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Warning: Photo may disturb some readers; photo of lion trophy sparks debate over legal hunting
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 2/20/12 | Tom Stienstra

Posted on 02/20/2012 8:01:49 AM PST by SmithL

The divide between those who live in rural areas and those from cities ruptured wide this past weekend across America in a debate over a provocative photo of California Fish and Game Commission President Dan Richards and a huge mountain lion he shot legally after an 8-hour hunt in Idaho.

Some comments on Facebook suggest that Richards should be the one hunted and shot, that he should be jailed, that is unethical to shoot anything you do not eat, and hunting of any kind is barbaric.

Most from rural backgrounds would see nothing wrong with the photo. Mountain lions are predators that kill lots of deer and other animals, including house pets and farm animals, and fewer of them means more of just about everything else. Same with coyotes. Since the hunt occurred in Idaho, where mountain lion hunting is legal, there was nothing illegal about anything Richards did.

The photo first appeared in Western Outdoor News at http://www.wonews.com/Blog.aspx?id=1646 as an innocuous sidebar to a column post by Paul Lebowitz, 2010 California Outdoor Writer of the Year. The Humane Society of the United States, an anti-hunting organization, then copied and circulated the photo around the country.

(Excerpt) Read more at blog.sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Idaho
KEYWORDS: banglist; hunting; mountainlion
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To: SmithL
Nice kitty. It's a shame to waste such a beautiful animal by hunting it.

It should have been humanely trapped, and then released at a PETA convention, to share the moment with the people who worship it.

61 posted on 02/20/2012 8:55:45 AM PST by sphinx
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To: SmithL

Back in the 60’s Outdoor Life magazine had a series about a homesteading family in northern Canada - they hunted everything that moved and cougar meat was the Dad’s favorite.


62 posted on 02/20/2012 8:55:56 AM PST by dainbramaged (I lost my mantra around 1969.)
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To: SmithL

Does the San Francesspool Chronicle post a warning when they publish photos of gay pride events? Those are much more offensive than a picture of some guy holding a dead cat.


63 posted on 02/20/2012 8:56:25 AM PST by ConservaTexan (February 6, 1911)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

An off-topic correction: the HSUS doesn’t really want to tolerate even pet ownership. They are not just anti-zoo and anti-meat, but also anti-human contact. A quote from Wayne Pacelle, the president of the HSUS: “One generation and out,” he says, meaning that we should stop all production of domestic animals. The pets should be allowed to die off and not be replaced. No guide dogs, no companion cats, no ponies for kids, no trail-riding for me and my horse, no human-animal contact. If they can’t survive in the wild on their own, like my min-pin, that’s too bad, according to Wayne. And Wayne is working with a ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR annual budget to pay lobbyists so he can get his agenda passed. Much of that budget comes from the contributions of well-meaning people who think they’re giving donations that will help animals. Just the opposite is true.


64 posted on 02/20/2012 9:00:25 AM PST by ottbmare
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To: bigdirty
I would agree with you except in the cases of nuisance animals or population control. South Texas needs its deer hunters backstrap steak or not.
65 posted on 02/20/2012 9:03:51 AM PST by crghill (Silly Mormons, God is triune.)
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To: Utah Binger

That’s not a cat.


66 posted on 02/20/2012 9:09:02 AM PST by stormer
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To: SmithL

I showed it my kitteh. She went and clawed the sofa. In protest, I suppose.


67 posted on 02/20/2012 9:10:36 AM PST by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: SmithL

sobbing hysterically...the horror


68 posted on 02/20/2012 9:10:55 AM PST by wardaddy (I am a social conservative. My political party left me(again). They can go to hell in a bucket.)
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To: bigdirty
How do you know he won't eat it? Mountain lion is a delicasy, though it' s the only big game animal which Oregon doesn't require the hunter to keep the meat from. (Man, that's a tortured sentence.)
69 posted on 02/20/2012 9:12:49 AM PST by gundog (Help us, Nairobi-Wan Kenobi...you're our only hope.)
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To: Kirkwood

“He’s just using the Heimlich maneuver because that big kitty has a liberal stuck in its throat.”

Then I have no respect for the hunter. He should let nature take its course and both liberal and lion die.


70 posted on 02/20/2012 9:16:29 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Most Conservative in the Primary, the Republican Nominee in the General.)
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To: SmithL
Can we get a barf alert on this?

No doubt the San Francisco author finds hunting shocking, but loves homosexual sodomy.

71 posted on 02/20/2012 9:24:15 AM PST by Vision ("Did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God?" John 11:40)
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To: bigdirty
I don’t support just going out and trophy hunting for no reason other than to get a vanity item in your house. It’s the kind of mentality that leads to these amazing animals becoming endangered.

You're entitled to your opinion on trophy hunting, but your followup about it being the source of extinction is just plain wrong. Most wild animals became extinct or threatened not by trophy hunting, but market hunting. It is precisely sport and/or trophy hunting and the money spent on it that has helped to ensure the continuation of threatened species.
72 posted on 02/20/2012 9:26:13 AM PST by rickomatic
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To: bigdirty
Fair enough on the pest control factor. If the mountain lion numbers are a problem and it is deemed the numbers need to be controlled or brought down for public safety, I support it. I don’t support just going out and trophy hunting for no reason other than to get a vanity item in your house. It’s the kind of mentality that leads to these amazing animals becoming endangered.

The problem is that the people who consider them endangered "amazing animals" will have wildly different ideas regarding what point the numbers need to be brought down.

My position would be to keep the numbers down to where the lions are killing far fewer deer than hunters are, while others might want to forego reducing the lion population until they are actually a public safety issue for humans.

73 posted on 02/20/2012 9:30:51 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell)
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To: SmithL
If he wants to redeem himself with the SF libtards, then he should replace the cat in the photo with an aborted human fetus. Then they will no longer be offended and he will be their hero!
74 posted on 02/20/2012 9:35:15 AM PST by BO Stinkss
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To: Reeses

So it’s an ‘evil disease’, but not a sin, then. Thanks.


75 posted on 02/20/2012 9:37:03 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: mmanager

The doggy sure looks, uh excited. about the entire thing to...


76 posted on 02/20/2012 9:37:24 AM PST by bobby.223 (Retired up in the snowy mountains of the American Redoubt and it doesn't get any better than that!)
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To: SmithL; All

Aww....look at that big, cuddly, soft, fuzzy kittycat!!! How cute!!!!

You shouldn’t shoot those - at least until you convince a couple of PETA/lib whackos that they should go up and try to HUG it first....

The stand back and watch the hilarity ensue!!! Bring a friend! And a video camera for “America’s Funniest Home Videos”...


77 posted on 02/20/2012 9:47:16 AM PST by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: dangerdoc
My theory is keep your business off facebook. You will be happier and nosy people can fret about other people.

What Facebook is really doing...

78 posted on 02/20/2012 9:49:52 AM PST by null and void (Day 1126 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made, Frank, they're cornered...])
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To: dead
"Dude, that thing eats people. Thanks for shooting it!"

The EXACT words I thought when I saw the picture!

79 posted on 02/20/2012 9:51:09 AM PST by redhead (Don't take what doesn't belong to you. LIFE BELONGS TO GOD.)
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To: dead

I can understand the outrage in the lib city circles. Within their environs, they eat people. too.


80 posted on 02/20/2012 9:53:45 AM PST by Sea Parrot (You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something. --Stephen Adam)
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