, debate on the floor and it would have been all over the news that a law was passed to allow hunters to go kill hibernating bears in their dens and kill cubs as well.
There is way too much missing from the dramatic headline and short story to make any of this make sense.
The real question that everybody should be asking is, why is the state seeking this change?
1. Not every Trump supporter likes the idea of shooting cubs and sleeping bears
2. Fed shouldnt even really own land to start with.
3. Most Federal agencies should be abolished
4. Again, not every Trump voter is for the idea.
2. Fed shouldnt even really own land to start with.
Rubbish. Any government needs to own public thoroughfares and manage common property resources. Sometimes, these are of a supraprovincial scale, so the proprietor is properly the federal government.
3. Most Federal agencies should be abolished
Can you even name 10 federal agencies without checking that are candidates for abolition?
dds – do you realize that the federal government owns over half the land in Arizona? However, except for the few national parks and monuments, the feds own no land in New York.
I’m familiar with the inventory of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. One owns grazing land and the other timberland. Neither operate highways nor do grazing land and timberland qualify as common property resources in the strict sense of the term.
And plenty of democrats are fine with this bad idea.
Agreed that it seems unsportsmanlike, but if they do have a problem with predator overpopulation I don’t think “sport” enters the equation. The problem may be that – due to the brutal Alaskan winters – and somewhat sparse human population – there’s no easier way to “dispatch” them. It sounds cruel, but – let’s face it – humans are now responsible for maintaining eco-balance between animal populations. And here in Westchester the local police seek out coyote dens and dispatch their inhabitants and I don’t hear a word of protest from helicopter parents. I’d say Alaska locals should know what works and be allowed to do it. It comes down to trust. I think they should be trusted unless we know they’re screwing up. Also, I don’t think grizzly bear attacks help with eco-tourism.
Birth control for animals is feasible. Destroying living beings is immoral.
Birth control for animals is feasible.
Quit talking out of your ass.
dds – hands up everyone who is willing to give the bears their birth control pills?
Have you heard of tranquilizer guns? Well, there are birth control measures that can be injected and last for years.
bettykath volunteers to give birth control to all the bears in Alaska. Yea, we are saved.
Paul Schulte…
The Onion (Jan.18, 2016 edition) had a headline story on the program to provide free condoms for deer.
tnash – with those hooves, the deer wouldn’t even be able to get the condom wrapper open, much less put it on. 🙂
Paul Schulte…
The Onion “might” put out fake news at times.
tnash –
Tranquilizer guns are not very accurate. Not sure how you plan to manage to give bears in the wild courses of medication to control their ovulation.
That humans have maintained true balance of anything is a complete fallacy. “Seems” unsportsmanlike? “Sounds” cruel? Think for moment about how the animals suffer–oh right, you don’t care. Liking killing stuff for fun and pretending it’s “management” = something wrong with you. How the least and vulnerable are treated reflects the values of a society. I’m hating ours.
Oh. So Congress passed a new statute and Trumpster signed it. So. Lets focus on the statute and who promoted it.
Did Trump sign “a new law”? A “law” is a statute. A “regulation” is less than a statute. A statute is created by Congress and cannot be changed by Trump. So. We need some action by Democrats in Congress to trump the Trump regulation which allows merciless killing of bears and wolves while they sleep or hibernate.
Regulation. A Regulation is not a Law. This is a legal blog. Let us get precise.
It is ok to say that Trump is a dork. It would not be right to say he is a convicted felon. Words have meaning. Trump did not sign a “law”.
The article says “Alaska” is seeking this. Does this mean the State of Alaska?
Trump did it. Ok. Who is the person responsible? Can the author “unmask” the decision makers.
The Framers had it correct with the first draft of the Second Amendment. The right to arm bears… If some “hunter” is going to go into a den and shoot a sleeping bear then the hunter needs to be shot in the head with a shotgun.
That photo of the Trump weenie kid with the dead animal next to him is insightful. Big game hunter! Psychologists will often tell you about the mindset of dorks who kill animals and then post photos of themselves next to the dead body of the animal. This is because the dorks are lame sexually. So they make up for it in other ways. “See! I’m a Man! I shot a bear!”
And the hooker is off to the side saying: “No. Can’t he get it up.”
Jack Ruby – you ever go bear hunting? Or are you too chicken?
There’s no question but that killing is perverted sexual gratification.
There’s no question you’re a sick-o fantasist.
dds – I never got sexually aroused nor did I climax when I went hunting. However, I did enjoy the venison for the next several months.
What? You need a psychology book.
Actually, I think I would approve of poison for culling.
Poison kills indiscriminately and isn’t an easy death. How can a person have nothing better to do than write legislation that promotes killing baby animals! It’s not sporting and it’s sickening. The truth is people like you want to live in a world without wild animals unless they’re trophy kills or deer/antelope/etc. While I like my guns, and hunt for food—I draw the line at torturing denizens of the wild who were here before we were and just want to live. Guess you’ll be happy when they’re all extinct, because this is where it’s going–30 or 40 red wolves left; 60 lobos–going extinct even without “culls” of babies. Happy now?
JackW – we cull deer from helicopters. It is not sporting, but it works. There is nothing ‘sporting’ about culling.
Culling attacks both predator and prey equally. The best solution is capture and removal or loosening up on hunting. Take your pick.
It doesn’t seem ‘sporting’ but it is for culling the predators.
But the predators aren’t culled. Only their victims are killed.
Doglover – these are apex predators.
Precisely.
The very top of all apex pyramid predators needing painless involuntary euthanasia administered by billions of humane survivor victims.
Are Mad Mein Trumpf, Mad Dog Murdoch, and all rabid Right-tards – Nil Water By Mouth!
WE are the only truly damaging “apex predator.” And we can’t control our own population and/or the damage we do. But we find time in our busy schedules to kill sleeping baby “predators.” How you can defend the torture that will accompany dragging these little guys from the dens with hooks, dogs and gas is beyond me. Rationalizing this strikes me as rather, well, personality-disordered.
JackW – you clearly have never met a bear in the woods.
Sure have. Many times. They ran away. That’s not counting the ones who are habituated to people, and follow tourists/ cars around for snacks.
JackW – so Jack, how many pair of brown-stained trousers have you thrown away to this point.
Uh–none?
JackW – I live in the West. Here bears are predators. A classmate of mine was attacked by a bear in Yellowstone Park. Bears kill people. Especially grizzles. Just read the Journals of Lewis and Clark. Read Revenant. They are not family pets. If you saw something that ran away, it probably wasn’t a bear or it was those wussy Eastern bears.
“WE are the only truly damaging “apex predator.”
***********************
Tell that to an elk, moose or caribou who were almost extinct when we let predator populations explode. It’s survival of the fittest out there unless “WE apexers” intervene. Now you whine all you want about man’s intrusion into wildlife areas but the bottom line is that if we don’t manage it, many of these species will join the other 99% of the species that once existed on this planet but are now extinct.
The wolf cubs are so scary with their nuclear bombs, endless war, GMO’s and mental disorders. Not. You’re the control freak whiner, dude.
Grow up Jack W. You’re a sentimental fool not understanding that hunting prevents starvation and disease.
Killing little critters isn’t “hunting.” Over and out, baby-bashing apologist.
Sentimental Fool = One who meets rational argument with emotion and invective.
Pathetic troll who just likes arguing: guy who defends torturing and killing baby sleeping animals.
JackW – do you understand the process of culling? You kill the animals. You do not torture them. Nice try at an emotional argument though.
Hahahahah
And we can’t control our own population and/or the damage we do.
Well, there’s no control of the dumb memes Paul Ehrlich put into circulation, no matter how many times he’s embarrassed and shown to be playing slight of hand.
Make a new involuntary euthanasia law, “24/7 Hunting Of Mad Mein Trumpf’s rabid Right-tards”.
Rabid Right-tards, Nil Water By Mouth!!
So it prevented past tense the bears and the wolves in dens (past tense) but stil bars (present tense) shooting from aircraft. I wonder what was left out if the entire regulation was posted correctly and how much of it was this one small portion or even why that portion was in the regulation….if it was.
I find it difficult to take heavily doctored and redacted material as useful especialloy those un sourced. .
Real men love to hunt animals who are sleeping. It’s so challenging! What a disgrace.
They also love to kill people who are sleeping in their homes, in night raids.
People who have nothing better to do than make life harder than it already is for wild animals should be shot themselves. No, really. The world would be a better place without sadists.
Those who enjoy killing used to kill each other in wars, which reduced their numbers. Now killers only kill defenseless victims, so apparently the relative numbers of those who enjoy killing has increased.
What kind of jackass would shoot a hibernating bear and her cubs? That’s got to be the epitome of unsportsmanlike and dishonorable behavior–worse than burglarizing a petting zoo and shooting a donkey.
Three-million fewer Trump voters, that’s who. They’re very pro-life.
‘What kind of jackass?’
Well, Eric, Donny Jr., and even Barron are on their way to Alaska right now to pop a few baby bears and wolf cubs, before they greet the morning. Eric said that just like nepotism not necessarily being a bad thing, this seems worse on the surface than it is because they plan to be real quiet and blow their sleeping heads off so they don’t feel a thing. Donny Jr is going to use his elephant gun, just to make sure. Yup, the royal family at work. Ahh, aren’t they cute all cuddled up there, BLAM!!!
Yep, makes their hunting that much easier. Just get a guide to take them to the den and they will do the rest, except have their guide take their kill to the taxidermist for them.
How can animal killing be a “sport” when half of the players don’t realize that a game is going on?
http://www.ecowatch.com/house-bill-legalize-killing-wildlife-2267895887.html “Born Free USA said that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rules were meant to protect Alaskan wildlife from “shockingly brutal practices.”
“Alaska is the only state that currently allows bears to be caught and killed for commercial and recreational purposes using cruel leghold traps and snares,” the group said. “Both steel-jaw leghold and snare traps are barbaric, cruel, and indiscriminate. When triggered, leghold traps slam shut with bone-crushing force on any victim unfortunate enough to encounter it, including endangered species and pets. Once caught, animals suffer immensely from injury, trauma, and stress, and ultimately die an excruciating death. Many even gnaw off their own limb in a desperate attempt to escape, often dying of a painful infection days later.”
“Strangulation neck snares have been cited as the cruelest of all trapping devices. The snare is designed to tighten around an animal’s neck as she or he struggles. Animals trapped in neck snares may suffer for days, and their heads and necks are frequently swollen with thick and bloody lymph fluid, a condition called ‘jellyhead’ by trappers. Death is often slow and painful,” the group said”
How hunting down animals became a sport should be part of the conversation.
It’s been a sport since prehistoric times and an essential part of survival. Currently, the emphasis is wildlife management where you thin predator populations to increase prey populations. Hunting regulation is just one component of managing wildlife for their overall benefit. Unbridled explosions of predator populations means less prey around and eventually a lot less predators around since they starve. People ought to know what they’re talking about (or at least do a little research) before they get all sanctimonious and gooey-eyed about killing Baby Bear and Loopy De Loop. Not everyone who disagrees with you does so for spurious reasons. Sometimes the sincerely compassionate are sincerely wrong.
Killing baby animals in the den has been a “sport” since prehistoric times? Killing baby animals is part of “survival?” Do a little research. People might as well not bother to hide their kill-spree likings in the guise of hooey rationalization like the above. That some are defending this makes me sick.
Prehistoric man had no compunction about eating any and everything he could lay his games on–baby animal or not.
mespo
I doubt very much that hunting has been a sport since prehistoric times. Hunting became a sport when man developed weaponry that pretty much guaranteed that he would bag the game with little or no threat to himself. I doubt very much that when a hunter had to dispatch a bear with a knife or club, it was sought out as a sport. Hunting is an adrenaline rush, mingled with an ego rush, mingled with a few other rushes in those who have their wires crossed. One could compare the crossed wires with those types that need violence and sex combined. Shooting a wolf from a helicopter as a job to maintain a balance is one thing. Getting off on it is another. Therein lies the experience.
“Hunter-gatherer” is the anthropological term. Look it up and be amazed my eternally amazed one.
The scum that would shoot a sleeping animal will not tell the story of killing a sleeping animal. The people that voted Trump to block Hillary will not take this lightly.
That’s the truth. So often what happens in the woods stays in the woods.
“What kind of Jackass”? the human kind. This isn’t my definition of a hunter as it relates to animals, I know lots of hunters and I’m sure they wouldn’t participate in a senseless slaughter of defenseless animals.
Even in the world of bears an eternal verite stands true: you snooze, you loose.