John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
Topic was touched on today in his announcement. Person mentioned similar to the Grizzly ban what he thought about the wolves. Definitely a topic of contention - said he would look into it. Could have another ban debacle on our hands in a year or two.
Very frustrating to listen to
I've linked it here - at about 15 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocpIshA6EXI
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
Excellent catch. Thanks for that.
As most should understand there is a new development on the....political landscape. The aim is to introduce the idea of a Social License to Hunt, with the clear goal of removing that license incrementally. It's a manufactured issue, in my opinion, but it is very effective by muddying the requirement for science.
The way it will work out is that there will be a call to remove social license to hunt in the absence of enough science to justify the hunt.
Of course, as anyone who tracks this understands, hunters are committed to science but we recognize that the problem is that the science is usually lacking.
The who want SLH reduced are very happy that the science is lacking, because that helps promote their agenda.
They also want to expand the definition of science so that mere wildlife biology is reduced in importance and softer social sciences are able to play a bigger role.
You can find that tactic used in other applications, and we've seen it recently with Covid, protests, and whether the protest is acceptable despite protest. Racial equity is huge health concern, so an anti-racist protest is absolutely fine during the pandemic, while other gatherings that don't qualify as equally important don't get that pass. We witnessed that during 2020.
What that was is a combination of hard medical science (don't congregate during a pandemic) and softer social science (sometimes it's ok to congregate during a pandemic). The combination leads to an internal conflict.
The idea that we can do wildlife management on a hard science basis (an intact, balanced ecosystem as the measure of success) combined with the softer social science (a balanced system is desirable, but not if we need to kill something big, furry and cute) will lead to the same sort of conflict.
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
It is frustrating when wildlife management is politicized but it seemed to me that he was mostly dodging the question. Talking about his constituents and how they generally feel. And I would say that he is quite correct about that, most of his constituents were pretty pissed about Takaya. Look at where he represents. In the past the language has been more about British Columbians as opposed to constituents.
But he also knows full well how the province is managing wolf numbers as part of its caribou recovery plan and I think he understands that there is no way to proceed with that plan without predator control. And predator control through aerial gunning and trapping is far more effective on a population level then moose hunters opportunistically taking a crack at some wolves.
Just my 2 cents
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
Sounds to me like his mind was already made up. He will definitely side with the anti's. One thing to note was that the person asking the question to the premier references a quote by a female big game hunter who stated her objective was trap an entire group or family of wolves. What I would like to know, is where the reporter found this quote. Social Media I would think. WE keep shooting ourselves in the foot with social media. When will people learn to be careful with statements on social media.
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob Chipman
Excellent catch. Thanks for that.
As most should understand there is a new development on the....political landscape. The aim is to introduce the idea of a Social License to Hunt, with the clear goal of removing that license incrementally. It's a manufactured issue, in my opinion, but it is very effective by muddying the requirement for science.
The way it will work out is that there will be a call to remove social license to hunt in the absence of enough science to justify the hunt.
Of course, as anyone who tracks this understands, hunters are committed to science but we recognize that the problem is that the science is usually lacking.
The who want SLH reduced are very happy that the science is lacking, because that helps promote their agenda.
They also want to expand the definition of science so that mere wildlife biology is reduced in importance and softer social sciences are able to play a bigger role.
You can find that tactic used in other applications, and we've seen it recently with Covid, protests, and whether the protest is acceptable despite protest. Racial equity is huge health concern, so an anti-racist protest is absolutely fine during the pandemic, while other gatherings that don't qualify as equally important don't get that pass. We witnessed that during 2020.
What that was is a combination of hard medical science (don't congregate during a pandemic) and softer social science (sometimes it's ok to congregate during a pandemic). The combination leads to an internal conflict.
The idea that we can do wildlife management on a hard science basis (an intact, balanced ecosystem as the measure of success) combined with the softer social science (a balanced system is desirable, but not if we need to kill something big, furry and cute) will lead to the same sort of conflict.
I would suggest that if the scenario you envision unfolds there would be a huge amount of opposition from the Guide Outfitter community. There is no justification for what they do other than money. They are definitely not hunting to sustain themselves by using the game harvested to feed their families.?
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
I wasn't going to mention her name, even though it seems she's happy to put it out there but it is in the discussion section of this Facebook thread.
https://www.facebook.com/takayalonewolf/
She's been in the media spotlight before.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/troph...esko-1.3974716
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MichelD
Thanks for the link. So between Facebook and W5 here we go again. It's to bad that all these people who think there going to prevail in this, and like to post pictures of there successes, don't realize the damage they are doing. The Hunting and Trapping community in this province is small compared to the rest of the population. Get the other 95% fired up with these social media posts and kiss hunting good by. Sure won that one eh?
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MichelD
Thanks for the links. Some one needs to enlighten her about her ambitions VS wildlife politics in BC and the negative affect she is having posting the wolf stuff she does.
Re: John Horgan - Hunting of Wolves
Social media is a killer for hunters/trappers especially when the "kill em all" type attitude is being shown to people. It definitely doesn't make hunters/trappers look good.