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Reality shows B.C.ers aren’t all for animal rights

The number of wildlife killed shows conservation isn't top of mind

I have always idealized, and defended, that residents of British Columbia and the government were for animal rights and conservation. A friend reminded me that in Canada, the barbaric seal slaughter continues. I couldn’t defend my country then.

Having recently relocated here after several years living out of the country, I am outraged and saddened that this is not the case with a large proportion of the population.

Conservation officers are killing bears and cougars just because they are seen in urban areas. Some readers were afraid of deer!

In Victoria, a bear and cougar that didn’t do anything dangerous were killed. The bear was backed into a corner by a pack of dogs and still did nothing. Yet, he was shot.

This paranoia for wild animals is why they are being killed – this dangerously narrow-minded thinking and the laziness in not wanting to tranquilize the animals, or relocate them.

One reader even said that the deer will bring the cougars. Think again! We have a burgeoning deer population because there aren’t enough cougars.

Kill the deer because they are ruining your gardens? Please! What’s next? Will your neighbours feel they have the right to kill your dog if it ruins your plants?

Yes, there is a deer problem – killing them is not the answer. We have created the problem with over-development. The animals have nowhere to go.

Since when did we feel that we could play God?

Remember the wise words of Chief Dan George:

“If you talk with the animals they will talk with you, and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, you will not know them, and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys.”

Kathryn Lowther

Victoria