California Legislators Call for Wildlife Official's Resignation

The wildlife official in question is the President of the California Fish and Game Commission. He is a proponent of trophy hunting and was photographed with a dead mountain lion in Idaho. Full story here.

CA Wildlife Official Photographed with Dead Mountain Lion

What was this idiot thinking? The full story is below and it comes from kcra.com.

Outcry is growing against one of California’s top wildlife officials after a photo of him holding a dead mountain lion surfaced online last week.

Dan Richards, president of the California Fish and Game Commission, is shown in the photo, holding a mountain lion he reportedly hunted and killed in Idaho, according to Western Outdoor Press, which published the photo.

Hunting mountain lion is legal in Idaho, but illegal in California.

On Monday, some animal rights advocates said Richards appears to be sending a message about his feelings on California law: The photo, marked "courtesy" appears to have been provided by either him or one of his hunting companions to the Western Outdoor Press.

KCRA 3 could not reach Richards for comment.

The Humane Society of the United States, whose members are outraged over the photo, are exchanging thousands of Facebook and Twitter posts and plan to urge California State Assembly members and Senators to vote to have Richards removed from the commission.

Activists Set Fire to Idaho Fur Store

I just don't support these tactics. I hate fur....it's disgusting. But burning a store just 1) makes us into terrorists, 2) does nothing to stop the trade, 3) probably won't even stop the store because they'll get insurance money and reopen and 4) only feeds into sympathy for the industry and the business owners.

JMHO.

Excerpted from Reuters....
Animal rights activists claimed responsibility on Monday for a fire that caused $100,000 in damage to a Boise-area store that sells fur coats and fireworks, authorities said.

No one was injured in the early morning blaze at Rocky Mountain Fur & Fireworks, a retailer in Caldwell, Idaho, about 30 miles northwest of the state capital.

The North American Animal Liberation Press Office, which says it conveys messages for unnamed animal advocates, distributed a statement from a group calling itself the "arson unit" that said it set fire to a store stocked with "chemically treated skins of thousands of tortured animals".

"By oppressing innocent life, you've lost your rights. We've come to take you down a notch. Stay in business and we'll be back," the unit said.

Moose Poaching Video

Posted on Youtube.... Graphic.

Wolf Killing in Idaho Under Scrutiny

I'm not surprised Sarah Palin's family is from Idaho. The state government is as crazy about wolf killing as she is. But a US District Court Judge has granted a hearing on stopping the killing to wolf advocates represented by Earthjustice.

Montana is another state where wolf killing is allowed.

Idaho Lacks Felony Animal Cruelty Provisions

According to the Humane Society, the State of Idaho is one of the seven states in the US lacking felony animal cruelty convictions.

State lawmakers in Idaho are crafting a bill that would make dog fighting a felony, but there is nothing in the works to toughen animal cruelty penalties.

Right now, the maximum penalty for animal cruelty is a year in jail and up to a $9,000 fine.

Sen. Kate Kelly, (D) Boise, is working on an animal cruelty bill, with the aim of making the law clearer by specifying that even a person who does not own the animal involved can be charged.

She thinks there should be felonies for animal cruelty, for example if an animal is tortured and killed.

"It's something we need to look at, certainly," Sen. Kelly told CBS 2 Eyewitness News. "It is concerning. We're seeing more incidents of animal cruelty, we're seeing a raising public consciousness about cruelty issues."

The other members of the Shameful Seven are Alaska, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Mississippi.

Photo by Wolfgang Staudt.