Posted on 04/19/2008 12:32:56 PM PDT by neverdem
Hunting Ban Being Discussed in Colorado! |
Friday, April 18, 2008 |
Please Make Plans to Attend
Prairie dog hunting generates significant revenues used for general wildlife management as a result of hunting license sales and Pittman-Robertson excise taxes on ammunition, firearms and other equipment purchased by sportsmen. This ban will put an end to this essential stream of revenue and detrimentally affect the management of deer, elk and other species. In addition, Colorado attracts hunters from around the country who generate significant economic activity that benefits the rural communities that need it most. The Colorado Wildlife Commission will be meeting at the Holiday Inn on 755 Horizon Drive, Grand Junction, CO 81506 on May 1 and May 2 starting each morning at 8:30am. Please attend these meetings and voice your support of all hunting in Colorado. It is critical that sportsmen show that the radical anti-hunting lobby is in the minority by significantly out-numbering them at the meeting. If you are unable to attend, please call the Colorado Wildlife Commission at (303) 297-1192 and inform them that you are strongly opposed to any attempt to ban prairie dog hunting in Colorado. |
Jason Lee Dinges, 20, died of the disease on July 15. His mother, Vicky Dinges, says her son was deeply loved by the people of Park County. More than 400 people showed up for his memorial service held in the auditorium at South Park High School Saturday morning.
"He was just a wonder, a shining star. He wanted to be an astronaut," said Vicky Dinges. Click here to read the letter read at Saturday's memorial service.
Jason was an aerospace engineering student. It is not known where he contracted the disease. However, his death prompted the Colorado Health Department to issue another warning about the virus.
Epidemiologist John Pape says this winter's wet weather has led to an increase in the food supply for deer mice, which carry the disease. There have been four cases of Hantavirus in Colorado this year and three of those victims have died.
Deer mice are found almost everywhere in North America. Most are in rural areas, but Pape says they can be found in urban areas as well. They are distinct from common brown mice, because they have a white underbelly.
Hantavirus generally spreads to humans through inhalation of dust from the rodent's feces or urine. Hantavirus was discovered in South Korea in the 1950s. The first outbreak in the United States was in the four corners area in 1993.
Since then it has spread rapidly, primarily through the western part of the country. Health experts say many people have contracted the disease after sweeping up areas where deer mice have been.
They advise people to wet down those areas with a bleach and water solution before doing any cleaning.
To remember their son, the family of Jason Dinges has set up a scholarship fund for other Park County students.
Jason Dinges Scholarship Fund c/o Colorado East Bank & Trust Attn: Billy Fikejs PO Box 637 Fairplay, CO 80440
If you really want to help wildlife, you should consider buying a hunting license, whether you use it to hunt or not.
Your comments are most appropriate, girlangler though probably wasted on minds already made up.
Were it not for hunters and organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, etc. the wildlife in this country would be in much worse shape due to the lack of dollars to support their habitat.
Wrong. I am an ecologist, and part of my work has involved sustainable hunting practices in southern Africa. This includes not only subsistence hunting, but also trophy hunting. There are a number of native conservancies that have developed management programs that allow them to both harvest meat and to make money from tourist hunters. In the case of trophy animals, they are worth much more alive (and available for hunting by a European or American for a fee) than dead at the hands of a local. And don't tell me about wildlife - I've lived in an enclosure of 20 high cyclone fence so the hyenas and lions don't drag you off in the middle of the night. Ever have an elephant announce its presence 30 feet away from you in the dark? You'd shit yourself. Ever been chased by a snake for which there is no known antivenin? My point was made about the pointless slaughter of prairie dogs so a bunch of Gomers can get their jollies.
If HPS occurs mostly in rural areas, why are the greatest number of cases affecting white males -- up to 76%?
Answer: That is an interesting question and can best be answered by looking at the way we keep HPS records at CDC. As you noted, most (70%) of U.S. cases occur in rural areas. The most recent statistics show that 61% of cases are male and 75% are white, but only 45% of the cases are white males. While these data seem to show an increased risk for white males, this distribution of cases requires further clarification.
In addition to gender, CDC classifies confirmed cases of HPS by race. The U.S. population west of the Mississippi River, where the majority of HPS cases has occurred, is predominantly white, with the following breakdown: white (77%), Asian (7%), black (5%), American Indian (2%), and other (10%).
We also record Hispanic ethnicity. Individuals of Hispanic origin make up a large portion of the population of the Southwest, where Sin Nombre virus is endemic. To date, 10% of cases are Hispanic, 9% are white Hispanic, and 5.5% are white Hispanic males.
Clearly, there is a statistically significant increased risk associated with being male. Males have a 1.5-fold higher risk for HPS than females. This small increased risk is possibly due to occupational exposure. Dr. James Olson, Special Pathogens Branch, CDC.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/phys/printtechsection.htm#3.
In CO I would use my Armalite AR-10 308 for Mule Deer.
That would help with both grass production and late season water competition. The burrow systems may also have aided percolation.
I see managing ground squirrels as a tool to be manipulated to benefit total system productivity, just like any other tool, befitting the mandate of Genesis 1:28.
Comment
Personally, if I actually hunted, would rather hunt arrogant environmentalists for sport.
The point being made by more than a few here is; private property owners have the right to control vermin on their property. It is not being done for "jollies", Effie.
That works!! ;)
I have a Remington BDL .30-06 for that purpose.
That works real well. ;)
I think of anyone that thinks their species is a detriment to the environment is a nutjob. The South Park episode on PETA really brought out the perversion of these wierdos....
I've lost two pets in the last six months.
I would like a ban on illegals and stupid bleating heart liberals but the damn sheriffs department will not do anything about the problem.
Well, I think we do harm to our environment. I do a fair bit of backpacking. Unless you are cognizant of pesticide practices in the forest you are hiking, you are taking your life in your hands if you drink from a mountain stream, even if you use a micropore water filter.
And the water downstream of most cities is a real shame.
However, nature is amazing resilient. I conducted a study of a river that had virtually no life downstream of a paper mill. The mill installed a state-of-the-art water treatment system (on their own ... no political pressure) and I was able to study the recovery of the river. It didn't become a pristine river, but within a couple of years there was a remarkable return of flora and fauna to the system.
There was a study in the '60s of a lake that was highly polluted with mercury. The concensus was that the lake would remain permanently contaminated with the element. However, within a couple of years the level of mercury returned to background levels. Even though mercury is an element and will not change to another element, the ecologists were ignoring the fact that a lake is an open system, and the mercury was rapidly moved out of the system through biological movement and through normal dissipation.
So, you’re relying on a 13-year-old study done just one year after the virus was detected to give us your stats? And, you claim to be a professional? Something just doesn’t sound right here. Especially with all your claims about the plague and such... Granted, there may have at one time been millions of prairie dogs, but even in Colorado just outside Denver there are vast fields FULL of them — again, this is in urban areas, I’m not even talking about rural areas where I’m sure there are tons more... AND, they do warn residents continuously about the threat of bubonic plague. I couldn’t hardly believe it was real when I first moved to Colorado and heard the warnings - but, it’s real... If you really knew so much about this, I don’t think you’d be making the statements you are making...
Wow. Bizarre stuff. If hunting was banned here, my food costs would explode. As it is, even with a freezer filled with moose and salmon, food costs are expensive beyond the wildest fantasy of the Lower 48. Thanks for posting that story so I am forwarned that these wierdos are coming up the Alaska Highway.
I think you wanted me to see this comment, though:
>>>The only people getting hanta virus are native americans living in third world conditions.<<<
For starters, American soldiers in Korea contracted a variety of the hantavirus during the war. It’s named after the Hantaan River there. In the United States, it came to the attention of people when several healthy young Native American men caught the disease during a rare moment when there lots of local mice multiplying and they just happened to come in contact with the virus. By the way, folks in Utah and Florida have gotten it, and one New Mexico person caught it from a California mouse.
Gee, we have the Internet to look up stuff like this before we just run off our mouths. Unless you’re living in third world conditions. LOL
Yep - the old .30-06 cartridge has been doing the job for over 100 years. ;)
The factual part of : “ The only people getting hanta virus are native americans ...”
is very wrong.
The secondary implication of that comment seems very ugly.
These Vegans are everywhere ?
Many city Vegans must believe that food only comes from a box or a can.
As we know, hunting feeds your family plus hunting protects ourselves from predators .
CU student dies from hantavirus
Jason Lee Dinges, of Fairplay, died July 15 less than a week after coming down with flu-like symptoms, according to his family. He was entering his fourth year at CU as an aerospace engineering student.
Dinges’ death was the fourth in the state this year from the disease spread by mouse droppings, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Two others in Custer and Costilla counties died from it within five days of Dinges’ death.
Since the state began tracking the virus in 1993, 61 cases have been diagnosed. Twenty-three of those people died.
Vicky Dinges said state health officials told her that dying of hantavirus is like being struck by lightning.
“He was a good kid,” Vicky Dinges said. “We loved him. We loved him dearly.”
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/jul/24/cu-student-dies-from-hantavirus/
>>>The factual part of : The only people getting hanta virus are native americans ...
is very wrong.
The secondary implication of that comment seems very ugly.<<<
Agreed. Sounds like someone who doesn’t like Native people is just showing us how loud stupid people can be.
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