International Falls Daily Journal - Lynx deserve protection - Comments

I also should have added

Schmitty53 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:34:57 -0500

I also should have added this, so I will now.

Some things are said with tongue in cheek, a fact I know you are well aware of. Since you don't know me I will put your fears to rest. I assure you I will not be pointing my shotgun at a Lynx this Fall. It's rare for anyone to even see one as they head out long before anyone's arrival. But it would be nice to see a few Partridge together for a change this Fall.

Just because I let our

Thomas L. Johnson — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:28:44 -0500

Just because I let our departed daemon get by with his anti-everything nonsense, I haven't made the same promise to you, Schmitty. Maybe you really mean "human needs" when you write of human needs; if so, i agree with you. If there is only enough water for me or a Canadian lynx, I get the water. Same with food and air. I suspect that you mean human wants when you write human needs.

When human wants become paramount, then we continue adding to the same mess we have managed to create for ourselves: we want SUV's so we turn everything that grows or pools into fuel to be consumed. We want soft leather articles, so we hunt down populations of animals that have no bearing on our habitats. We want to hunt partridge for fun so we kill animals that hunt partridge for survival. And we haven't even gotten to the owls yet.

The "human needs/wants should always be paramount" school of thinking is called dominionism by some. They can even trace it back to the Garden of Eden and usually miss the point that the original sin was based on the very idea of dominion.

Mongo's nifty little regression actually taps into another view of creation and creatures that I prefer. Of course, if the only heart surgeons are partridge and ruffed grouse, I'll probably end up in total agreement with the axiom that you are so passionate about.

Chances are they won't be

Schmitty53 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:22:41 -0500

Chances are they won't be preforming open heart surgery anytime soon either, should you require it.

Human needs should always be paramount.

Canadian Lynx? Weren't

Mongo — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:52:24 -0500

Canadian Lynx?

Weren't created to spoil sport hunting
Were here before Clovis Point spears
Do not grow plants to feed machines
Have as much right to live as you do
Weren't created for you to uncreate
Don't contribute to global warming
Don't know that they're Canadian
Can't shop at Super One
Don’t drink and drive
Don't feed on greed
Do not make war
Don't kill for fun
Don't hate
Beautiful

The Web sites were connected

Laurel Beager — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:59:56 -0500

The Web sites were connected to the letter writer's name and inadvertantly included in the letter. Thanks for the heads up and we will delete from the online version.

First I would ask the DJ why

Schmitty53 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:45:31 -0500

First I would ask the DJ why they allowed the three links to be included in the above letter to the editor. The links are nothing more than spam since they all seek donations.

Second I would ask Mr. Clements if he has read any reports of hunters or anyone in northern Minnesota for that matter running around the Boreal forests clubbing the Lynx to death for their pelts. In fact I can't think of any animal specie in this great country where our government unlike yours has allowed a legal hunt for them to be beaten to death with clubs every year for their pelts. The Lynx that are here seem to be doing much better than the Seals there.

So Mr. Clements, please take care of your yard before you start telling us anything about ours.

I hope for your vegetarian sake that as I hunt these woods this Fall that not one of your Canadian Lynx (without a passport) come between me and my (or Anton's) Partridge.

Over the past three years, nearly one million seals have been killed. The current kill levels are higher than they have been in half a century. During the 2006 hunt, the Canadian government allowed fishermen to club and shoot at least 354,344 seals. The last time seals were killed at this rate—in the 1950s and '60s—the harp seal population was reduced by nearly two thirds.

One county is not alone in

Anton1965 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:45:23 -0500

One county is not alone in its opposition to the preservation of the Lynx. Lake County and St louis county also oppose the lynx habitat improvement. Secondly, what the other 49 states do or think about the Canadian lynx is certainly up to them but not at all relevant to what we in Minnesota think about wanting the Lynx here in our midst. For instance Flordia or Arizona probably don't care for hunting snowshoe rabbit or partridge either, but we here in Northern Minnesota do. Actually we here in Northeren Minnesota are active in preserving the partridge and snowshoe rabbit habitat and thus preserving your Canadian Lynx is not at all conducive to our own plans. In fact, although we here in the United States respect your right to believe in any policy you or the Queen might desire to believe in, those beliefs are not in any way reflective of what we may believe in and most of us do not believe in or care the least about your Canadian Lynx habitat improvementy in our state particularily when it is at odds with the preservation of our own desired game preservation plans. On the other hand, if I can get a good fair price for the trapping of the Canadian Lynx then I will feel more inclined to place it on the list of my other sought after "fur bearers", along with the trapping of the fisher, martin, mink, otter, beaver and of course the timber wolf. The addition of the Lynx to my list of furbearers, providing me with a reasonable return on my investment, might allow me and most others in this area, a reason to further examine your unreasonable request to damage our rabbit and partridge populations in lieu of your lynx population, which we don't want or desire. No, the Canadian lynx deserve nothing, have no rights of any kind over the desires of our local population and certainly do not "deserve" any esoteric concept called a "protection" from anything. Humans, particularily the kind of human called a "fetus" deserve a thing called protection but the Canadian lynx, I don't hardly think so!!! The concept of "preserving" I don't hold for any plant or animal other then man. You are, of course, entitled to your opinion even in our country. But I'll tell you what I'll do just to show you I am not an unreasonable fella. You folks pass a law banning abortions of the human fetus in your country (I call it the human habitat preservation plan) and we will examine your concept of preserving the habitat of the Canadian lynx plan, in our country.

!

Anton1965 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:24:46 -0500

While you are pondering my

Anton1965 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:22:19 -0500

While you are pondering my offer of my "human habitat preservation plan", you might also ponder one little additional idea I have. That is, undertake the effort of finding 100% of those decendants of the "Riel Uprising" and return 100% of their monies and property, with interest, and in addittion pay an additional amount for punitive damages inflicted upon those people of French/First Nations blood because of the horrendous harm inflicted on these people in the past. Its just a little thing for you to consider. I am sure anyone desiring to protect the Canadian lynx would certainly care about protecting the rights of the mixed blood French/First Nations people before undertaking any further plans in protecting a "cat with a bad hair day"!!

Lynx deserve protection

Journal Staff — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:15:05 -0500

To the editor,
We are surprised that the Koochiching County Commissioners seem to show no concern for the future of Canadian Lynx in the state.
The Endangered Species Act ruled that the lynx needs protection in the lower 48 states. No other state has expressed unhappiness with this ruling and all have accepted the ruling.
Strange then that one county is opposing the national concern. One commissioner calls it "a lot of B.S." while others refer to the Canadian lynx as "cats with a bad hair day."
Frankly I'd rather have a bad hair day than no brains at all.