“Hunters as the ultimate conservationists.” Dallas front page 3/23/25

Texans,

Today’s, Sunday March 23, Dallas Morning News has a sorrowful and shocking photo on the front page, above the fold, of a beautiful scimitar-horned onyx who was shot, being dragged away, and the headline, “Big Game and Big Revenue: Inside how exotic hunting helps support conservation in Texas.”

One of the subheadings of the article is “Hunters as the ultimate conservationists.”

It includes a description of “a good shot” where the animal ran off and collapsed about 600 yards from where he was shot.  We all know that others are not so “lucky.”

The whole thing is heartbreaking.

I urge you to respond, remembering that legislators look to letters pages as barometers of public opinion. Please also remember that papers have been proven to be far more likely to print letters that praise them rather than criticize them (about 10:1 more likely) and that animal rights activists have a reputation for being scolding, which it would be great if we did our best to overcome. Without telling you what to write – and asking you not to copy anything I have written, as the paper wants your thoughts, not mine — I will guide you to do your best to find a way to speak for animals, and for conservation that doesn’t involve killing, without speaking against folks who hunt for food (most people eat meat and animals fare no better in slaughterhouses) and, especially, without scolding the paper. It’s a challenge, but I know we can do it!

Yours and all animals’,
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch