DNR is harming wildlife by allowing hunting

Last year it was the Bryans Road Volunteer Fire Department raffling off weapons. This year it is the Indian Head Moose Lodge that is planning to put 14 more weapons onto the streets of Charles County.

It is ridiculous for charity organizations to be adding to the carnage we are suffering from gun violence in this country. We need a law that keeps charities from running guns.

Charles County is a beautiful place to live. I have the most spectacular wildlife in my backyard. However, it pains me every fall to realize that there are people who can’t wait to murder these beautiful animals for fun. Even in the development district we have to suffer through the sound of gunfire on an almost daily basis.

This vicious killing is sponsored and encouraged by a state agency, the Department of (kill our) Natural Resources (DNR). There is no justification for this massacre of our beautiful wildlife. With global warming putting extreme pressures on wildlife, many species may go extinct in the near future. It is time to recognize that wild animals are individuals that have a right to live their lives without being cruelly wounded or killed for the entertainment of people who don’t know any better.

Hunting is big business for DNR and the gun industry. Wild animals are tortured and killed for profit. Our state government should be protecting our wildlife, not setting them up as targets for murderers.

DNR does not operate for the benefit of wildlife or the taxpayers of the state of Maryland. Everything DNR does is for the benefit and entertainment of hunters. DNR allows the use of the most cruel weapons such as crossbows and compound bows. I am reminded of this every time I see a buck hobbling on three legs. DNR allows hunters to bait animals and then shoot them when they come to feed. DNR allows the use of cameras to track animals. DNR even allows people to shoot fish with a crossbow. DNR even kills predators to create deer overpopulation. DNR allows hunting in state parks and on wildlife refuges.

There is no fair hunt in Maryland. The animals don’t stand a chance against the technology used against them. Hunters say they “harvest” wildlife. You harvest crops or plants. You kill, murder, maim, wound, massacre or butcher animals, but you cannot “harvest” an animal.

Newspaper editors should know better. Whenever “harvest” is used in an article about hunting, editors should correct the terminology. It is obvious that DNR is sensitive to the public’s perception of hunting and aversion to killing wildlife. That is why they use the term “harvest” and that is why they call themselves the wildlife and heritage division instead of fish and game. But a pig in a dress is still a pig.

The state government should get out of the wildlife killing business and stop spreading toxic lead throughout our environment. Lead contaminated bush meat is a threat to children and especially to the poor who receive uninspected bush meat donated by Hunters for the Hungry. It is time to ban the cruelty of hunting. If we stop killing animals for fun, maybe we will stop killing each other.

Steven W. Brennan, Waldorf