Fueled by a liberal press and the animal rights lobby during the past decade, the conventional notion has come to be this: recreational hunting is on the skids, living on borrowed time. Even among the ranks of outdoor writers, there are some of my peers who have bought in to this negativity, arguing that the blood sports are terminal in Western culture.
V. Paul Reynolds, Outdoors Columnist
Is that really the case?
Statistics really don’t support the naysayers. In 2004, there were about 15 million licensed hunters in the U.S. Granted, the numbers dipped slightly below that total during the following decade, but then peaked at 15.6 million in 2018.
No doubt cultural changes have had a negative impact on the recruitment…
We’re told Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department decisions are always based in science. What is F&W’s science behind:
Opposition to a shortened hound hunting season in the Conte Refuge to protect ground nesting birds?
Bear hound training when bears are still nursing cubs and need calories for their cubs’ care, not fleeing a pack of hounds?
Trapping that does not discriminate what is caught, and can injure or kill protected and endangered species as well as family pets?
Relying on killing moose as the best solution to fight winter ticks?
An inflexible position that sport trapping and hounding “traditions” cannot be challenged lock us into an outdated understanding of wildlife management. Culture changes; dogfighting is now banned in the U.S., and an increasing number of states ban some forms of hounding and limit or ban trapping due to public safety and…
Dead ducks are dumped into a disposal lorry at a farm. More than 38m birds in the US have been culled during this year’s bird flu outbreak. Photograph: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Media
The US poultry industry has increasingly switched to “the most inhumane method available” to cull tens of millions of birds during the latest outbreak of avian influenza, according to government data.
Outbreaks of the disease, also known as bird flu, have wreaked havoc across Europe and the US this year, with 38 million birds killed in the US so far.
But how these birds are killed has generated controversy, with veterinarians and animal welfare campaigners urging an end to the use of the ventilation shutdown method, which kills animals by sealing off the airflow to the poultry sheds and increasing temperatures to lethal levels.
Workers have described the method as like “roasting animals alive”. European officials have said it should not be used in the European Union.
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In the US, however, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) lists ventilation shutdown with supplemental heat as “permitted in constrained circumstances” for “depopulation”.
A new analysis has found that it has now become the main method for killing birds, used in nearly three-quarters of culls.
The analysis of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data by the Animal Welfare Institute found 73% of culls in the US in February and March (the most recent period for which data is available) involved the use of ventilation shutdown.
This represents a dramatic shift from the last bird flu epidemic, in 2015, which resulted in the killing of 50 million farmed birds in the US. During that outbreak, the animals were predominantly killed by carbon dioxide poisoning or smothered in a blanket of firefighting foam.
More than two-thirds of culls in the US so far this year involved the use of ventilation shutdown. Photograph: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals Media
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“The default method of killing seems to have changed from foam to ventilation shutdown,” said Dena Jones, director of the AWI farm animal programme, who said the design of poultry housing “ensures they won’t be able to humanely kill them”.
A USDA spokesperson said “some housing designs do not allow for effective depopulation using foam” and that the carbon dioxide method was “hindered by supply shortages”. The department financially compensates farmers for culling animals.
Activists have protested against the widespread use of ventilation shutdown, most notably by disrupting basketball games to draw attention to Glen Taylor, the billionaire owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves team who also owns an Iowa egg farm where 5.3 million hens were killed using ventilation shutdown.
The burial pit for some of the millions of chickens at an egg plant in Rembrandt, Iowa. Photograph: Dan Brouillette/The Guardian
A coalition of vets and animal rights advocates have urged the AVMA to reclassify the method as “not recommended”. The lack of response so far from the AVMA “harms animals and the veterinary profession’s reputation as caring advocates for animals”, according to Crystal Heath, a vet and co-founder of the ethical veterinary group Our Honor.
In the EU and the UK, birds are culled with carbon dioxide gas or nitrogen-infused foam, which are considered to be more humane methods than using firefighting foam when carried out correctlybecause they render the animals unconscious before killing them, Jones said.
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The European Food Safety Authority says ventilation shutdown should not be used, but there have been reports of producers in France being given emergency permission to use it.
The EU also considers the use of firefighting foam to kill birds as inhumane because it entails “drowning in fluids or suffocation by occlusion of the airways”.
The USDA did not respond to a question about whether any steps were being taken to require less painful cull methods or prevent ventilation shutdown from becoming the default in future outbreaks.
Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Arizona and the other six Western states that are part of the Colorado River Basin are in the midst of a 22-year “megadrought” that ranks as the region’s worst in 1,200 years.
Why it matters:If the situation worsens, restrictions on outdoor residential water use could be only a couple of years away, Arizona Department of Water Resources director Tom Buschatzke tells Axios.
The drought,driven in large part by human-caused climate change, has already caused water cutbacks for central Arizona farmers and new requirements for homebuilding in Phoenix’s fast-growing southeastern suburbs.
There’s no end in sight to the drought, which experts said should be considered the new normal due to climate change.
Much of the stateis dependent on water for agricultural and residential use from the Central…
A South Carolina animal rescue CEO was arrested after police found 30 dead animals inside her home while responding to a complaint about a “smell of death” coming from the residence.
GROWL CEO and director Caroline Dawn Pennington, 47, was arrested Friday and charged with 30 counts of ill-treatment of animals after police discovered 28 dogs and two cats decomposing in crates and cages inside her home.
Caroline Dawn Pennington, 47, was charged with 30 counts of ill-treatment of animals. (Richland County Sheriff’s Office)
According to deputies, the animals had been dead for a significant period of time based on the level of decomposition, and appear to have died from starvation and dehydration. The animals were laying in their own waste when the situation was uncovered.
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s department said investigators believe the animals were neglected and had been left alone in their cages for seven to nine months before their deaths.
Richland County police found the deceased animals on May 22, when they arrived to perform a wellness check after a neighbor called to report a “smell of death” coming from the home.
30 dead animals were found inside the home of a South Carolina animal rescue CEO. (Richland County Sheriff’s Department)
Sheriff Leon Lott said this was one of the worst cases of animal cruelty he has ever seen.
“It’s appalling, and it’s heartbreaking,” he said, according to WYFF. “This is someone who was entrusted by the community to care for these animals and find them homes. She betrayed that trust, and she betrayed the trust of these innocent animals who relied on her.”
Pennington was also employed by the Kershaw County Humane Society, but the organization revealed that she would no longer be working for them.
FILE- Police lights features on the top of a cruiser. (Fox News)
“We were unaware of the former employee’s actions and are truly shocked and heartbroken,” Kershaw County Humane Society said in a statement. “Our dedicated staff will continue with our mission to serve the lost and homeless pets of Kershaw County.”
Richland County Animal Control and the sheriff’s department worked to remove the animals from the home.
Pennington is also being investigated for potential fraud, given that GROWL is a registered non-profit organization. Anyone who has made documented donations to the organization in the last year is asked to contact the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.
Indian Muslims shout slogans as they react to the derogatory references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad made by top officials in the governing Hindu nationalist party during a protest in Mumbai, India, on Monday.
Rafiq Maqbool/AP
NEW DELHI — India is facing major diplomatic outrage from Muslim-majority countries after top officials in the governing Hindu nationalist party made derogatory references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, drawing accusations of blasphemy across some Arab nations that have left New Delhi struggling to contain the damaging fallout.
At least five Arab nations have lodged official protests against India, and Pakistan and Afghanistan also reacted strongly Monday to the comments made by two prominent spokespeople from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Anger has poured out on social media, and calls for a boycott of Indian goods have surfaced in some Arab nations. At home, it has led to protests against Modi’s party in some parts of the country.
The controversial remarks follow increasing violence targeting India’s Muslim minority carried out by Hindu nationalists who have been emboldened by Modi’s regular silence about such attacks since he was first elected in 2014.
Over the years, Indian Muslims have often been targeted for everything from their food and clothing style to inter-religious marriages. Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have warned that attacks could escalate. They have also accused Modi’s governing party of looking the other way and sometimes enabling hate speech against Muslims, who comprise 14% of India’s 1.4 billion people but are still numerous enough to be the second-largest Muslim population of any nation.
Modi’s party denies the accusations, but India’s Muslims say attacks against them and their faith have increased sharply.
The anger has been growing since last week after the two spokespeople, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, made speculative remarks that were seen as insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad and his wife Aisha.
Modi’s party took no action against them until Sunday, when a sudden chorus of diplomatic outrage began with Qatar and Kuwait summoning their Indian ambassadors to protest. The BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal and issued a rare statement saying it “strongly denounces insult of any religious personalities,” a move that was welcomed by Qatar and Kuwait.
Later, Saudi Arabia and Iran also lodged complaints with India, and the Jeddha-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation said the remarks came in a “context of intensifying hatred and abuse toward Islam in India and systematic practices against Muslims.”
India’s Foreign Ministry on Monday rejected the comments by the OIC as “unwarranted” and “narrow-minded.” On Sunday, India’s embassies in Qatar and Kuwait released a statement saying the views expressed about the Prophet Muhammad and Islam were not those of the Indian government and were made by “fringe elements.” The statement said that strong action had already been taken against those who made the derogatory remarks.
The criticism from Muslim countries, however, was severe, indicating that insulting Prophet Muhammad was a red line.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it expected a public apology from the Indian government, and Kuwait warned that if the comments go unpunished, India would see “an increase of extremism and hatred.” The Grand Mufti of Oman described the “obscene rudeness” of Modi’s party toward Islam as a form of “war.” Riyadh said the comments were insulting and called for “respect for beliefs and religions.” And Egypt’s Al-Azhar Mosque, the Sunni world’s foremost institution of religious learning, described the remarks as “real terrorism (that) can plunge the entire world into severe crises and deadly wars.”
The remarks made by Sharma during a TV program in India and Jindal in a tweet risk damaging India’s ties with Arab nations.
India maintains strong relations with Gulf countries, which rely on millions of migrant workers from India and elsewhere in South Asia to serve their tiny local populations and drive the machinery of daily life. India also depends on oil-rich Gulf Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, to power its energy-thirsty economy.
The remarks also led to anger in India’s archrival and neighbor, Pakistan, and in Afghanistan.
On Monday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned an Indian diplomat and conveyed Islamabad’s “strong condemnation,” a day after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the comments were “hurtful” and “India under Modi is trampling religious freedoms & persecuting Muslims.” India’s Foreign Ministry responded by calling Pakistan “a serial violator of minority rights” and said it should not engage “in alarmist propaganda and attempting to foment communal disharmony in India.”
“India accords the highest respect to all religions,” ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
Criticism also came from Kabul. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan said the Indian government should not allow “such fanatics to insult … Islam and provoke the feelings of Muslims.”
Modi’s party also faced anger from some of its own supporters, but it was for a different reason. Many Hindu nationalists posted comments on social media saying the government was buckling under international pressure.
Anti-Muslim sentiments and attacks have risen across India under Modi. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said India was seeing “rising attacks on people and places of worship,” eliciting a response from New Delhi, which called the comments “ill-informed.”
More recently, religious tensions have escalated after some Hindu groups went to a local court in northern Varanasi city to seek permission to pray at a 17th century mosque, claiming that it was built by demolishing a temple. Critics say these tensions have been further exacerbated by Indian television anchors during raucous debates.
As if our nerves weren’t shaken up enough, there’s now another virus spreading around the globe bringing flashbacks of the early days we first started hearing aboutCOVID-19. Monkeypox has been making world headlines due to outbreaks in several countries and Eat This, Not That! Health spoke with experts who explain what to know about monkeypox right now and signs that indicate you could have it. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss theseSure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.
SEOUL—The U.S., South Korea and North Korea have all test-fired missiles in adangerous duelthat marks an abrupt escalation in tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The North opened the clash on Sunday, challenging both the U.S. and South Korea’s new hardline president by firing eight short-range missiles into the sea off the east coast—the most ever fired on a single day. South Korea and the U.S. responded in kind, firing eight missiles of their own into the same sea about 90 miles south on Monday.
Washington, D.C. and Seoul are expecting North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to order the North’s seventh nuclear test in the coming days. It would be its…
Image caption,India shares a cordial relationship with Saudi Arabia
India has been forced to try to placate its partners in the Islamic world after growing anger over controversial comments made by two senior officials of the country’s ruling party about the Prophet Muhammad.
Nupur Sharma, who was a spokesperson of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), made the remark in a televised debate last month, while Naveen Jindal, who was media head of the party’s Delhi unit, had posted a tweet on the issue. The comments – especially Ms Sharma’s – angered the country’s minority Muslim community, leading to sporadic protests in some states. The BBC is not repeating Ms Sharma’s remarks as they are offensive in nature.
The two leaders have issued public apologies and the party has suspended Ms Sharma and expelled Mr Jindal.
The fragile unity shown in Glasgow last November is likely to be tested in Bonn as countries deal with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the cost of living crisis.
