Yippee! Just what elephants
have been hoping for: a $2.4 million renovation marked by a festive light show
and hundreds of people standing around on a winter night, loving it all and
wishing it on their descendants.
All that to celebrate a single "elephant," Lucy, the
140-year-old national historic landmark (!) in Margate, near Atlantic City, after
her 15-month long metal exterior-repair job. And all that’s only the first phase: the second will update Lucy’s interior and replace
the gift shop nearby.
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| Dodo pic |
Right: the excitement last month wasn’t about any real, live elephant – you know, those beloved huge animals with trunks and tusks, now
seriously in danger of extinction because of humans. (If only the people so taken with Lucy would
visit, study and help preserve the living animals!) For the longest time, elephants were preyed on by poachers, who
slaughtered them for their tusks to keep the worldwide ivory trade going. These days, a growing danger comes from the
growing human population that serves as competition for the land they all
share.
When the animals threaten or raid their farms – sometimes former
elephant travel routes that now offer ready-made meals -- human violence
against them often results. Conservation
groups, like the Wildlife Conservation Network (Wildnet.org), are laboring to
come up with ways to deter and protect the animals and assuage the farmers,
fostering peaceful coexistence.
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| Zimbabwe baby PAWS pic |
Next to a real, live elephant, Lucy of Margate is a slacker –
a giant waste of money as far as wildlife is concerned. Besides all the benefits wild elephants
confer on their (shrinking) habitats, just think of the brain power they
possess to operate their faces, ears and trunks.
An elephant can use its trunk – with some 40,000 muscles
alone -- to uproot a tree or delicately suck up tortilla chips. The brain behind this, weighing more than 10
pounds, is packed with bundled neurons hooked up to facial nerves that control
the creature’s ears, lips and trunk. What a system!
https://tinyurl.com/6s8bkuz2
Closer to home: our black bears
Another fearfully-threatened animal is near and dear to us:
the New Jersey black bear. More than 100
of them were killed last month, despite all protests and temporary stops to the
“trophy hunt” that was falsely claimed to be necessary.
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| HSUS pic |
State decision-makers, starting with the governor, and including
the NJ Fish and Game Council (reputedly comprised largely of hunters – talk about
stacked decks!), continued to ignore informed opinions about bear management
that only began with bear-proof trash cans.
The public hearing on the Comprehensive Black Bear
Management Policy (this Wednesday, Jan. 18, in Trenton) is open to anyone wishing
to express opinions about the hunt. Please
see the notice below, which also includes directions for written opinions.
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The public comment period for New Jersey’s CBBMP (Comprehensive Black Bear Management Policy - aka bear killing policy) is now open. |
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Comments may be submitted 1) electronically, 2) by USPS letter, and/or 3) by attending the public hearing. Public Hearing Location, Date and Time: CBBMP and Game Code Amendments Public Hearing Wednesday, January 18, 2023, 1:00 to 8:00 PM NJ State Museum Auditorium 205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08625 To submit comments electronically, please click here. 1. Fill in the form and under Select Rulemaking choose, DEP Dkt. No. 09-22-11 Black Bear Mgmt. Policy and amendments to 7:25-5.6 2. Enter your comments in the large box and click submit. 3. Please note that all electronic comments must be submitted by the close of business on February 3, 2023. Feel free to submit your own comments or use the sample below. Whichever way you comment, it is critical to oppose the entire CBBMP and the amendments. The amendments were designed to muddy the waters, to make the kill “more humane,” more acceptable. Support for any part of the policy or any proposed amendment supports the hunt. Support for the amendment that allows cubs to be killed in the following year when they weigh more than 75 pounds supports the hunt—as does approving the minor change in baiting. The game council will use both to prove “public support” for the hunt. Neither change will be enforced. To submit comments by letter through the USPS mail, send to: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection 2022 CBBMP and Game Code Amendment Comments Allow at least a week to mail your comments, so they are received by the February 3, deadline. Sample text for electronic or letter comments: I oppose both the emergency adoption and concurrent CBBMP proposal in its entirety. There is no imminent peril. I oppose the following amendments: N.J.A.C. 7:25-5.6(a)2, ...limit the harvest of any bear with a live weight greater than 75 pounds or a dressed weight greater than 50 pounds. ...the harvest of any adult bear accompanying a bear under 75 pounds... N.J.A.C. 7:25-5.6(a)5 ...disallows the take or kill of a black bear, or possession or control of a firearm or other weapon while hunting for black bears within 300 feet of a baited area… I support and desire nonlethal black bear management, which keeps bears away from unnatural food sources, lowers complaints and incidents, and reduces the black bear fertility rate. Bear hunts do none of these things. Moreover, baiting is ecologically harmful and causes conflict, as does the deliberate lack of a garbage control program. An agency so concerned with “public safety” should require the use of bear-resistant cans, ban baiting statewide, and support the new feeding ban legislation. I do not support any form of bear hunting. The NJDEP/FGC consistently violates the public trust, fails to implement real solutions, and then lies about it. (include your full name and mailing address)
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