What has our society become? Do we really favor animals over human beings? If so why? Watching the local news in my home last night, I heard how Americans now are spending into the billions of dollars to care for their pets and along with that, last year we spend over $500,000,000.00, yes 500 million dollars on health insurance for our pets. And how many human beings are uninsured and aren’t getting the proper health care they need?
We have obedience schools, doggie day cares, vacation spas and resorts for our pets, animal shrinks and the list goes on and on. While I wouldn’t want to be accused of being hard hearted, which wouldn’t be the first time, I think that people should have their pets for the enjoyment they get from them but is there a limit?
With this ever growing obsession with pets and animals, it has carried over into the world of wild animals. It is a far cry from the favorite little Yorky named Foo-Foo and a varmint predator looking for an easy meal which might just be little Foo-Foo. Most pet owners and animal lovers don’t understand or refuse to understand the differences and begin treating all animals, domestic or wild, the same. There is a huge difference between caring for your pets and managing wildlife. Even though these days it seems trained wildlife biologists have very little say in how to manage our wild animals, they do know more about it than most pet owners.
Take for example the coyote that was seen roaming around in front of the Federal Court House in downtown Detroit. Animal Control Care captured the varmint and city officials announced that the animal would be euthanized. But the Department of Natural Resources says the animal can be returned to the wild as soon as it is retrained.
Michigan law considers it a varmint. If it attacks someone, the city or state could be liable, according to spokesman Matt Allen, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
That is why it is necessary that the animal be retrained.
I’ll guarantee that a few years ago, without the constant pressure from animal lovers, the MDNR would have already put that coyote down.
I wonder if there has ever been a successful retraining of anything? We can’t retrain human beings to bread them of their bad habits, why do we think we can do this to an animal? Take bears for example. Once they taste the fine cuisine of your garbage can, there really is no way of stopping it. These creatures have been captured, trucked away for hundreds of miles, only to show up at a later time feasting on the same garbage can.
If the city of Detroit is so concerned about being liable if this coyote attacks someone, then common sense would dictate that the animal should be put down. The odds of retraining it are slim at best and now the city is putting itself in a much greater liability by tempting fate.
Knowing full well that I will be criticized for saying this, the bottom line is this is a wild varmint that is obviously not normal. It can’t be retrained. It’s a waste of taxpayer’s time and money trying and there are millions of these animals all over our countryside being nuisances, killing livestock and costing us billions of dollars.
Where’s the common sense?
Tom Remington
