What a great week it was for Yukon wildlife!
On Tuesday night I went out to join the gathering of our local "stewards of the land" (at the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board and Environment Yukon’s 2007 Wildlife Act Review consultation meeting).
It seems there is, at present, a very serious shortage of killing in the Yukon and everyone agreed that new ways need to be tried to "take out" and "harvest" all kinds of animals. Even women and 12-to-15-year old youth are needed to enlist in the noble cause of wildlife management!
I learned that bison and elk are now "nuisance species" (not native to the Yukon) and much shooting needs to be done.
But be sure to leave enough animals around for future management. And please don’t shoot them during tourist because if any visitor was to witness this, it would not contribute to our "Larger than Life" image!
One elderly gentleman sitting behind me wanted to help clear troublesome bison loitering along our highways. (For the safety of Yukon drivers and tourists, he said would be perfectly happy to kill calves also).
One of our local wolf-killers – sorry, I meant to say "harvesters" - said that up to a third of the wolf population could be immediately killed, with no harmful effects to the overall survival of the species.
He (also a trapper) and one of his cohorts looked like a couple of school kids who had not prepared properly for a class presentation. (In this case, I asked them to explain to me why the need to eradicate so many wolves).
One of these brave men, judging from the look on his face, looked like he was sizing me up for a spot in his trophy room.
Then on Thursday at lunch, there is CBC Yukon’s Nancy Thomson, rolling out the red carpet during the lunch hour for a long interview with a Yukon trapper - a cruel occupation that should be abolished. (See some of the reasons why at http://www.v4a.org/?q=node/136 ).
Ms. Thomson even made a wish for more snow (for a better trapping season) and played a Murray McLaughlin song (about trapping) dedicated to all our hard-working "fur harvesters" out there.
I did not see any CBC reporters at the Monday night meeting, nor hear any reports about it on CBC radio. The only journalist I recognized was Chuck Tobin from the Star.
Mr. Tobin: please don't start reporting the news like the so-called "journalists" from CBC Yukon.
Praise the animals!
Mike Grieco
Whitehorse