Spring Greetings to all C.A.S.H. Members,
A lot has happened in the world since we put out our last issue of the C.A.S.H. Courier. For one thing, the countries’ presidency has changed for the better! Now we have a comparatively reasonable leader, instead of a swellhead billionaire—father-of-a-pair-of-trophy-hunters—whose only concern for the environment is how much he can profit from it.
Still, I’m left with an uneasy feeling about the future of some of our fellow Americans—namely, in this case, the gray wolves. Though that species has been here much longer in the scheme of things than any of us humans, wolves are by no means fully recovered from the persecution they’ve endured over the recent centuries, as well as over the past few years. Nowadays, Western states have deemed their populations adequate enough to remove them from their state’s endangered species lists and begin hunting and trapping them all over again.
This year, the heat’s been turned up for the wolves and still more barbaric practices could be administered with a vengeance that can only come from sore losers of a mid-term election. It’s as though Idaho and Montana’s cowboys and trophy elk hunters can’t wait to see the canines endangered yet again. Lately, a familiar, sinking feeling has crept over me. It’s a dark, dismal, crushing feeling that (although some game department lackey somewhere might be tabulating the carnage and will call off the slaughter just before the entire species disappears—if only to keep the species from being relisted) untold and unnecessary animal suffering is about the begin anew.
It’s a familiar feeling we get whenever an annual deer hunting season comes around again, and eager “sportsmen” (of both sexes and, it seems nowadays, practically any and all ages) begin dusting off the weapons of choice, while frothing uncontrollably at the mouth. It’s the same feeling that came over me when politics had played itself out and there was no stopping the Makah tribe from paddling out to shoot the first half-tame gray whale who happened by.
The one good thing that came out of that otherwise awful event was that, ever since then, my wife and I swore off animal flesh and have gone meat-less, followed a few weeks later by swearing off dairy (because of cruelty to veal calves), to become two of the staunchest vegans you ever saw. Not that it could ever make up for the loss of an animal’s life, but it helps to know we aren’t contributing to the agony that untold beings go through for the sake of humankind’s temporary desires. Perhaps through the words or photos herein, others of you might decide it’s time to lay down your weapons, even if they’re only forks and steak knives. Join us and together we can help ease the torment—one bite at a time.
The pandemic has precluded any public appearances, but C.A.S.H. has been busy keeping tabs of all the many Hunting Accidents and violations and adding them to our website: https://cash.wrightbrain.net Meanwhile, Anne Muller has been working tirelessly to keep 12 and 13 year olds off the deer and bear-hunt battlefields of her home state (more on that inside).
Speaking of battlefields, a shotgun blast is no small scratch, but you’d be amazed how many times people are mistaken for turkeys by overzealous hunters this time of year. For example: https://cash.wrightbrain.net/hunting_accidents/mo-missouri-hiker-shot-in-the-chest-after-being-mistaken-for-a-turkey-police-say/
Of course, you can stay up to date on the wolf-persecution travesty, the New York hunting age fiasco and all other things hunting-related on the C.A.S.H. Blog: https://committeetoabolishsporthunting.wordpress.com and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Committee-to-Abolish-Sport-Hunting-CASH
Until next time,
Jim
Jim Robertson
President, the Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting