Killing for Fun: The centerpiece of agency interactions with wildlife

Killing for Fun(ds): The centerpiece of agency interactions with wildlife By Laura Nirenberg, Trevor DeSane and E. Anne Benaroya Historically, wildlife agencies’ primary objective has been to increase preferred game species’ populations for the purpose of satisfying hunters’ demands for more livetargets to shoot. State agency budgets, reliant on the sale of hunting licenses and matching federal funding, ultimately cater to hunters – a small yet vocal minority whose interests dictate wildlife policies. Consequently, the demands for violence towards animals overshadow the interests of the majority of the public who strive to be wise stewards and coexist with wildlife in their natural environment. An analysis of the current state of recreational hunting in America exposes a vast bureaucracy reliant upon enormous sums of money and far-reaching influence to maintain the public perception that killing animals for recreation is necessary for both humans and wildlife alike. Although wildlife agencies assure the public that lethal policies are aimed at preserving ecological diversity, it has much more to do with preserving the acceptance of hobby killing, increasing hunting participation, maximizing the carrying capacity of land to increase preferred game species numbers, and ultimately ensuring a reliable funding base for the agency. Financial dependency – follow the money
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