Govt program breeds pheasants to shoot, tortoise conservation front page, zoos +.. 12/29/24

Today I share a shocking New York Times report on government conservation spending that goes to a program that raises pheasants for people to shoot. At least I get to balance that with a heartwarming Los Angeles Times story about a marine base that doubles as a tortoise rescue center, all the more buoying thanks to its front-page, above-the-fold, lead story placement in yesterday’s paper. And Saturday’s Toronto Star had a sensitive lead piece about the five animals who died this year at the city’s zoo.

Before I share those, let me thank every one of you who has written to the Los Angeles Times with regard to its coverage of the spread of Avian flu, while I share a perfect letter printed on Tuesday:

“Re: Bird flu reportedly prompts another raw milk recall

“Another option to limit the spread of H5N1 is for people to stop drinking the milk of another animal. How did we buy into the notion that we have to consume cows’ milk to survive?

“Alison M. Grimes, Yorba Linda”

So short and to the point. Powerful. Important. I hope it inspires you!

Let me also thank the Angelenos who responded to an alert I sent this week about a front page Los Angeles Times story about dogs who live loveless lives in small pens so that their blood can be sold for use by beloved pets in need. (Here’s an AOL link to that story.) The paper ran three strong letters in response, which you can check out at this Yahoo link to them.

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The New York Times story, by Corey Kilgannon, is titled online, “New York Raises These Pheasants to Be Shot. Is It Hunting or Cruelty?” The subheading reads, “Some lawmakers hope to end a program that is meant to introduce children to field sports but that critics say makes the birds easy targets, if they don’t die another way.”

We read:

“The state program, which began in 1908 and had a $1.4 million budget this year, provides 65,000 birds a year to foster interest in field sports among children and other novice hunters. But critics like Mr. Di Leonardo call it target practice with live animals that results in mass slaughter. Serious hunters call the birds insultingly easy prey. Some New York State legislators hope to end the program through a bill to be introduced next month.”

We learn more from Di Leonardo later:

“’They pump them full of lead and let the birds crawl away to die — it’s a very cruel death,’ Mr. Di Leonardo said as shotgun blasts rang out in the distance. Nearby, hunters in bright orange vests walked by, holding their guns.

“The pheasants raised by children in hatching programs are the tamest, he said, with many walking right up to hunters because ‘they’ve imprinted on humans and some even want to be picked up.’…

“’I think people would be horrified if they knew that almost a million dollars of New York Conservation Fund money was going toward a program letting hunters shoot fish in a barrel,’ he said.”

Here’s a gift link from DawnWatch.

The story just appeared online today and is not yet in print but probably will be sometime this week, so it is entirely appropriate to respond to the online story if you are inclined to lend animals your voice.

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Last week I shared a Los Angeles Times story as online, but the appearance of it on yesterday’s front-page (Saturday December 29) makes it all the more heartening and also all the more worthy of a response to the paper.

“Sheltering tortoises in the Mojave” by Alex Wigglesworth, opens with:

“The two tiny tortoises emerged from their burrows as soon as they detected Brian Henen’s footsteps, eager for the handfuls of bok choy and snap peas that would soon be tossed their way.

“It will be a few years before the tortoises, roughly the size of playing cards, have shells tough enough to avoid becoming prey for the ravens soaring above. So for now, they live with roughly 1,000 others of their species in a sheltered habitat ringed by barbed wire and draped in netting.

“The elaborate setup on the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center is designed to protect the tortoises not only from ravens, coyotes and other predators, but from rumbling tanks, live explosives and anything else that might put them in harm’s way at the 1,189-square-mile Mojave Desert base.”

The story does also cover those who say a better solution would be to stop expanding military bases into tortoise habitat. It is worth reading and can be found at this UK Yahoo link if you hit a paywall at the LA Times.

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The Toronto Star carried an essay yesterday (Saturday, December 29) which stood out partly due to the pronouns chosen in its headline, “Five animals died at the Toronto Zoo this year. This is who they were – and what they left behind.”

It’s a thoughtful look at zoos, which includes important information including:

“Only 23 per cent of terrestrial vertebrate species found in zoos worldwide are facing extinction. Only 20-25 per cent of threatened or near-threatened mammal species are held in accredited zoos, and only 9 per cent of critically endangered species can be found there.

“Meanwhile, zoo breeding programs don’t even prioritize threatened species. Less than half the mammal and bird species governed by sanctioned breeding programs in North American zoos are threatened in the wild.

“The modern zoo claims, first and foremost, that it is a conservation organization, striving to save species from extinction (cue the journalists unhinging their jaws). And yet, the makeup of zoo collections suggests something entirely different. Most of the animals in a zoo are there simply because they are popular with zoo-goers.”

Canadians, and all others particularly passionate about captivity, I urge you to check it out and dash off a quick appreciative letter to the Toronto Star for its coverage, making whatever point you feel needs to be emphasized, for animals’ sake.

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In other mainstream media animal news shared over the last week to the DawnWatch X Feed and DawnWatch Facebook Page:

We had beautiful news from the Puget Sound as we learned that Tahlequa, the Jpod orca who carried her dead baby for 17 days and 1000 miles in 2018, has a new calf!

There’s been bad news but good coverage from the Grand Junction Sentinel of the death of a horse during the hideous mustang roundups.

Heartbreaking news from the Guardian as a man in Michigan is beaten to death while intervening, on Christmas Eve, as another man beats a dog.

A sweet story from Treasure Coast Newspapers, via Yahoo, of the retirement of chimp named Limnani to Save the Chimps in Florida. The photos of his previous living conditions as compared to the islands at Save the Chimps are eye-opening.

Cleveland.com ran a very nice guest column pushing Flexitarianism.

And finally, we read, from the Washington Post, more troubling news about the spread of Avian Flu, this time into a big cat sanctuary in Washington state where it killed twenty big cats.

Now I will get back to work on the DawnWatch year end round-up. It’s been quite a year for animals in major media!

Yours and all animals’,
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch