Ask Uncle Joe – Spring 2008
Ask Uncle Joe
BY JOE MIELE
GOT A QUESTION FOR UNCLE JOE?
YOU CAN E-MAIL IT TO ASKUNCLEJOE@HOTMAIL.COM .
WOULD YOU RATHER SNAIL MAIL YOUR QUESTION? SEND IT TO: ASK UNCLE JOE, C/O WILDLIFE WATCH, BOX 562, NEW PALTZ, NY 12561.
UNCLE JOE GETS A LOT OF MAIL SO DON’T BE OFFENDED IF HE CANNOT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION IN THE COURIER. HECK, HE’S GOTTA WORK A DAY JOB, TOO.
Letters are printed as received. They are unedited.
Dear Stupid,
I’m an avid hunter and fisher man who can’t stand people like you,you make me sick I just read the article you put in The Montana Standard news paper, wich is my local news paper. How can you write garbadge like that. Where do you get off saying that Montana FWP promotes as you put it “ Violence of Hunting and Fishing”. I have hunted and fished all all my life. I have yet to see where there is any violence in these sports, and where do you get that hunting and fishing are a dying sport. leave people that are law abiding citizens with guns alone.
Bill F.
Centerville, MT
Dear Bill:
Hunting is a violent activity. Let me put it in a way that you might be able to understand – if shooting a person is violent, shooting an animal too must be violent because the action is the same. If you can’t understand this, you’re in worse shape than I thought. As for proof that hunting is a dying sport, please look at these two links from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. http://www.census.gov/prod/3/97pubs/fhw96nat.pdf and http://library.fws.gov/nat_survey2006_final.pdf. Looking at page 8 of the first link it tells us that in 1996, 35.2 million people fished. Then on page 22 it tells us that in 1996, 14 million people hunted. Then take a look at page 8 of the second link where it tells us that in 2006, 30.0 million people fished, and then on page 22 where it says 12.5 million people hunted. If you’re capable of doing the math, you’ll see that is a reduction of 5.2 million fishers and 1.5 million hunters.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
you should be picking on the beef industry. Cow don’t have a chance in hell they just sit around waiting to be slaughterd, and don’t get me started on viel. Come to Texas somtime I will take you on a hunting trip just to show you how difficult hunting is and the fact that they can smell you a mile away,. Now if you want a just cause that I agree with start harrasing the beef industry and for what to protect the profits of the beef industry over a desease that was spread from the cattle in the first place.
Ken K.
Brownfield, TX
Dear Ken:
Yes, wild animals have a superior sense of smell when you compare them to us. As for them smelling you “a mile away,” well, maybe you should do something about that. As for the cattle industry, I do a lot, I am a vegan!
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
I know that some municipalities have banned circuses and rodeos. Is hunting illegal or banned anywhere in the U.S., Europe or elsewhere?
Gretchen C.
Manahawkin, NJ
Hello Gretchen:
It’s so nice to have a legitimate question from a coherent person! Thanks for reminding me that not everyone who contacts us is mentally compromised.
Actually, there are many places in the US and throughout the world that have banned hunting. In the US, the places that have banned hunting have done so mostly out of public safety concerns (county parks in densely populated areas, for instance), but hunting bans are also intact in National Parks. Hunting has also been banned in areas where there is sensitive habitat for endangered or threatened species. The sport has not been banned nation-wide by any country, as far as I am aware. I hope this helps.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
What’s your real motive, Uncle Joe? What forms of hunting are not sport?
Rick L.
Alexandria, LA
Dear Rick:
Thanks for writing. You’ll be happy to hear (or maybe not) that neither I nor C.A.S.H. will disguise our intentions. What we seek is to educate and motivate the public so that they demand an end to the willful and violent exploitation of wildlife. We believe that wild animals are entitled to enjoy their lives by virtue of being sentient, and we seek to change the way state and federal fish and game agencies “manage” wildlife. Habitat should be managed for biodiversity and the health and well being of the species it supports, not for the enjoyment of the few hunters who derive pleasure from killing.
There are indeed forms of hunting that are not sport. In the extreme northern parts of North America and other continents there are people who hunt to survive. The same is true for many people in Africa and Asia. On the part of the continent where CASH is based, there are very few, if any people at all, who truly need to hunt to survive.
Peace,
Uncle Joe
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Dear Uncle Joe:
It’s sad, how you people find a coyote more imporant than their own. Trapping is part of this capitalist society and capitalisam is what makes a civilized society so, how is it uncivilized? Look at the guy who started up Fur-Fish-Game, he trapped and when he had enough money he started up the magazine and was probably the most classiest and civilized person I ever read about (well in America at least). Also our civilized society would not have been here without trapping! For trapping is what creates youths of our nation to earn the work ethnic, which helps our capitolist society. You people makes me sick!
Bean
Lynchburg, VA
Dear Bean:
“Trapping is part of this capitalist society and capitalism is what makes a civilized society so, how is it uncivilized?” It’s hard to argue against logic like that, but I’ll give it a try. Fur trapping is uncivilized behavior because it is a mercilessly harsh and cruel activity that does not contribute in any way to the public good. You say that our society might not exist if it were not for the efforts of trappers who settled much of the land that today is the United States. Would you also say our society would not be here if it had not been for the efforts of the slaves? I would hope that you would agree that slavery was a disgusting crime against humanity that was rightly abolished. Likewise, trapping is a crime against wildlife and nature and should also be abolished.
Peace,
Uncle Joe