As Below, So Above?: North America's War On Wildlife
A lone wolf treks across snow-jaden tundra. In the distance, coming from behind the large canine, the sound whop-whop-whop-whop.With every passing second, it gets closer. It is a helicopter. As it hovers above the wolf, a marksman takes aim. CRACK!! The rifle shot shatters Montana's silent serenity. The wolf, once known as the spirit of the wild, drops.
When you turn on your idiot box to get caught up with the news of the day, more often than not, there'll be at least one story covering a war somewhere around the world. And, once again, more often than not, it will be a war the U.S. government has it's greedy little hands in up to a dead marine's eyeballs. What they won't televise on the news is the domestic war that has been going on for fecades: The federal government's war on wildlife.
In 2013 the lives of 4 million animals were terminated by Wildlife Services. The majority of the animals killed as a part of this organization's disgustingly fowl agenda were invasive birds. The rest of the death toll "included 75,326 coyotes, 866 bobcats, 528 river otters, 3,700 foxes, 12,186 prairie dogs, 976 red-tailed hawks, 419 black bears, and at least 3 eagles, golden and bald". (Fears). Over the years, the amount fluctuates, give or tale a few million casualties.It becomes quite apparent that Wildlife Services acts not as an agency that gives aid to wildlife but rather as a free-reign death squad.
Wildlife Services have been dispatching with animals for more than a century. They aided in clearing out wildlife as civilized man migrated west. Their duties are " to disburse, relocate or kill (but mostly kill) wild animals deemed to be problems". (The Helena Vigilante).
What happens when the institution becomes the problem? Instead of lookong out for grizzlies and mountain lions, they're more focused on the interests of " everything from airports to ranchers". (The Helena Vigilante).Wildlife Services Spokeswoman Lyndsay cole states that birds are killed "so they won't gum up the works of airplanes". (Fears). Wolves are killed for taking out cattle. Often, entire packs are slaughtered.
John Shirik, author of The Predatory Paradox, states "Predatory management in the United States primarily means flying helicaopters, setting cyanide ejectors, hiding traps, using ambush and sniper tactics to slay animals, which is expensive and ineffective". (Frazier). Management? Since when did nature become somrthing that must be controlled as if it were a spoiled child throwing a tantrum at the doctor's office or grocery store? And with all those methods of murder being conducted on a daily basis, what about collateral damage? Wildlife Services "accidentily trap or poison thousands of untargeted animals both wild and domestic". We're sorry about your dog, maam..We were just doing our jobs. (The Helena Vigilante).
I equate the way this outrageous agency of assassination services wildlife with how George Carlin shows us businessmen service customers in his Advertising Lullaby rant. Bend over and take it, baby!
What about our neighbors to the north? Is it as below, so above? to be honest, i don't know. But if the video above is any indication, I would have to lean towards the affirmative. This cat not only should've been saved, it could've been.
Personally I'd love to see a wildlife militia organized throughout the North American continent. They would be highly trained guardians of the wild schooled in wildlife biology, tracking, tranquilizing, marksmanship, communication, confrontation and so forth. Most importantly, they would have to answer to the people, not the government.
There would be those that would say I live in a dream world and they would be correct. You see, I've already created my dream world and although a wildlife militia doesn't exist in it at the moment, it does have a cannibal clown named Cookoo Charlie and he is being vigilant over the wildlife and would defend them against those who would bear them ill will. Even if it's the federal government.
Credits:
Fears, Darryl: USDA's Wildlife Services killed 4 million animals in 2013, seen as an overstep by some.
The Helena Vigilante: Predator or Prey? Behind Wildlife Services Montana Kill Report.
Frazier, Lance: Former USU prof: Killing predators not always best policy.
