http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/363286#ixzz2mf6hbq6V

The cover of this month’s issue of TIME depicts a young female deer below the headline “America’s Pest Problem.” The wildlife activist community is in an uproar over the article many see as factually inaccurate and something more fit for an op-ed

The article does appear to be advancing an agenda, as the last line in the lead paragraph on the TIME website reads “Why wildlife in the U.S. needs stronger management.”  The article’s full title is “America’s Pest Problem: It’s time to cull the herd.”  Whether intentional or not, David Von Drehle’s article has sparked controversy.

Almost immediately, activists took to the internet expressing their outrage. The article’s dateline is Dec 9, 2013, but is available online now. A Facebook event page is already set up to encourage people to write physical letters to TIME. The event page has this in its description

Time Magazine is coming out with an article to the general public, supporting the slaughter of wildlife on a grand scale. This article is extremely dangerous and inaccurate. This article supports outright slaughter of our wildlife in all parts of the country stating that we are all being overrun with animals and that “experts” say it is necessary. Time Magazine has a responsibility to the public to be accurate and unbiased, and not promote an anti-environment extremist point of view.

Protecting Endangered Species, the Facebook page hosting the letter writing event had this to say in a statement

It is disturbing that Time Magazine has used it’s reputation as a legitimate news source to promote a very extreme and controversial opinion as fact. The consequences of promoting this type of intolerance of our wildlife are severe and promotes violence and cruelty towards our animals. Wildlife belongs to all of us as a nation, not to the special interests of oil, the livestock industry, and recreational hunters. The opinion expressed by Time is that of these special interest businesses and is in direct opposition to wildlife experts and the overwhelming number of voters in the states of concern. This is an opinion which could be freely expressed in an op-ed section, but to present it as fact, as a cover story, is highly unprofessional and exerts the power of Time magazine in an inappropriate manner.

The use of hunting today beyond the purpose of sustenance is a very important contributor to the destruction of our environment. The use of hunters to control populations or “manage” them IS THE PROBLEM. At the turn of the century the wolves and other predators were nearly exterminated out of fear and lack of knowledge of biology, contributing to over and under populations of other animals. We know more about biology than we did in 1900 and this needs to stop. No form of hunting is superior to Nature, and the motivations of special interests are based on human desires of consumption, they are not based on the best interest of the animals or the environment. Misinformation needs to be corrected before we destroy what we do have left. We have nonviolent and nonlethal means to correct problems and we need to use them.

One of the activists participating in the event, Mar Wargo, expressed her opinion as well

Americans seem to be learning and expressing a new ethic today. It seems to me it is not a well educated ethic and lacks moral grounds. In the 40 years of the Endangered Species Act, Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act we have come full circle and now have this tremendous backlash towards the wild animals and wild lands. I believe much of this is corporate interests and this now encompasses hunters who had not been the enemy at one time. They had been the conservationists once. No longer. Killing is too popular and this is all weighed down in ignorance and greed. We have good laws that allowed us to participate in the process and stop actions against wild lands and wildlife. This is Not user friendly any longer, we have lost much of our own traction as a result. We need to regain sanity and science in this country. We need to respect this Earth which is now damaged beyond repair if we intend to survive. Killing the Earth is not the way to survival.