"Butch" Otter is an Asshole
I suppose if you regularly go by "Butch" you can be excused for this sort of ridiculousness.
Or maybe the "worst fears" for the state of Idaho is that it turns out their Governor is a backwoods halfwit who likes to shoot things for fun.
UPDATE:
Here's a photo of Butch himself from the Congressional directory. (No claim to copyright.)
It's too bad. Otter apparently has quite a libertarian streak, and under other circumstances I might have actually liked him. It would be a long road back from redemption from this, though.
Idaho Governor Calls for Gray Wolf Kill
Idaho governor wants to kill all but 100 gray wolves when animals are stripped of protection
(AP) Idaho's governor said Thursday he will support public hunts to kill all but 100 of the state's gray wolves after the federal government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter told The Associated Press that he wants hunters to kill about 550 gray wolves. That would leave about 100 wolves, or 10 packs, according to a population estimate by state wildlife officials.
The 100 surviving wolves would be the minimum before the animals could again be considered endangered.
"I'm prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself," Otter said earlier Thursday during a rally of about 300 hunters.
Otter complained that wolves are rapidly killing elk and other animals essential to Idaho's multimillion-dollar hunting industry. The hunters, many wearing camouflage clothing and blaze-orange caps, applauded wildly during his comments.
Suzanne Stone, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife in Boise, said Otter's proposal would return wolves to the verge of eradication.
"Essentially he has confirmed our worst fears for the state of Idaho: That this would be a political rather than a biological management of the wolf population," Stone said. "There's no economic or ecological reason for maintaining such low numbers. It's simple persecution."
Or maybe the "worst fears" for the state of Idaho is that it turns out their Governor is a backwoods halfwit who likes to shoot things for fun.
UPDATE:
Here's a photo of Butch himself from the Congressional directory. (No claim to copyright.)It's too bad. Otter apparently has quite a libertarian streak, and under other circumstances I might have actually liked him. It would be a long road back from redemption from this, though.
Labels: environment, idiots, wolves
posted by Gollum at 9:05 AM
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2 Comments:
Stunning Idiocy. I was amazed at the backward thinking of many Idahoans I met while there recently,
but this is beyond the pale.
How can we stop these murdering dicks?
I agree that the idiocy is stunning. He will undo the gains of forty years of pro-wolf public policy inside of one hunting season and for what? I'd first like to see the evidence that wolves are depleting the wildlife stock. Herd counts, for example, not just anecdotes from hunters that happen up on a kill and "decide" for themselves that a wolf must have done it, and that's why they didn't get their eight-point buck that day.
Unfortunately, environmental interest groups such as Defenders of Wildlife lose a great deal of leverage once a species is delisted.
If you live in Idaho, I suppose the appropriate remedy is to vote Governor Otter out of office. You will have to wait a while, though, as he was just elected.
If you are fortunate enough not to be from Idaho, I'd suggest an intelligent letter to Governor Otter himself, noting that you would be quite likely to travel to Idaho to view wolves living (key word there) in their natural environment and that, conversely, a gray wolf "open season" will take Idaho off your list of places to visit for at least fifty years.
After that, I don't know. Do what you can to publicize Otter's poor decision, and hope that embarassment will effect a reprieve.
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