It’s Survival of the Weak and Scrawny

Harmful Heredity or Heretical Hysteria?
???It???s Survival of the Weak and Scrawny??? (1/3-12/09) has done a great disservice to conservationists. This article cited research from a small, isolated sheep population in Alberta that is recognized even by the researchers as an extreme exception to the rule. To portray this as something that happens in more than a few isolated cases is disingenuous. One of the original researchers has stated: ???While the potential evolutionary impacts of trophy hunting are worthy of consideration, there is currently not enough evidence to determine when they should be seen as a significant concern for conservation.???

Jim Heffelfinger, Wildlife Ecologist

The comments below were sent to me from Dr. Valerius Geist.

While it is perfectly true that net-fishing and selective removal of large males leads to hereditary changes in the population affected, these insights are quite old, and in the case of trophy hunting, have long ago been mitigated successfully. To claim otherwise is to mislead the public. It also avoids accountability. If knowledge is old, and has not been acted on, for instance, by the fishing industry and the scientific bodies controlling such, then the public is entitled to know why. What has been done here is to take those accountable for precious public resources off the hook. In Europe trophy hunting and management has a very long, colorful and at times distressing history. However, such led to reliable knowledge of how to restore populations damaged by ignorant trophy hunting in earlier times. The management practices on the Ram Mountain population of bighorns you referred to led to the expected results. It escaped you that there were other experiments and management practices that led to enormous horn growth in bighorns (and other big game). Again you misled the public. Elk, far from being remnants of an earlier abundance are populations restored to unprecedented abundance as well as quality. That???s the miracle of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation that you have ignored. Ironically, that model is being discussed for potential global application. These matters are for more complex than you have exposed to the readers, misinforming such.



Sincerely,



Valerius Geist, PhD., Professional Biologist

Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science

The University of Calgary

The comments below were sent to me via Dr. Valerius Geist:

While it is perfectly true that net-fishing and selective removal of large males leads to hereditary changes in the population affected, these insights are quite old, and in the case of trophy hunting, have long ago been mitigated successfully. To claim otherwise is to mislead the public. It also avoids accountability. If knowledge is old, and has not been acted on, for instance, by the fishing industry and the scientific bodies controlling such, then the public is entitled to know why. What has been done here is to take those accountable for precious public resources off the hook. In Europe trophy hunting and management has a very long, colorful and at times distressing history. However, such led to reliable knowledge of how to restore populations damaged by ignorant trophy hunting in earlier times. The management practices on the Ram Mountain population of bighorns you referred to led to the expected results. It escaped you that there were other experiments and management practices that led to enormous horn growth in bighorns (and other big game). Again you misled the public. Elk, far from being remnants of an earlier abundance are populations restored to unprecedented abundance as well as quality. That???s the miracle of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation that you have ignored. Ironically, that model is being discussed for potential global application. These matters are for more complex than you have exposed to the readers, misinforming such.



Sincerely,



Valerius Geist, PhD., Professional Biologist

Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science

The University of Calgary

The proof of poor research the author did on this article starts with the picture that illustrates it. Even if in fact Roosevelt has before him a kudu trophy, the other two are Eland, another totally different species. And the kudu is not a large one, which kind of contradicts the point of the story it tries to illustrate.

Also, the credibility of sources is questionable as the ???researchers??? and the ???some experts??? mentioned, but not identified, do not take in consideration that hunters do less damage to wildlife (but actively pay for its upkeep) than non hunters and nun hunting human activities.

While some errors might have been made in a far away past (meaning, centuries ago) due to overhunting, it???s a pure statistic fact that wildlife is thriving thanks to management, and hunting is a sound part of it.

This has to be one of the most ridiculous, anti-hunting articles I have ever read. We hunters contribute the vast majority of the money spent on conservation and these so called studies. Leave it up to the overly liberal media to once again portray our contributions to wildlife in a negative light.

(continued)
What has happened to some of Alberta???s bighorn sheep populations in their National Parks where hunting is prohibited? In places such as Banff National Park one bighorn population has all but been exterminated by human induced stress from such activities as road expansion ??? many other areas throughout Alberta???s (and others) National Parks are void of bighorns where they were once abundant.

To make ???assumptions??? based on one small geographical area, as Marco Fest-Bianchet et. al work concludes, is not worthy of becoming ???blanket management practices.??? To insinuate that hunting or trophy hunting is plaguing the genetic make-up of these animals is only assumptive. Just in the past 10 years the hunting record books (Boone & Crocket and Pope & Young) continue to fill up with top end record animals in all species.

I am only defending regulated hunting as a valuable management tool that continues to work. Whether you are a consumptive or non-consumptive user of wildlife I certainly hope that you will become less concerned about the effects of hunting and more concerned about the issues that really hinder the sustainability of wildlife such as: disease, commercial game farming, habitat loss, fire suppression, and invasive or noxious species. Some of these issues have and will continue to threaten the future of all wildlife.

Sincerely,
Neil Thagard
Wild Sheep Foundation
Cody, Wyoming

The Wild Sheep Foundation is a wildlife conservation organization established in 1977, and has generated more than $70,000,000 for wild sheep recovery while benefiting other wildlife. Interested in finding out more about the Foundation or becoming a member? Check out their website at: www.wildsheepfoundation.org or call the Wild Sheep Foundation Headquarters at: (307) 527-6261.

This has to be one of the most ridiculous, anti-hunting articles I have ever read. We hunters contribute the vast majority of the money spent on conservation and these so called studies. Leave it up to the overly liberal media to once again portray our contributions to wildlife in a negative light.

Throughout North America the public has entrusted our wildlife to professional wildlife managers. Wildlife managers aim to use the best available science to balance the needs of wildlife. Wildlife management takes into consideration ecological principles such as carrying capacity of the habitat, and herd dynamics (ie, fawn to doe ratios, number and age structure of males, etc). Most wildlife management is concerned with the preservation and control of habitat, but other techniques such as reforestation, predator control techniques such as trapping, re-introduction of species or hunting may also be used to help manage "desirable" or "undesirable" species.

Hunting is merely a management tool that is implemented by professional wildlife managers to assist in proper wildlife management. In most cases, tax dollars are not used to fund wildlife management. The dollars for management come from the purchase of hunting and fishing licenses, Pittman-Robertson Tax (tax on firearms, ammo, and some other outdoor equipment), and non-governmental wildlife conservation organizations.

For Lily Huang to cite Marco Festa-Bianchet???s et. al work as gospel is erroneous journalism at best. This research only captures a small isolated population of bighorn sheep in Alberta, Canada and the result of ???academia vs. wildlife management.???

In the Ram Mountain research it states that hunter harvest of rams was very restricted with one to three rams being taken each year up until 1995 when the horn curl criteria was increased from 4/5ths curl to full curl in 1996. With the new regulation, only 3 rams total were harvested from 1996 ??? 1999; one of these was an 11 year old ram that had sired a number of lambs and was well past his productive breeding years. The reduction of body and horn size of these bighorns may be attributed to nutritional factors as much as any other factor; not to mention the stress implied by the researchers through continued capture of these animals.

Horn growth in males is a ???bonus.??? When male (rams) bighorns receive nutrition through forage the nutrients first enhance the body condition; additional nutrients then allow for horn growth. In good forage years horn growth of healthy animals may be exponential; in poor forage years horn growth will be less.

I thank Lily Huang for elevating the interest of our wildlife and wild places; I just hope in the future she will do further research prior to publishing such a half-hearted report as she recently has done.

Sincerely,
Neil Thagard
Wild Sheep Foundation
Cody, Wyoming

The Wild Sheep Foundation is a wildlife conservation organization established in 1977, and has generated more than $70,000,000 for wild sheep recovery while benefiting other wildlife. Interested in finding out more about the Foundation or becoming a member? Check out their website at: www.wildsheepfoundation.org or call the Wild Sheep Foundation Headquarters at: (307) 527-6261.

If the larger animals or fish are taken, the remainder will be smaller. Ther were already smaller; they did not "evolve" that way. By the time an animal grows to trophy size it has spread its genes.

This is a comment for those who believe there is such a big difference between hunting of yesteryear and today. High-power rifles are more humane than most ways of killing a deer because you're less likely to injure an animal and let it get away only to die a week or two later. I challenge you to have someone shoot an arrow at your chest and see how much easier it is to dodge than a bullet. Ancient hunters often hunted in large groups(twenty or more). When does that ever happen anymore? Often whole herds were funneled into narrow alleys or dead ends with no way out. It's just so egotistical to think human beings have evolved or gadgeted their way out of natural law, that somehow our technology makes us deities. I've been involved with protecting habitat in my region for a decade and don't see how you can make any difference without hunters being directly involved in the decision making process. If you don't think deer populations need to be reduced and controlled your living in Lalaland. You can't wish urban sprawl and rural development away. You can't tell everyone your an environmentalist and offer broad sweeping condemnations and no practical solutions. You're just a snake oil salesman. Go back to your pot and leave everyone else alone. Human populations are growing and habitat is shrinking. That's the current reality and you can not turn that around. You can slow it down, minimize the damage and reduce pollution of air, land and water. Why go after hunters. Did you watch Bambi one too many times? Might as well outlaw cars for all the damage they cause to the environment(roads,roadkill,pollution). If you are an environmentalist railing against hunters and you own a car, then you're a hypocrite. Most of the time hunters improve the health and balance of wildlife populations. What's wrong, going carless cramps your style? It's just not as popular as railing on hunters, huh? Do you think your Toyota discriminates what size deer it hits. Oh, and now more and more wildlife are moving into populated areas. What's your answer for that? "Let them come" you say until your mother or uncle die from hitting a deer or your chocolate lab gets eaten by a mountain lion. It's just meaningless rhetoric.

SO. What newsweak is saying is that a bull animal of anykind remains celebate until late in its life. That is like saying a human male does't copulate with females until he starts getting a little grey in in his hair.
What an assinine idea.
Kennyboy509

What drivel. More fanaticism from what's left. Now "hunters baad!" there are more deer than can be counted in America. In my home state of Connecticut, they paid hunters to trim the herd. Global warming but the polar bear population has tripled. Liberals in every venue are "nuts." The lines are drawn, the battle is on. Your agenda is doomed to failure. Whether it be your wimpish approach to terrorism, your socialist teaching at the university level to your uneven worship of the planet, to your irrational belief in climate change, which you on the left, pompously believe can be controlled by man. So much buffoonery so little time. Happy hunting.

What drivel. More fanaticism from what's left. Now "hunters baad!" there are more deer than can be counted in America. In my home state of Connecticut, they paid hunters to trim the herd. Global warming but the polar bear population has tripled. Liberals in every venue are "nuts." The lines are drawn, the battle is on. Your agenda is doomed to failure. Whether it be your wimpish approach to terrorism, your socialist teaching at the university level to your uneven worship of the planet, to your irrational belief in climate change, which you on the left, pompously believe can be controlled by man. So much buffoonery so little time. Happy hunting.

Like mountain sheep, elk and elephants, news magazines evolve. Some grow and prosper while others whither and die. I wouldn't take bets on this magazine lasting all that much longer.

As far as small fish go, how can you grow them to large sizes when you net them as soon as they can't get out of the net anymore?

If one investigates the results of "hunters" who are following Quality Deer Management technics, the older deer are typically allowed to mature in order to propagate the "good" genes of tjhat animal, while lesser animals are culled to prevent recessive genes. Once the Older deer reach or exceed their potential they become a cadidate for "culling". Doug Rosenburg

I can't wait to draw a sheep tag and put one of those tastey animals in my freezer and on my wall! Flipping tree huggers. MAybe you shoud check out the principles behind Quality Deer Management for how to have a healthy deer herd. Hunters get their big bucks and the herd becomes healthy. MAybe those prinicples should be applied to ram and goat hunting.

If hunting animals is evolution in reverse by destroying the best and brightest of a species, what is war? Parts of Europe took a couple of generations to recover from the world wars and the American civil war left deficits in the population until the 1900's.

If hunting is evolution by ensuring that the biggest and strongest get killed first, what is war? Both world wars wiped out the best and brightest of Europe.

As a mature sheep biologist, I know this story well.

It dates from a 2003 paper published in the academic journal, NATURE, by Dr. David Coltman, a respected population geneticist and five other authors (including Marco Festa-Bianchet, quoted by Ms. Huang). This article was highly technical, and would have interested only scientists studying population genetics and ecology if NATURE hadn???t publicized the controversial arguments from the paper???s ???Discussion??? section.

Since that presentation was one-sided, the sheep management community offered a broader perspective when several prominent bighorn sheep researchers and managers authored rebuttals. In an effort to capture and disseminate these arguments consistent with scientific tradition, I compiled, and we published these essays in the Biennial Proceedings of the Northern Wild Sheep and Goat Council, a symposium held by professional scientists and managers specializing in northern wild sheep.

This paper, ???Inferred Negative Effect of ???Trophy Hunting in Alberta??? was published in the Council???s 14th biennial proceedings (2004 available on line-at www.nwscg.org --along with Marco???s 2006 rebuttal).

As the compiling author, I wrote:

"The wild sheep management community is diverse???. When humans interact with mountain sheep, the goal of producing human benefits while conserving sheep requires the overarching effort we call "management.

For optimal management, complete and rational integration of information produced by the diversity of disciplines within the wild sheep community is required. This almost never happens because few "basic researchers" understand the complex nature of management, and few "managers" appreciate the imputed significance of some "basic research." ...If there is any value to recording this event, it is probably as a case study where academia and management collided???all of us ehibit the human tendency toward thinking our speicialty is the touchstone fo successful conservation

It is perhaps worth noting that ??? the world seems to have pretty much forgotten this ever happened...and it???s only been three years. Nevertheless, the Ram Mountain "scientific finding" is "out there," and it would be naive to presume politically partisan publicists will not resurrect it for use as it suits the anti-hunting agenda. I may be paranoid, but my experience at all levels of involvement in the wild sheep research and management communities suggests a high probability it will pop up again...it's just a matter of when.???

Ms. Huang???s motives are unknown to me, but her casual scholarship, given both sides of the controversy are well documented available on line, invites inference about her journalistic rigor or motivation. I suggest the human side of this story of scientific passion and frailty, is more relevant than the esoteric biological arguments exposed thus far.

Wayne Heimer- Wild Sheep