More on the Hunt Saboteurs

Paul Dean’s story about hunters and hunt saboteurs in Anzong presents a typically one-sided discussion of the ecological issues raised by hunting on Kofa National Wildlife Refuge (“A Game of Hide & Seek,” Dec. 15).

First of all, older bighorn sheep do not become redundant simply because they no longer reproduce. Intensive study by one of Wyoming’s most accomplished bighorn sheep experts strongly suggests that critical behavioral patterns are transmitted from the oldest sheep to the rest of the bighorn herd. Hunting of these older sheep thereby adversely affects the social structure and long-term survivability of the herd.

Second, every bighorn ungulate that is removed by hunters deprives mountain lions, coyotes and future Mexican gray wolves of food desperately needed for these predators’ survival. Additionally, removal of horns from the ecosystem threatens smaller animals that have traditionally sharpened their teeth on such horns.

Last, habitat conservation promoted by hunters is totally self-serving. Game species are promoted at the expense of other non-target animals (especially predators), resulting in “monocrop” ecosystems rather than biological diversity.

I hope that Paul Dean will take note of such ecological subtleties in future stories about the slaughter of wildlife that now takes place in our National Wildlife refuges and sanctuaries.

TODD M. SHUMAN

Santa Cruz

(Shuman is a hunt saboteur who was at the recent hunt sabotage in Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.)