By now, many of you have seen the outrageous Time magazine article egotistically entitled, “America’s Pest Problem: It’s Time to Cull the Herd.” If so, you probably shared my first reaction, which was:
How haughty to label the recovering animal species from whom we stole this land “pests” whenever they cross paths with the real pests, the most overpopulated and rapidly expanding, exploitive, environmentally reckless, imperialistic, pretentious, self-centered, self-important, self-aggrandizing, stuck-up, conceited, condescending –in a word, arrogant—urchins ever to emerge from the primordial ooze, namely humans.
As ethologist Marc Bekoff wrote in a recent blog post,
“There are so many things that are profoundly disturbing in [the Time magazine] essay I’m not sure where to begin or just which points to highlight. Some of the messages I received had quotes from this essay that at once shocked and saddened me. Kill, kill, and kill some more; that’s the only solution for righting the wrongs for which we — yes, we — are responsible. We move into the homes of other animals and redecorate them because we like to see them or because it’s “cool” to do so, or we alter their homes to the extent that they need to find new places in which to live and try to feel safe and at peace. And then, when we decide they’ve become ‘pests’, we kill them. Yes, technically we cull them, but of course the word ‘culling’ is a way to make the word ‘killing’ more palatable. To many people this sanitizing mechanism — using culling instead of killing — is readily transparent. But, a subtitle like ‘It’s Time to Kill the Herd’, would likely offend many people who find it difficult to grasp that that’s what we do – we kill other animals with little hesitation absent any data that this really works.
“We treat them as if they’re the problem when, in fact, whatever ‘problems’ they pose can most frequently, some might say invariably, be traced back to something we did to make them become ‘problems’.”
Well, I’m one of those who would definitely say “invariably.” On the other hand, I’m not real comfortable with the “we” part. Personally, I don’t consider the wildlife to be “pests,” I don’t fear them and I do not kill them. Ultimately, I don’t consider myself superior to the other animals.
Bekoff also writes, “Until we confront the indisputable fact that there are too many of us, we and other animals are doomed.” Talk about uncomfortable… Actually, my wife and I faced that fact decades ago and consciously chose not to add any more children to the burgeoning human horde.
The problem where we live is that, though we’re surrounded by prime habitat which we’ve left wild for the wildlife, we rarely see the deer, elk and bears who’ve had to adapt to locally rampant hunting and poaching pressure by only coming out of the heavy forest at night. The last thing the animals around here need is for Time Magazine to come along and promote more hunting!
Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013
Exposing the Big Game 
You left out self-serving.
Woops, well that too.
Jim, please add your comments to Time, they are excellent as always. Everyone here needs to write something in the comments
Thanks Louise, lets flood them!
I made a comment on Time and I see it’s not published. How much you want to bet they are going to delete any and all comments by us “animal lovers/anti-hunters”.
The anti-wildlife agenda is a serious problem that has been festering for quite a while. You see it everywhere around you now! What is even more frightening is that no one has really done anything to contain and stop the problem or even get loud and stand up against this like they might have in the decades past! This world is doomed!
Reblogged this on Girl for Animal Liberation and commented:
Animal lovers unite! Let’s boycott the self-serving ass clowns over at Time Magazine who promote the murder of innocent animals by referring to them as “Pests” and glossing over their intent with fancy words like “Cull”.
Middle Finger to Time Magazine.
I wish WordPress had a “like” button–I like your last statement .
LOL! Thanks. 🙂
I like it tooooooooooooooooooo!! Thank you!!!
Thank you, Jim, for covering this. I had the same reaction when I read the article. It was also very one-sided and lacked a true scientific justification for the “culling.” Also explicit in the article was the point that overhunting messed up populations in years past, so the fix to the current problem was more hunting (!?!). Obviously, current management strategies re: hunting are ineffective at population control. If population reduction is necessary (big question, there), it would be more humane to have sharpshooters rather than your average hunter. I’ve way too many maimed deer to think that most hunters are actually skilled shooters. It’s hard to bring actual science into the debate with the hook-and-bullet crowd when any time you question them, you’re labeled as a tree-hugging namby-pamby (or worse). I sure hope Time magazine gets an earful on this one.
Why do the animals need, according to Time, “stronger management”? Seems to me, we’re the species that needs to be reigned in…but, oh, then we’d be stepping on people’s inalienable “right” to invade any patch of grass they damn well please (hell, they did it to 12 million of my ancestors here over the last 500 years, so why stop with wild animals). Part of the reason for the imbalance in species numbers is that we humans have removed many of the natural predators from so many areas that keep prey populations in check (e.g., wolves in Yelllowstone, thank you very much). We don’t need more science or more hunting, we need more humanity, compassion, and respect for other sentient creatures.
I love watching squirrels and birds prance across the deck railings of my home – live entertainment! I regularly visit and feed the wild ducks in our lakes (on our property) and leave scraps (bones, etc) out by the hedges for wild critters to feed on at night (saves me from stinking up my garbage can). To commune with nature is to commune with our true selves.
I second the middle finger to Time.
And a third middle finger to Time from me!
I love your comment!! Totally agree with every word. Ignorant, arrogant asshole humans who write shit articles such as this one, need to wake the hell up and stop polluting the world with their total and utter stupidity. This supremist attitude towards other sentient beings is stuck in the old paradigm where humans believe they are superior to other sentient beings. They are NOT!!! Time for Time to wake up and take a big leap into the new paradigm where all sentient beings have a right to live their lives in peace, harmony, safety and love. WE ARE ONE!! Own it, live it and promote it!!
Reblogged this on The Wisdom Tube and commented:
Ain’t it the truth…read on
I agree, humans are the pests, messing everything up royally! Leave the innocent animals alone.
I could not agree MORE!!! Thank you!!!
Excellent post, Jim. So glad you covered this. We get TIME and when I saw the cover, I could not even open it to start to read, as I knew it would be a piece full of misinformation, propaganda and hate. (I tried to get through the article, but it literally made me feel ill to read it). What I continue to not understand is the pleasure that hunters get out of killing another sentient being who is doing absolutely nothing to harm them. Years ago, I heard Bernie Rollin challenge every single one of the excuses (propaganda) that hunters trot out to attempt to justify their killing and showed what unsupportable nonsense each one is. His conclusion – the bottom line is that hunters simply enjoy killing. They are not feeding their families, they are not enjoying nature, they are not “helping” the environment. They are engaging in killing for sport. And sadly, even though only about 9 percent of our population actually hunt, a large proportion of people (for some inexplicable reason), support their killing wholeheartedly (or they simply just don’t care). Thanks a lot, Time magazine.
Thanks Linda, Like you the article made me feel literally ill–I couldn’t get past the title without retching. The sickest part is how many people support the killing and swallow the propaganda; and that Time felt compelled to feed them this kind of filth in their mainstream publication.
I pray Time magazine goes belly up.
Humans are insensitive to other sentient beings because they have been conditioned to eat their dead flesh and consume their ‘dairy’ products. How is the killing of cows, pigs, chickens, baby calves, etc. different? It isn’t!!! This insensitivity to killing animals has become part of almost every single culture on this planet, and it needs to stop because it is the worst holocaust to ever plague this planet. I’m sick and tired of humans who are unable to connect the dots. Disconnected humans are the most vicious and cruel beings on this planet, and therein lies the problem. They are addicted to eating the dead flesh of other sentient beings and consuming their ‘dairy’ products. They are suffering from the worst disease known as cognitive dissonance and denial, but none of that is an excuse for supporting the most vicious, cruel, vile and obscene industry ever to be created by humans. I am appalled at the heartlessness and cruelty of humans who, knowing full well how much those animals suffer, still choose to indulge their gluttonous appetites for their tortured and stolen flesh. Connect the dots…there is no difference between killing wild animals and killing the ones that humans have locked up. FREE the animals because as long as human beings are unwilling to do that, they too, will be enslaved. You cannot expect to have freedom if you are unwilling to give it to others.
As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer, writer and Nobel laureate (1902–1991)
TIME named Miley Cyrus as person of the year.. I’d say their credibility is just about NIL.
Their credibility is minus a billion…fucktards!!!
I was shocked when I read this article in Time. I actually went back and read it twice to make sure I comprehended it all. Who got to Time magazine that they would print something so lacking in facts. I cancelled my subscription today.
Good for you! I hope you told them why you were cancelling.
Time Magazine is owned and controlled by the Illuminati…satan worshippers! Of course, it’s going to be full of propaganda aimed at keeping the masses stuck in the old paradigm of dominion over other animals. Humans are not special. All sentient beings are equally entitled to their freedom, their natural habitat, food to eat, peace and love, and to be with their families…just as we are. The new paradigm is all about freedom, peace, harmony and love for all of life including the planet. Mother Nature provides for us, but there are a few disconnected who have a vested interest in keeping the masses dumbed down and asleep to the Truth. It is time for humans to wake up and own their power, their freedom and their wisdom.
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