Hunting
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1995:
Johnie Young, treasurer of a group trying to repeal the
ban on bear and cougar hunting with dogs approved by Oregon
voters last November, pleaded no contest in November 1990, along
with his wife Diana, to poaching bears and trafficking in bear paws
and gall bladders. State police records indicate Young killed 32 black
bears, including cubs, between April 1987 and June 1989––along
with three cougars and a bobcat. A police undercover video showed
Young leading several hunting parties who used dogs to tree bears,
shot the bears out of the trees, and allowed the dogs to maul the bears
after they fell.
California assem-
blyman David Knowles’
annual attempt to repeal
the state ban on sport
hunting of mountain lions
fell one vote short in com-
m i t t e e on April 18, but
Knowles pledged to try again
next year––his last chance as
an assembly member, as he
will be forced out of office
by the state term limit next
fall. A Republican from
Placerville, Knowles is like-
ly to be succeeded by fellow
Republican and former
major league second base-
man Steve Sax, who has
announced his intention to
seek the office.
Ohio Division of
Wildlife chief Richard B.
Pierce, 52, is to retire on
May 31, but has hinted that
he will soon pop up as an
executive of a pro-hunting
group such as the Wildlife
Legislative Fund of America.
About 60 hunters
took part in the so-called
“Nucla Tuneup Prairie Dog
Shoot” on April 15 near
Denver. Host Mark Mason
did not disclose the exact
site, to evade protest. The
6th annual Nucla prairie dog
killing contest may be can-
celled, meanwhile, due to a
paucity of prairie dogs in the
area––blamed on a recent
plague outbreak.
The Fund for
Animals’ ad “Violence is
not for the birds,” appear-
ing to the right, was
barred from space already
bought and paid for in the
April 28 edition of the
Pottsville Republican, the
daily paper serving the
Hegins area, whose ad
director called it “slander-
ous” and “libelous.” The ad
was, however, accepted
exactly as it appears here by
The New York Times.
Copies in a format suitable
for newsletter reproduction
are available from the Fund;
see ad for details.
The Animal Pro-
tection League of Portugal
is seeking the hunter or
hunters who hanged the
trapped, shot, and/or gar-
roted corpses of more than
100 dogs, wildcats, bad-
gers, foxes, and weasels
from trees in a game park
about 75 miles southeast of
Lisbon. More than 40 dif-
ferent species were killed,
several of them endangered,
according to APL investiga-
tor Americo Pecas.
Using a high-volt-
age electrical cable to stun
fish in a lake near
Wloclawek, Poland, four
poachers netted such a catch
that when they tried to pull
the net in, the weight
instead dragged one of them
into the water. The poacher,
age 24, was electrocuted,
Polish authorities reported
on May 4.
