Birdlife claim!

[Pajarita]

I tell you, none of the government agencies that regulate wildlife have the wildlife's best interests at heart! All they do is cater to hunters...

http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/ ... 6736142331

[Harpmaker]

Birds don't vote. Perhaps more bird-lovers should.

To be fair, hunters and fishermen were in the first wave of conservationists, because they didn't want to run out of game. Fisherrmen in particular supported fish hatcheries from the start. People who didn't go into the wilderness didn't notice that there were fewer animals than there had been.

[Wolf]

Thank you Harpmaker ! I read this and was no sure how I wanted to respond to it. The first thaough that came to me was that this is not here it is Malta and I not only know very little about the place, I don't find out about what is going on in time to do anything about it if I could. I don't think that they would allow me to have a vote.
I have hunted and fished all of my life although as far as fishing is concerned, I wish that I had done a lot more catching than fishing, but that is the way of it. Hunting is a skill set as well as an art that allows one to leave ones place of residence and walk up to any given wild animal and touch it. No gun, knife, camera or any thing that you were not born with is required. The taking of a life, any life is not a thing that should be done lightly as the ramifications are long lasting in ways that we are just beginning to comprehend. I know that I perhaps approach this differently than many others that hunt, but to me life is sacred and as such my life is no more important than the life of a rabbit or any other life form their is no difference in this respect. when we look and see the fate of our wildlife then we see the fate that we forge for ourselves and our descendants. In these times conservation is no longer enough as we really need to repair the things that we have done or all of the acts of conservation will not be enough to bring balance back to this world.

[Pajarita]

Actually, it's pretty much the same here as it is in Malta... and I would say anywhere in the world because Wildlife departments are not meant for actual conservation of species or protection for the animals. These people are not particularly known as animal lovers, quite the contrary, the officers are always criticized for their cruelty... It's like Animal Control only for wildlife, what they mostly do is kill them.

To illustrate, a recent audit analysis of their services:

http://www.humanesociety.org/news/press ... id86162658

And here in New Jersey, we are currently fighting this Wildllife proposal:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/0 ... eason.html

[Wolf]

This only serves to prove that it is up to us to become more aware and then to act on that awareness, such is the way of life.

[Pajarita]

Yes, indeed, the culture of this agency or department (it depends on the state whether it's one or the other) needs to change and it falls on our shoulders to push for it.