Photo from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
UPDATE: I guess I was right about the gunfight part. This is courtesy of our state’s new “Castle Doctrine” law:
Apparently it is now “self defense” if someone steps on your porch and you blow them away. The march backward continues.
While searching for news stories about the impact of the Wisconsin wolf kill bill I came across this article from the Columbus Dispatch:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2012/03/18/groups-fight-over-wolf-hunting.html
What really stood out was this:
“Eleven tribes of the Ojibwe, also known as the Chippewa, in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan oppose a wolf hunt. Their disapproval, filed with the legislature in written testimony, is based on religious principle and a tradition that links the health of the tribe to the state of the wolf population.
Courts have ruled the tribes should have a say in matters such as a wolf hunt on land they control. Should legislators go ahead with a wolf hunting season, an additional complication is that half of the wolves harvested would belong to the tribes under existing agreements.”
What a slap in the face Scott Suder, Joel Kleefisch, etc. gave to the Wisconsin Native American tribes. The Wisconsin Legislature attempted to do the exact same thing with the failed mining bill. Look at the anti-woman and anti-minority bills that were recently passed. It seems that Wisconsin wants to return us to the mindset of the 1800’s where we kill all predators, increase trapping, eliminate unions, and treat Native Americans, minorities, and women as subhuman. What is next, gunfights in the streets? Public hangings? Is this what we want out state to become? If anyone thinks that I am over exaggerating just look at the type of bills that have been passed in the past 12 months.
Bill that Gave Complete Control of Natural Resources Board to Hunters, Trappers, and Agriculture
Elimination Of Punitive Damages for Discrimination Victims
Then there is this gem from one of the wolf kill bill “authors:”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/glenn-grothman-unplanned-pregnancies_n_1327940.html
Although some of these issues may not appear to be directly related to wildlife the one thing that stands out is that the same people are behind all of these bills. The names are all the same: Walker, Suder, Kleefisch, Grothman, etc. These people want to turn what was once one of the most progressive states in the country into the most regressive state in the country. Whether is is persecuting wolves or women, that goal is the same among all of these people. Is this the type of Wisconsin that we want to live in? I know that I don’t.