Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics
There is more fallout this week in the wake of the MLive.com investigative series exposing politicians and state officials who made up stories out of whole cloth in order to prompt Michigan’s first wolf hunting season in half a century. A leading booster of the wolf hunt, Sen. Tom Casperson, took to the floor of the state Senate yesterday and apologized to his colleagues and to voters for including a fictional account about wolves at a daycare center in a resolution he authored in 2011.
Wolf2Sen. Casperson acknowledged, “I was mistaken, I am accountable, and I am sorry. Words matter. Accuracy matters. Especially here, with a topic that is so emotional and is so important to so many, especially those whose way of life is being changed in my district. A decision here of whether or not we use sound science to manage wolves, as with all decisions this body makes, should not be based on emotions, agendas or innuendo, but rather on facts.”
The Michigan DNR’s furbearer specialist, Adam Bump, also took an apology tour this week, appearing on Michigan Radio to explain the comments he previously made in May, when he had said that wolves were showing up on people’s porches and staring at them through glass doors. Bump says he misspoke back then, and the scenario didn’t exist.
Lawmakers and agency staff who claim the mantle of “sound science” have been telling tall tales, trying to drum up an irrational fear of wolves as part of the public debate to push through their political agenda. They used heated rhetoric and scare tactics to pass a law designating wolves a game species, and then to pass a second law circumventing the voter referendum process because they didn’t like the fact that citizens gathered more than 250,000 signatures to place the wolf hunting issue on the statewide ballot. The fact is, there has never been a wolf attack on a person in Michigan, it’s already legal to shoot wolves that threaten livestock or public safety, and more than half of all the reported incidents of wolf depredation have come from a single feckless farm that leaves dead cattle out to rot and attract wolves to a free buffet.
It’s one thing for these public officials to own up to their mistakes. But the people of Michigan need more than apologies—they need compensatory action. The first wolf hunting season, set to begin one week from today, is the result of a public policy decision based on false information, and it must be suspended. Wolves have just recently come off the endangered species list and have not been hunted in Michigan for decades. What harm would it do to retain the status quo for another year, and allow a fair and honest debate to play out based on the facts so Michigan voters can hear from both sides and make an informed decision in November 2014?
It’s up to Gov. Rick Snyder to bring some accountability and transparency to state government, by suspending next week’s wolf hunt. This was an abuse of power and an abuse of the process, and the only way to repair some of the damage and restore the public trust is to let the people have a say on whether wolves should be hunted, or not.
Exposing the Big Game 
Sorry ain’t gonna cut it Casperson you fucking asshole! Everyone in Michigan be sure to vote Casperson and all of the other arrogant assholes in your state government out of office in 2014!
so well said.
Reblogged this on Howling For Justice and commented:
Lies and damn lies. There are no depths they won’t sink to demonize wolves. May they all rot in hell.
“I was mistaken, I am accountable, and I am sorry. Words matter.”
Damn right they do. A single erroneous utterance will have consequences for years – because people will take what they hear as gospel and no amount of backpedaling or apology will make it unheard.
Case in point: In 2005, a Nevada Department of Wildlife agent was conducting a field study. He observed an incident where a band of wild horses chased pronghorn away from a water hole. The incident was presented without context – simply a larger grazer asserting itself over a smaller one – intimating that wild horses are bullies and would cause the pronghorn would die of thirst. The tale also omitted that pronghorn consume only about a quart of water a day, supplement water with the foods they eat and can go for long periods without drinking.
But in the years since, this anecdote has been presented in dozens of Environmental Assessments preceding a roundup decision – and for areas nowhere near where the incident occurred. It was and remains a blatant attempt to vilify wild horses.
I know some may tire of my constant attempts to correlate the injustice visited upon wolves with those suffered by wild horses and burros but the same principals apply: The deliberate misrepresentations to render these animals gone, to turn wilderness, forest, desert and mountains into a either nation-wide zoos where the animals only consume what the keepers allow, or cattle fodder.
The apologies won’t be what people hear. The words that matter to THEM will be.
To many in power will gladly take any opportunity available to overreact and call for the death of a species. No doubt the pronghorn returned to the watering hole later and got all the water they needed.
Have shared this..thankyou !!
Shared this with my friends on Facebook. This is one of the reasons I do not trust Politicians.
Thanks for spreading the word.
We need to start “culling” politicians.
so true
Well said. After all, Webster’s defines “politicians” as “self-serving, parasitic vermin”. Now ain’t that the truth, so help me God.
The lies Casperson, Bump and others told to circumvent our successful ballot initiative has done more than just hurt the wolves. My young adult daughter spent many hours in the freezing cold Michigan winter, at outdoor events, circulating Keep Michigan Wolves Protected’s petition. She (and I) were ecstatic when our efforts succeeded! Then Casperson pushes through a bill that changes the law–my daughter said, “The politicians are telling us young people we shouldn’t get involved, should just stay on Facebook, shop, play, ignore politics because they are going to do what they want anyway.” As quoted in this Detroit Free Press article: http://www.freep.com/article/20130519/NEWS06/305190066/
Good work, Michigan politicians! Discourage the young people from participating in their democracy.
(I spent 20 minutes on the phone discussing the issue with my own State Representative, Dave Robertson. He voted for the hunt and for SB 288, the bill that circumvents the petition outcome.)
Thank you for this inside information and many thanks to your daughter for all the hard work gathering signatures in harsh weather, and for her great quote in the Detroit paper.
In Washington State, at a citizen’s Wolf Advisory Group meeting, appointed State Senator John Smith sat at the table and figuratively commandeered the meeting. In one of his heartfelt rants, he told of the habituated wolves in his area that were stalking and approaching people, wolves that were fearless and would not back down. He further stated that the 911 switchboard was flooded with calls from local residents. Here is the entire 911 call log on wolf sightings in the Senator’s area for the 12 months preceeding that July meeting:
W130119 WOLF SIGHTING 99114 DFW 09:37:49 04/30/13 ACT SMITH, DEZARA
Ms. Smith, the Senator’s wife, called in 1/2 hour after seeing a wolf in the road that was watching a herd of deer. The delay was due to lack of cell phone coverage in the area she was driving through. Of course, I have a recording of the call, which is about as exciting as the call-log entry above.
For some real rhetoric, watch Senator Smith testify about the horror of wolves eating his daughter’s horse–if she even had a horse:
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2013010130#start=5101
Barry Goldwater said in his 1964 Presidential Nomination speech, “Now, certainly, simple honesty is not too much to demand of men in government. We find it in most. Republicans demand it from everyone. They demand it from everyone no matter how exalted or protected his position might be.” If the Senator were alive today, in addition to banging on his coffin’s lid to get out, he would wonder about the ‘honesty’.
Today, were Goldwater alive and the typical politician we now have, he might also have said, “I would remind you that extremism in the demise of wolves is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of wolves is no virtue.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwaterspeech.htm
State Senator Smith failed to win the Senate seat. He was appointed to the position, and had to stand for election in the first general ballot following his appointment.
Thanks for checking on Smith’s claims. This info relates to today’s post on Washington ranchers getting wolves radio collar coordinates…
Wolves are to be protected.
They have given us so much. Wolves gave us dogs and we need to respect that. They gave us thousands of years of happiness with our dogs. Dogs are descendants of the wolf and are loving, kind, and friendly. We owe them so much and I believe that they should be granted immense respect.
They can offer you a family and love if you just gave them the chance and take the proper steps. They have so much more to give us. Save our wolves.
Screw elk and deer. What do they offer?
Wolves at least offer you something and some interest. They are beautiful creatures just as important as any other.
They keep our forests from being eaten up. Deer, Elk, and Moose all eat up that beauty. Wolves keep the perfect balance in the animal kingdom.
Wolves are one of the most beautiful creatures out there.
They can be friendly. There has been incidences where people have run into a wolf pack and instead of being attacked, they were greeted with nuzzling, licking and playfulness. 🙂
Here is a link to prove it:
This should be stopped – people who kill innocent wolves for sports and ego should think about Our Creator’s wish for us to enjoy all of creation did not include violence and cruelty and the killing of innocent beings.