Whitehorse Star-- December 14, 2007
Don't slaughter animals during tourist season!

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 strategies 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 season because if any visitor was to witness this, it would not contribute to our "Larger than Life" image!One elderly man sitting behind me wanted to help clear out troublesome bison loitering along our highways. (For the safety of Yukon drivers and tourists, he said, he would be perfectly happy to kill bison 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 his body language, looked like he was sizing me up for a spot in his trophy room. The proposals put forth are "negligent","irresponsible" and based on greed, and the lust to kill! This disrespect for wildlife should not and must not be supported. 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 McLachlan song (about trapping) dedicated to all our hard-working "fur harvesters" out there. I did not see any CBC reporters at the Tuesday 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 ********************************************************************************

Whitehorse Star-- December 24, 2007 Check your facts and don't get personal By Trapper Frank (Johnstone)

In response to the Mike Grieco's letter "Don't slaughter animals during tourist season!" (Star, Dec. 14). After reading more of this type of half-truths, I just had to respond and clarify on a couple points; your letter left me wondering if I was at the same public meeting. In regards to the question asked, "Why the need to eradicate so many wolves?" (Eradicate: def. wipe out; stamp out; destroy.) My answer still is, "No one wants to eradicate the wolves. "As a trapper and hunter, with broad community support, I was proposing to allow a higher amount of wolf harvest within our territory. Currently, Yukoners are harvesting at a sustainable rate of two per cent of the wolf population. (Sustainable: def. a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.) What was proposed, was to allow an increased harvest, likely moving from two per cent to three per cent. You misquoted me in saying, "Up to a third of the wolf population could be immediately killed, with no harmful effects to the overall survival of the species." I was merely stating that government biologists have openly commented that up to 33 per cent of the wolf population could be harvested, so long as it is a dispersed harvest; currently, we harvest two per cent of the population. Your comments on this public meeting as a gathering of our local "stewards of the land" and the proposals put forth are "negligent", "irresponsible" and based on greed, and the lust to kill! Well I don't know how the Department of Environment, Yukon Fish and Game Association, the Town of Faro, Yukon Fish and the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board or the Alsek, Mayo, Teslin Renewable Resource Councils along with their first nations and community support feel. These people, boards, councils and governments work very hard to ensure someone like you gets ample opportunity to speak to the issue. Show some class. We are all entitled to our opinion, but if you want to continually write letters slamming everyone and everything, keep the facts and quotes straight, and don't get personal.
Trapper Frank (Johnstone)
Teslin Lake ********************************************************************************
Whitehorse Star-- December 28, 2007 A
nimals are not resources to be exploited Re: "Check your facts and don't get personal" (Whitehorse Star letters, Dec. 24, Frank Johnstone).

Mr. Johnstone, I want to thank you for engaging in this discussion. I would also like to thank you for restating what I paraphrased you as saying regarding wolf hunting at the public meeting on the Yukon Wildlife Act proposed regulation changes on Dec. 11. Note: you were paraphrased, not quoted, in my letter (Star, Dec. 14). In your letter, you said "keep the facts and quotes straight," and yet what was proposed by the Teslin Renewable Resource Council (RRC) and the Alsek RRC was not what you stated in your letter. You described an "increased harvest, likely moving from two per cent to three per cent." Fact: the actual proposal put forward by the Teslin RRC was an increased 'bag limit' from three to seven wolves for resident hunters, and from two to four wolves for non-resident hunters. The Teslin RRC also proposed extending the wolf killing season to April 30. The Alsek RRC proposed no restrictions on killing wolves for either resident or non-resident hunters. These proposals would permit a much greater increase in the number of wolves killed than the one per cent rise you described in your letter. Needless to say, I do not support or believe in the unnecessary destruction of any animals. Also, how can you claim that "currently, we harvest two per cent of the population" when the accurate wolf population size is not known? You have yet to respond to my question of why you want hunters to have the opportunity to kill more wolves. Again, why?Mr. Johnstone, you said, "these people, boards, councils and governments work very hard to ensure someone like you gets ample opportunity to speak to the issue." In my opinion, the public consultation process for the proposed regulation changes is not transparent. The decisions are being made in secret, and written comments submitted by the public have not been made available for public viewing. It is the newspapers that I applaud for providing a space where dissenting opinions can be shared. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having special consideration for the life of another. Wildlife are not resources to be exploited; they are sentient beings like you and me. Let them be!
Mike Grieco
Whitehorse ********************************************************************************
Whitehorse Star-- January 21, 2008
How was this wolf murdered? By Mike Grieco

Re: wolf skull left in mailbox. The skull of a wolf was left in my mailbox last Thursday. With it was a Wildlife Act permit authorizing a trapper to "gift one wolf skull bleached." Was this the skull of a wolf that was lured by bait and murdered by snare? By gun? By leghold trap? By bludgeoning (while trapped)? What was your intention for gifting this skull to an animal rights activist? This is obviously someone's idea of a joke. Someone has already shown a great deal of disrespect by destroying this animal. Now someone has taken the level of disrespect even higher by using this animal part as some sort of prank or message. Could you not express your thoughts in a more appropriate way? I challenge you to explain this "gift" to me in a letter to the papers. How about it? Write us a letter. Please. Whether it was the trapper himself or one of his friends who left the skull at my doorstep, they are not welcome at my home. Praise the wolves!
Mike Grieco
Whitehorse