Newspaper Prints "Shameful" Letter Advocating Killing Hunters
Shameful is the word that comes to mind for the Burlington Free Press and its decision to print a reader's anti-hunting letter, "Take a few hunters along with the moose," that was written in response to the Vermont paper's story about the opening of moose hunting season.
The letter was placed in the newspaper's online letters section as well and has now been taken down after responses from outraged readers. Hunters and non-hunters alike should chastise the paper for its decision to run the letter, and take the opportunity to educate readers about the role hunting plays in wildlife management. It would be nice to see Vermont's fish and wildlife department weigh in, explaining that trained wildlife biologists determine how to best maintain the state's moose population.
Here's the letter:
Take a Few Hunters Along with the Moose
On this beautiful day we learn that about 1,251 hunters are taking to the woods with legal permits to "pursue prized quarry." Certainly the members of various humane organizations do not approve. I suggest that before the next annual killing season, other residents be awarded legal permits to kill hunters who will be out to kill these beautiful, non-destructive animals. Or the government could just rule out all this primitive killing.
ETHAN A.H. SIMS
Shelburne
Here's the apology from the newspaper's editorial page director that appears online and which had better be in the letters section of tomorrow's print edition:
Today's letters to the editor included a letter about the annual moose hunt ("Take a few hunters along with the moose") that violates the statdards [sic] of the Free Press by advocating for violence against hunters. The letter has been taken down. We apologize for our error in judgement.
Aki Soga
Editorial page editor
The Burlington Free Press
While local readers' complaints have forced an apology, you may want to weigh in with your own letter to the editor. Send to letters@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
Newspaper Prints "Shameful" Letter Advocating Killing Hunters
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It'd certainly make for an interesting contest
Maybe they could make it an annual event where PETA and the Brady Bunch face off in the woods against the NRA?
- Don Earl
October 29, 2009 2:24PM
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Parallels Between Animal Management and Human Management...
Which is just plain wrong. It's a prime example of letting empathy get the best of you. We have animal cells - we are linked, through evolution , to mice and pigs and apes. But the similarities in our DNA end when we realize that we have to look out for numero uno.
You see, controlling pests through seasonal hunting is more complicated than the anti-hunters make it out to be. While I personally don't have the time, money , or equipment to do it I am familiar with how it works. Which is more than I can say for a lot of folks who assume we are wiping out the poor species.
Protecting animals through animal rights is not the same thing as protecting humans through human rights. Nobody wants animals to go extinct, true, but do you think a pack of wolves or some moose give a damn when they kill your flock or shatter store windows?
I could understand if it worked like a two-way street, but it doesn't, and our own survival comes before the survival of the species which have not evolved to our level of intellect or simply are NOT us - not humans.
Disagree with me all you like; animals are not people.
- m46607
October 30, 2009 1:35AM
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PETA and Brady Bunch won't have a chance...
No Contest and they know it. They have never been IN the woods, much less touch a firearm. And the old saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight…need I say more?
No one at Brady or Peta understand anything about protecting wildlife resources through proper hunting management, or protecting one's loved ones with self-defense firearms martial arts, or spending time with your family teaching your children about how this country became the greatest nation in the world through a history of using firearms to secure our freedom, or handing down your family pride of marksmanship at the range while improving your children's hand and eye coordination, not to mention strengthening their mental and physical abilities while learning about the great outdoors and the animals in it, professionally managed by the very hunting and fishing licenses we purchase as sportsmen. If you side with Peta you can’t do this so I guess you sit indoors a lot. If Peta and Brady do go on a hike, watch out for Grizzly Bears and carry a big stick…
No one at Peta owns a government issued hunting or fishing license, making their organization a scam and their "protection of animals" claim ridiculous, ironic, and self-serving at best. If they give their money to the government to help protect wildlife, then they are on the same side as hunters and fishermen, a chilling thought to anyone associated with Peta as being deemed related by actions to a hunter that kills animals!
No one at Brady or Peta owns a firearm to protect their family with. I take that back as odds are they DO own a gun, but they would never tell anyone, because it was purchased on the criminal-market and stolen, so they won't show up on a trace if they ever use it. Heaven-forbid should a Peta or Brady worker ever get caught owning a firearm. They would just claim it belonged to the criminal they shot after supposedly taking it away from him (as if they really could make anyone believe that). Or maybe they will call the police and wait the 10 minute average response time while the home invasion criminals have their way with their daughter. Or maybe they’ll pull out that scary knife…
The only thing Peta and Brady bunch can do is use words and scare tactics to fight with. It’s been a long battle since the 1970’s but the general public has been educated, the right to protect yourself and hunt animals has been vindicated, and the 2nd Amendment to the constitution upheld. If only the 2nd Amendment is ratified under the 14th Amendment, we can all sleep peaceful in any state you live in. Protected by your freedom to own a gun.
HarleyJ.
- harleyjames
October 31, 2009 12:11PM
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