The petition jumped to over 11,600 signatures with many great comments. You are also coming up with ideas to consider. We’re hearing suggestions to hire a lobbyist and enlist celebrities. One of those suggestions was to contact Prince Charles, and it came with a well written letter ready to sign. You are working! Another repeated suggestion from many who are outraged that the new governor would let this happen is to picket the capitol. For ways you can help see http://www.bear.org/website/the-nabc/help-protect-radio-collared-bears.html.
We’re hoping the St Paul Pioneer Press article has an effect. The first page of section B of the newspaper has picture of a radio-collared bear (Jo) with obvious ribbons. She has a crosshairs on her face surrounded by your words. Powerful. Your words were good, and we hope they resonate with the public. The article is online at http://www.twincities.com/ci_17542925?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com and the pictures from it are posted here in the update.
Some had questions about the quotes from Representative Phyllis Kahn in the article. She is quoted as saying she wants a bill that warns people about shooting radio-collared bears but doesn’t make it a crime. We’re hoping that she and we can gather public and legislative support to go beyond that and make it illegal to shoot radio-collared bears wearing ribbons in our study area. Having that happens depends upon support from our local legislators, Representative David Dill and Senator Tom Bakk, together with support from the Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Environment and Natural Resources. The letters currently being written to Representative Dill and Senator Bakk from their constituents will be key to this process.
How could Commissioner Landwehr make such a lop-sided decision? He sided with a few dozen hunters who might be slightly inconvenienced instead of siding with science, tourism values, all you have done for the Ely economy, and the vast educational value of the bears to the public and to students. How could a decision like that make sense to a governor and commissioner? One guess would be to follow the dollars. Deer and bear hunters alone pay about $15-20 million dollars in license fees and taxes on their purchases of hunting equipment bring in another $11-14 million dollars directly to the DNR. These millions pay salaries and more. The wildlife officials who say that Minnesota’s wildlife belongs to all Minnesotans are actually having their salaries paid by hunters.
Can these officials avoid biases in their decisions when it comes to decisions that pit a slight bit of inconvenience to a few hunters against great benefits to thousands of people who want to learn?
Actually, wildlife watchers contribute much more to Minnesota’s economy, over a billion per year, but their money goes into the general economy, not into the paychecks of wildlife management officials.
Hunters and their money are indeed a powerful lobby.
Actually, hunters are divided on the issue of protection for radio-collared bears as we mentioned in the update last night. A poll showed that about 2,000 hunters strongly favor protection and about 2,800 are strongly opposed to protection. The rest fall in between. Of the hunters who are opposed, maybe a dozen hunt in the study area. Should the wildlife officials listen to these few who want radio-collared bears to be legal targets? Or should they listen to the thousands of Minnesotans who supposedly also own these bears? Should the officials listen to a few who would be slightly inconvenienced? Or should they listen to many who would be greatly inconvenienced by the loss of Lily or any of these research bears. Or should they listen to the hunters who want these bears protected and who are frustrated when hunters ruin opportunities to learn by shooting radio-collared bears?
We know the choice the commissioner made. Was it all about money? Maybe not. Another question is who gave the governor his thin margin of victory in the election. Sportsmen were a strong voting block for Mark Dayton, but so were the people of Ely. On this hunting issue, he allowed Commissioner Landwehr to side with the dozen hunters and threw the economic interests of Ely and the educational interests of thousands of thousands around the world under the bus, so to speak.
We think that when the commissioner says, “Minnesota’s wildlife belongs to all Minnesotans” he should actually consider the broader interests of Minnesotans and not just a dozen hunters who might see the radio-collared bears. Making it illegal to shoot radio-collared bears is definitely within the Commissioner’s power. Years ago, another commissioner closed our whole study area to bear hunting to protect the research and the researchers. It’s called an expedited ruling, is good for 18 months, and can be done without public input. That can be followed up by a permanent ruling after receiving public input, which we could very easily provide.
When it comes to issues of hunter ethics, we turn to Jim Posewitz for advice. He is the author of “The Hunter’s Ethic: the past, the peril, and the future.” A passage that seems a propos for this moment is “The future of hunting, and the relationship between hunters and the rest of the society, is being forged in the presence of the bear, this "… beast that walks like a man." The events that endowed us with the privilege of hunting gave all citizens an interest in wildlife. What we do and how we do it, is a legitimate social issue. Remaining socially acceptable as hunters and particularly as bear hunters, is essential if we are to sustain this North American hunting heritage. What remains is strengthening our personal ethic with the bears we hunt to assure that our conduct toward them is respectful, appreciative and honorable. Social acceptance lies in this component.”
He defines an ethical hunter as “a person who knows and respects the animals hunted, follows the law, and behaves in a way that will satisfy what society expects of him or her as a hunter.”
We can only hope that the commissioner, the governor, or the legislature will in the end make a decision that is socially acceptable and that hunters will respect the decision and behave accordingly.
Meanwhile, we ask. Who will listen to us? What will legislators do to help?
All we can do is keep trying. This is too important to ever let go. And thousands of Lily fans will continue to come up with more and more ways to keep up the drum beat.
Those of you who were watching the den cam today were well entertained! For those of you who missed it there’s a video of today’s shenanigans at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq8wsRWPb2s. We continue to be amazed at the things we see in the den.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center