Absolutely, well said!!!!
On Dec 15, 2009, at 3:18 PM, William Witt wrote:

> Pathetic.  Not shooting a mountain lion, per se.  I have no problem  
> with hunters stalking and shooting mountain lions where they are  
> reasonably plentiful and where there are laws and regulations  
> governing the hunters.
>
> Pathetic is some doofus discovering a mountain lion snoozing on a  
> branch 50 feet (I seriously doubt the 50 yards claim) away, calling  
> around on his cell phone until he finds out there's no law stopping  
> him, and then blazing away.  Wahoo!  Lookit me, I'm gonna be  
> famous!  Just like the guy who shot the moose a few years ago: "It  
> charged me!  I shot in self defense."  He shot it in self-defense  
> alright--in the side, as it stood grazing 50 yards away in a  
> harvested cornfield.
>
> Pathetic is the political cowardice of the Conservation Commission  
> and the DNR staff--for their attitude of total denial that mountain  
> lions are living and hunting in Iowa; for their unwillingness to  
> set any kinds of recognition or protections for the big cats, for  
> bears, moose, wolves and any other rare wild animals that wander  
> across our borders.
>
> Pathetic is the way we've spent some millions of dollars to restore  
> river otters to Iowa, only to see the DNR "experts" and  
> Commissioners, for pure political expediency, set trapping limits  
> that let so many animals be taken that in just two years, the  
> populations have plummeted alarmingly...  And yet, I've not heard  
> of any moves to close the season or revisit the regulations.   
> Otters:  another exotic crop that failed?
>
> What's really pathetic is the persistent, short-sighted commodity- 
> crop attitude that rules how we as a State think about our natural  
> lands, the plant communities and the animals, birds, and fish that  
> live on and in them.  (And just forget about amphibians, reptiles  
> and invertebrates.)   Ecological complexity, interdependence,  
> stability, integrity, sustainability--plenitude--mean nothing if  
> they don't generate dollars.
>
> Likewise, it's pathetic how any voicing of science and long-term  
> wisdom is quickly shushed.  Or shouted down.  Who at DNR could dare  
> say publicly, "Yup, we've got mountain lions in Iowa.  That's  
> because we've got more forest cover for them to hide in, and  
> because we've got a half-million deer for them to feast on.  And  
> we're gonna have more of them.  They eat deer, not cattle, not  
> housecats, so everybody calm down."
>
> Nobody, at least as far as I've heard, can even speak up and try to  
> educate against the ignorant prejudice that river otters rob  
> fishermen of the best fish in the rivers.  I have heard trappers  
> say that they like to catch and kill young otters, never reporting  
> it, because they don't want them growing up and competing for the  
> good fish.
>
> Pathetic.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 1:08 PM, joe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> http://gazetteonline.com/breaking-news/2009/12/15/cedar-rapids-man- 
> shoots-mountain-lion-in-iowa-county
>
>
>
>
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