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The C.A.S.H. Courier

ARTICLE from the Fall 2007 Issue

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO:

Wildlife Watching in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada

Peter Muller & Lynn Middaugh

Stan Pabst’s place is a wonderful area for wildlife watching. Sadly the bears who live on his property are subject to hunting and poaching, and Stan has been threatened by all of the usual suspects: agents of the Ontario DNR, hunters and poachers. Yet Stan has prevailed.

When Stan told us that hunting was to begin on a certain day, we decided to pay Stan a visit to help patrol his property on the first days of bear season. Sadly, because the maps were not clear, the dates we arranged were a week before bear season was to start in Parry Sound. But, we had also arranged a meeting with Ms. Lynn Middaugh who’s the Director of Economic Development and Leisure Services for the Town of Parry Sound.

She admitted that she was totally unfamiliar with wildlife watching tourism. We gave her a great deal to think about, and asked that her agency become involved with encouraging the DNR to enforce the laws against poaching. She answered that her department would have no influence over the DNR and couldn’t do anything to prevent bear killing.

Tourist bureaus must begin to weigh in against poaching and hunting as wildlife watching becomes more popular.

We encourage you to contact Stan at http://www.friendsofthebears.ca/ to arrange to visit him and the wonderful wild animals that he protects – when we visited at the end of August, there were wildlife watchers who came and spent hours from Stan’s viewing platform to see the bears interact with each other and Stan. The great sadness that we all shared was realizing that some of the bears would not be there following the bear season.

A happy bear at Stan's

Stan’s 500 acre property is home to countless wild animals. It is beautiful, as are the bears he tries to protect. In one photo you see one boy who is lucky to be there, for at least awhile.

The bears, of course are free to come and go, that’s the law: They have to be available to be killed!

Guest Lectured At Green Mountain College Of Environmental Studies

Anne Muller guest lectured at the Green Mountain Environmental College in Poultney, VT in October. It was an anti-hunting class within a hunting course conducted by Dr. James Harding.

Fortunately, of the 50 or so students who attended (James Harding’s class was combined with another class on Environmental Ethics by Dr. Gregory Brown), only three raised their hand when I asked if they hunted. I don’t know if they do that for all guest lecturers, but following the presentation, the applause was loud and sustained.

Just as we were going to print, Jim Harding’s message below came.

Anne,

Thanks again for your time and efforts. And should space allow in your next newsletter, I’d submit the following.

Dear Editor,

I’d like to thank Anne and Peter Muller for giving a guest lecture to my class at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont in September 2007. The class, NRM 3061: Hunting—History, Ethics, and Management, is made up of 20 students, only two of whom hunt. Thus, the bulk of the class self-identify as non-hunters (not necessarily anti-hunters). Anne and Peter helped to frame a two and half week unit on Anti-Hunting.

Their presentation was thoughtful and challenged the students to think about hunting in different ways. In particular, I felt the points they raised regarding the role of state fish and game agencies and hunter harassment legislation were particularly noteworthy. Regarding the role of fish and wildlife agencies, I believe this to be a valid critique of how all species of wildlife are managed. It certainly begs the question, if hunters and anglers are so important to the funding of these agencies, what faith should we have in overall wildlife management knowing that game species likely receive preferential treatment.

The hunter harassment legislation would seem to be well-suited for a 1st Amendment test case. At the very least we might ask why other recreationalists don’t have similar harassment laws acting on their behalf. In speaking with the students afterwards, they too thought that these two points raised by Anne and Peter presented the sharpest critiques of hunting. I felt that Anne and Peter did a fine job and I look forward to having them visit again the next time this class is offered.

Sincerely, Jim Harding

Associate Professor of Natural Resources Management Green Mountain College Poultney, VT 05764

Conference on non-lethal wildlife management

October 25th in Maryland On October 25th C.A.S.H. participated on a panel presenting various aspects of “Non-Lethal Deer Management” in Columbia, Maryland. The Panel consisted of Dr. Priscilla Cohn, Board of Directors of Humane USA, Don Elroy, Director of Wildlife Advocacy of the Humane Society of the United States, Anthony Marr - HOPE-CARE Foundation, and Peter Muller of C.A.S.H.

The conference was organized by Jennifer Grill and Ann Selnick of Animal Advocates of Howard County.

The conference was well attended, about 50 participants representing different points of view and interests came to the session. At least two reporters covered this event.

Attending also were several representatives from the Maryland DNR and the Maryland Department of Recreation & Parks. One of the DNR attendees informed the organizers the next morning that he will change his presentation to include some of the the non-lethal management information presented at the event. The discussion that followed was lively and interesting to all attendees and panel members. We thank Jennifer Grill for the superb job of organizing this important event.

Following the presentation, Jennifer Grill wrote:

Peter, I just want to thank you again for being a part of this conference.  Without you we would have missed a big piece of the picture.  Your expertise along with your explanations was an integral part of this event.  I know how many hours you had to travel to get to this venue and how much time you put into this.  I also appreciate your recommendation to include Priscilla Cohn, for her explanation of PZP was invaluable.  Thank you for going out of your way to carpool with Priscilla.

Several people mentioned a desire to start a chapter of LOHV in Maryland.  We are planning to meet in the near future to figure out how we can accomplish this.  I am not sure if you had the opportunity to meet Enid Feinberg, but she agrees that this is an important aspect in our fight.  I will keep you posted on any events surrounding this topic.

If I can ever be of assistance to you, and Anne, in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I look forward to working with you in the future. 

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for making this event a success.

Jennifer C. Grill

Wildlife Spokesperson
Animal Advocates of Howard County
www.animal-advocates.org
Representing 2000+ supporters of Animal Advocates that VOTE!

BULLWHIP USED TO FRIGHTEN CANADA GEESE

Our Hotline 877-WILDHELP Helps Animals and Humane Humans

A shocking call came through the Wildlife Watch Hotline. The caller lived in an apartment complex, and some of the neighbors, she reported, were using bullwhips to keep the geese off of the manicured grounds. One of the birds was missing part of his wing, but it could not be determined if that was caused by the whip…a poor goose with half a wing and doomed to no flight forever.

Wildlife Watch placed a call to the management of the building to ask that they control this individual or we would go after her legally. They reported back that they have done so. Following up with the person who reported this, there has been no more use of the a bullwhip.

What next?

Go on to Know the Enemy
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Anne Muller - President

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