Sent to the Rapid City Journal (South Dakota) letters@rapidcityjournal.com
9/28/03
The Children’s House Montessori school students were taught terrible lessons of deception, lies and death the day the moose was killed.
As a wildlife protection organization, we understand the Game and Fish Department’s philosophy of killing, because their jobs depend on how many animals they kill. Fees generated by the sale of hunting licenses pay the salaries of Game and Fish Department employees, and excise taxes on firearms
and ammunition pay them to turn wildlife into living targets. Their goal is to pump out bullets and arrows at the expense of the animals, the community, and our children.
Hunter K. Barry Platnick told a group of crying school children that the moose was acting strangely and that it would be tested “for disease,” but then added that the meat would feed the less fortunate. Mr. Platnick’s lesson was that feeding diseased animals to people is acceptable, as long as they are “less fortunate” than you.
Everyone involved in this senseless action, from the police and fire departments, to Janell Jewett of Children’s House Montessori, to Mr. Platnick and the Game and Fish Department, should hang their heads in shame. They taught school children about the ugly side of human nature.
Joe Miele
Wildlife Watch, Inc.
Box 562
New Paltz, NY 12563