It’s to make you turn green
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1993:
The United Conservation Alliance,
an association of hunters and trappers whose
name only sounds like an environmental group,
teamed with the Fur Information Council of
America to distribute 100 public service
announcements to 50 leading TV stations just
before Earth Day. The 30-and-60-second
announcements ––which apparently were not
aired by most of the stations––quoted Greg
Lincombe of the Louisiana Department of
Wildlife and Fisheries, claiming, “Commercial
trapping through the fur industry is the only
viable solution to keep muskrat and nutria in
check.” Actually, Louisiana alligators eat a lot
more muskrat and nutria than trappers catch, and
they’d eat even more if Linscombe’s department
didn’t remove as many as 75,000 alligator eggs a
year for resale to alligator farmers––but it’s the
sale of trapping permits (down 90% in five years)
that keeps him in a job.
