Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

State hunting control is flawed

When trophy hunter organizations and state regulators claim there are no detrimental effects on wildlife species from expanding their killing, there is a real problem with their perception of reality. State wildlife agencies, including Nevada’s, seek license fees, thus their motives are biased and unconcerned with wildlife species’ best interests.

If left to their own devices, wildlife self-balance their numbers based on climate and forage availability without human interference or misguided human management. The inherent genius and wisdom of nature knows few boundaries.

Trophy hunters, such as the president’s son and Safari Club International members, need an education about the harm they intentionally cause. These promoters perpetuate the fiction of wildlife conservation, while killing unarmed animals in their twisted idea of an unequally matched sporting contest and for personal bragging rights.

Underlying their claimed beneficial actions toward wildlife is a darker motivation to inflate population numbers, then kill them to bring the numbers down to an artificial level through hunting and trapping. We saw this dynamic at the recent state Wildlife Commission meeting, where the Wildlife Department and its licensees helped set killing quotas for fur-bearing animals.

The quotas largely come from questionable population guesstimates, so there is uncertainty how many of a species can be killed before extinction.

Serial wildlife killing is not genuine conservation, only permanent destruction of natural resources.