Letters to the editor: Dinosaur Yenor, grizzly killers and wolf board
Dinosaur Yenor
I would like to offer a few words of comfort to the women Scott Yenor attempted to disqualify from the human race. They are not meant to quiet you, oh no. Please get more meddlesome, more quarrelsome, keep striving, by all means. I just hope these thoughts might help you sleep a bit more soundly.
First, know that all white males are not angry and afraid. Most of us support your emergence and realize it is too late in coming. We are embarrassed by the Scott Yenors among us, and we look forward to the day when men, women, and all types of people will stand shoulder to shoulder in the making of the world.
Second, Scott Yenor is a dinosaur. He cries out in anguished futility against the inevitable extinction of his kind. Not so sure? Compare today’s social attitudes with those of five hundred, one hundred, or even fifty years ago. We are as understanding and tolerant as we ever have been, but not as understanding and tolerant as we will become.
To the young striving women of the world, keep striving. The dinosaurs will surely throw down obstacles, but the future is yours. And isn’t it wonderful.
Ron Erskine, McCall
Grizzly killers
Idaho Fish and Game investigators should be commended for the work that led to identifying the alleged killers of a mother grizzly bear in Fremont County. Now prosecutors must pursue strong penalties for this crime.
Jared and Rex Baum of Ashton are charged with killing a female bear in March. She was found with 10 bullets in her body; her cub was later found dead in its den.
Sadly, this horrendous killing was not an isolated incident. The mother bear was the third grizzly killed in the same general area in an eight-month span. Poachers have killed at least five grizzly bears in Idaho since 2016.
The Center for Biological Diversity, where I work, was among the environmental organizations that offered a $40,000 reward for information leading to the prosecution of the killers. According to media reports, Jared Baum destroyed the handgun used to kill the bear after learning of the reward offer.
Most poachers of grizzlies are never caught. Grizzly bears are far from recovered in Idaho, and light fines will not be enough to make others think twice before engaging in such wanton destruction. The state must send the message that gunning these animals down is unacceptable.
Andrea Zaccardi, Victor
Wolf board
I listened in horror, during a conference call last Wednesday, as the Idaho Wolf Depredation Board approved $150,000 to radio collar 20 to 25 wolves. Their decision was not about science nor just a response to confirmed livestock losses on public lands. Its clear purpose was to target packs and fulfill SB1211’s mandate of killing 90% of Idaho’s wolves at the behest of a subsidized livestock industry that not only wrote the bill but literally “calls the shots” on the people’s wildlife. Isn’t it ironic that Idaho can easily generate hundreds of thousands of dollars to exterminate wolves, a keystone species essential in maintaining healthy ecosystems, but refuses millions of federal taxpayer dollars for preschools, childcare and COVID-19 testing? No wonder we’re dead last nationally in per-pupil expenditure — because out West it’s not about coexistence or children, it’s all about control, partner.
Dick Jordan, Boise