BY JOE MIELE
GOT A QUESTION FOR UNCLE JOE?
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C/O WILDLIFE WATCH, BOX 562, NEW PALTZ, NY 12561.
UNCLE JOE GETS A LOT OF MAIL SO DON’T BE OFFENDED IF HE CANNOT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION IN THE COURIER. HECK, HE’S GOTTA WORK A DAY JOB, TOO.
Letters are printed as received. They are unedited.
Dear Stupid,
I’m an avid hunter and fisher man who can’t stand people like you,you
make me sick I just read the article you put in The Montana Standard
news paper, wich is my local news paper. How can you write garbadge like
that. Where do you get off saying that Montana FWP promotes as you put
it “ Violence of Hunting and Fishing”. I have hunted and fished all all
my life. I have yet to see where there is any violence in these sports,
and where do you get that hunting and fishing are a dying sport. leave
people that are law abiding citizens with guns alone.
Bill F.
Centerville, MT
Dear Bill:
Hunting is a violent activity. Let me put it in a way that you might be
able to understand - if shooting a person is violent, shooting an animal
too must be violent because the action is the same. If you can’t
understand this, you’re in worse shape than I thought. As for proof that
hunting is a dying sport, please look at these two links from the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service. http://www.census.gov/prod/3/97pubs/fhw96nat.pdf
and http://library.fws.gov/nat_survey2006_final.pdf. Looking at page 8
of the first link it tells us that in 1996, 35.2 million people fished.
Then on page 22 it tells us that in 1996, 14 million people hunted. Then
take a look at page 8 of the second link where it tells us that in 2006,
30.0 million people fished, and then on page 22 where it says 12.5
million people hunted. If you’re capable of doing the math, you’ll see
that is a reduction of 5.2 million fishers and 1.5 million hunters.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
you should be picking on the beef industry. Cow don’t have a chance in
hell they just sit around waiting to be slaughterd, and don’t get me
started on viel. Come to Texas somtime I will take you on a hunting trip
just to show you how difficult hunting is and the fact that they can
smell you a mile away,. Now if you want a just cause that I agree with
start harrasing the beef industry and for what to protect the profits of
the beef industry over a desease that was spread from the cattle in the
first place.
Ken K.
Brownfield, TX
Dear Ken:
Yes, wild animals have a superior sense of smell when you compare
them to us. As for them smelling you “a mile away,” well, maybe you
should do something about that. As for the cattle industry, I do a lot,
I am a vegan!
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
I know that some municipalities have banned circuses and rodeos.
Is hunting illegal or banned anywhere in the U.S., Europe or elsewhere?
Gretchen C.
Manahawkin, NJ
Hello Gretchen:
It’s so nice to have a legitimate question from a coherent person!
Thanks for reminding me that not everyone who contacts us is mentally
compromised.
Actually, there are many places in the US and throughout the world
that have banned hunting. In the US, the places that have banned
hunting have done so mostly out of public safety concerns (county parks
in densely populated areas, for instance), but hunting bans are also
intact in National Parks. Hunting has also been banned in areas
where there is sensitive habitat for endangered or threatened species.
The sport has not been banned nation-wide by any country, as far as I am
aware. I hope this helps.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
What’s your real motive, Uncle Joe? What forms of hunting are not
sport?
Rick L.
Alexandria, LA
Dear Rick:
Thanks for writing. You’ll be happy to hear (or maybe not) that
neither I nor C.A.S.H. will disguise our intentions. What we seek
is to educate and motivate the public so that they demand an end to the
willful and violent exploitation of wildlife. We believe that wild
animals are entitled to enjoy their lives by virtue of being sentient,
and we seek to change the way state and federal fish and game agencies
“manage” wildlife. Habitat should be managed for biodiversity and
the health and well being of the species it supports, not for the
enjoyment of the few hunters who derive pleasure from killing.
There are indeed forms of hunting that are not sport. In the
extreme northern parts of North America and other continents there are
people who hunt to survive. The same is true for many people in Africa
and Asia. On the part of the continent where CASH is based, there are
very few, if any people at all, who truly need to hunt to survive.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
It’s sad, how you people find a coyote more imporant than their own.
Trapping is part of this capitalist society and capitalisam is what
makes a civilized society so, how is it uncivilized? Look at the guy who
started up Fur-Fish-Game, he trapped and when he had enough money he
started up the magazine and was probably the most classiest and
civilized person I ever read about (well in America at least). Also our
civilized society would not have been here without trapping! For
trapping is what creates youths of our nation to earn the work ethnic,
which helps our capitolist society. You people makes me sick!
Bean
Lynchburg, VA
Dear Bean:
“Trapping is part of this capitalist society and capitalism is what
makes a civilized society so, how is it uncivilized?” It’s hard to argue
against logic like that, but I’ll give it a try. Fur trapping is
uncivilized behavior because it is a mercilessly harsh and cruel
activity that does not contribute in any way to the public good. You say
that our society might not exist if it were not for the efforts of
trappers who settled much of the land that today is the United States.
Would you also say our society would not be here if it had not been for
the efforts of the slaves? I would hope that you would agree that
slavery was a disgusting crime against humanity that was rightly
abolished. Likewise, trapping is a crime against wildlife and nature and
should also be abolished.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
