By Glen Wunderlich Outdoor Columnist Member Professional Outdoor Media Association
I wrote this column a year ago but the audacity seems quite relevant to today’s demagogues.
Approximately 40 miles of Pacific Ocean separate the mainland of Santa Barbara, California from once-privately owned Santa Rosa Island, the crown jewel of the Channel Islands National Park. The island, purchased with $30 million of taxpayers’ money, is home to 1100 Roosevelt Elk and Kaibab Mule Deer, which were imported to the island by the private owners some 75 years ago. Since that time, the non-native species have coexisted with various flora and fauna and have remained free from any diseases common to their cousins elsewhere. The following question has arisen since ownership has changed hands: Should the park be protected and open to all Americans year-round or should it also be made available to hunters to manage the elk and deer population? In a clever manipulation of power, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Congresswoman Lois Capps (all Democrats from California) have arranged for the extermination of all of these magnificent animals. None will survive.
Typically, one would count these left-leaning liberals on the side of the animals, along with animal rights groups such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Just look what happened here in Michigan when a mourning dove hunting season had been established and then abolished – thanks to the fiery emotional appeal fueled by millions of “animal-loving” HSUS dollars on behalf of the migratory birds. One would think that over a thousand elk and deer would warrant as much support but the silence of HSUS and PETA has been deafening.
While scratching my head, I began a review of the Congressional Record of May 14, 2007 and learned of California Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter’s attempt to save the animals from complete annihilation. Although a court-ordered extermination had been handed down, the assistance of the National Rifle Association (NRA) helped Representative Hunter to enact a law in 2006 protecting the healthy elk and deer on the island for visitors to enjoy. However, the National Park Service inexplicably pushed for the government-mandated aerial slaughter of the non-native elk and deer and Senator Feinstein obliged it by in including total eradication language in a 2008 fiscal year Omnibus Appropriations Bill that trumped the 2006 law to keep the animals alive on the island.
Here is what Representative Duncan Hunter said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on June 13, 2006: “All we want is about two weeks a year for the paralyzed veterans to come over. I would be happy to stipulate that no congressman, no VIPs. Only people who are paralyzed veterans, who are very disabled veterans…They could have the adventure of a lifetime. And, you know something, they may be wheelchair-bound but their spirits are free; they like adventure. This is a great place to take your family. And, this could be a special niche for those people. And, you know something else? The people of the United States, if the taxpayers knew that this was going to be used by paralyzed veterans, they’d say fine.” He added that the park service could easily accommodate the veterans and then elaborated. “Listen, the reason the park people have their nice jobs and the reasons we, as members of the American public, get to enjoy national parks is because of people who wear uniforms who go out in dangerous parts of the world and secure our freedom. So let in some paralyzed veterans, many of whom have been injured in combat, to come have a small piece of this island that almost nobody goes to anyway, is a small repayment for their service to our country. I think the taxpayers would appreciate that.”
While the liberals claim to support the troops, they sure have a funny way of showing it. And, those radicals in support of animal rights have proven that their agenda is less about animal welfare than it is about the elimination of hunting. It’s that simple.
