Environmentalists are insane

I mentioned the grey wolf population removal from the endangered species list here. Now the animal activists have come out and started shrieking all sorts hysterical jiberish, like this:

"It's going to be very systematic killing, with aerial killing and the trapping of wolves to put radio collars on them and then, after they return to their pack, killing the entire pack."

"OMFG! They're going to kill every wolf on the planet!" Where in the world do they get this stuff? This is pure fantasy.

I swear that animal activists have never met a hunter before in their lives. Animals in the U.S. can rest assured that their species will not be wiped out by hunters because hunters take care of the animal population that they hunt. Period.

19th and early 20th century hunters did hunt animals into near extinction but since then, hunters have spearheaded the conservation movement. Here are some statistics, compliments of the Congressional Sports Foundation:

• Spending by hunters and anglers is more than the revenues of Microsoft, Google, eBay and Yahoo—combined! ($76 billion vs. $73.6 billion).
  • More people hunt and fish than watch the nightly newscasts of the three major networks—ABC, CBS, NBC. (34 million vs. 27 million)
  • Hunters spend more on their activity than the total revenues of McDonald’s ($23 billion vs. $20 billion).
  • All this spending adds up to support close to 600,000 jobs—more than the number of people employed by McDonald’s corporation.
  • Hunters spend $2.4 billion on guns and rifles annually.
  • Every year hunters and shooters pay millions in Federal excise taxes: $5.3 billion since 1939. In 2007 hunters and shooters paid $233 million in excise taxes. In fact they annually provide more than 80% of the funding for most state fish and wildlife agencies.
  • Through Federal Duck Stamp purchases, hunters have generated more than $700 million, all of which goes in to the National Wildlife Refuge System. This money has been used to purchase more than 5 million acres of land for outdoor recreation and wildlife watching opportunities around the country.
  • 80% of sportsmen consider themselves “likely voters”. 8 in 10 sportsmen state that a candidate’s position on sportsmen’s issues is important in determining whom they will vote for.
  • 73% of Americans approve of hunting.
  • Only 3% of Americans live the animal rights philosophy.
  -Todd Smith

What do organizations like PETA do for conservation? Standing around topless while waving picket signs in San Francisco doesn't cut it. For what it's worth, the Center for Biological Diversity is the organization who made the above silly remark and they are at least trying to do something constructive.

I have to read more on them to find out what they have done for conservation. Fromwhat I cam see, hunters still lead the way.