Groups unhappy with Idaho Fish and Game’s bighorn plan. By Sven Berg. South Idaho Press.
The plan was forced on Idaho Fish and Game by politicians and domestic sheep interests. If anyone thinks Idaho will do a good job managing wolves, look at the bighorn sheep issue (an animal everyone likes except for some livestock interests).
I remains my opinion that the livestock industry hates all wildlife.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
Isn’t it astonishing how much the current Governor of Idaho, cowboy Butch Otter, hates wildlife? Of course, his ties to the Simplot despoilers of the land are well known – from his vaunted trip to Cuba last year being all about getting ahold of phosphate for the Simplot fertilizer empire, to Otter sputtering nonsense about how prevent fires alongside Larry Craig during the Murphy Fires last summer. And the Farm Bureau runs Otter’s office – Bonnie Butler, Otter’s Natural resources person, is married to Wally Butler of the Farm Bureau.
This is about pushing the Federal Government around, reducing IDFG to a cringing minion of the woolgrower’s/cattlemen, and elevating the Idaho Dept of Agriculture – which means the Farm Bureau and Stan Boyd Canned Elk industry types. Government of cronies, by cronies and for cronies.
If you or I went out and started chasing bighorn sheep around, IDFG would term it “harassment”. If my dog was out chasing bighorns around, IDFG would shoot it. Now – these Bozos get to terrorize the bighorns ON PUBLIC LAND – with gleeful Pickett and Noh welfare sheepmen cheering them on.