Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021 | 2 a.m.
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What would you say if your home had been devastated by wildfires, then some bureaucrat decided to randomly kill some or all of the surviving humans because the bureaucrat unilaterally decreed “the land can’t handle this many people?”
Shockingly, the executive director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, Tony Wasley, made a parallel statement regarding the 2021 recreational bear-killing season.
“Removing or killing 100 (bears), may allow for the survival of hundreds and hundreds more,” he said.
Long before there were bureaucracies playing God with wildlife species on behalf of their licensed killers, wildlife adapted to recurring natural disasters. Indiscriminate hunters make wildlife’s recovery more difficult. Wildlife migrates to new areas to find food and water if left to their own devices.
Just as human survivors don’t need further stress and survival threats heaped upon them after a major natural disaster, the small bear population deserves a break from the recreational trophy killing both the Department of Wildlife and the state Wildlife Commission falsely claim is one of their sound management techniques.
The bear hunt could be paused by either body because of extraordinary fire damage. Instead, they want to ramp up the killing. Such callous disregard again indicates just how dysfunctional both of these bureaucracies are in doing what’s best for wildlife. Doing what’s best means humans need to stop foolishly meddling. Wildlife needs time and freedom to instinctively recover from widespread disaster.
