CALIFORNIA CRAZINESS UPDATE

[billrquimby]

http://www.mercurynews.com/sci...r.it&utm_medium=feed

 

 

Embattled California wildlife official who shot mountain lion refuses to resign

 

By Paul Rogers

 

FEB. 29, 2012 --- The embattled president of California's Fish and Game Commission pushed back at his critics Tuesday, telling them he did nothing wrong by killing a mountain lion on a big game hunt in Idaho. And he vowed not to resign.

 

"While I respect our Fish and Game rules and regulations, my 100 percent legal activity outside of California, or anyone else's for that matter, is none of your business," Dan Richards wrote in a letter to state lawmakers calling for his ouster.

 

Richards also wrote that "contrary to so many erroneous reports," he didn't use a high-powered rifle and "we did dine on Mountain Lion for dinner" that night.

 

In recent days, 40 Democratic Assembly members and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom have sent letters asking Richards to resign. They've accused him of thumbing his nose at California voters who have banned mountain lion hunting twice at the ballot box, in 1990 and 1996.

 

If Richards, a Republican appointed to the commission by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, doesn't quit he could be removed by the Legislature by a simple majority vote, which could tip the balance of the powerful commission away from hunting interests to environmental interests.

 

At the end of his letter to Assemblyman Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, who has organized the campaign against him, Richards wrote: "There is ZERO chance I would resign my position."

 

Hueso could not be reached for comment late Tuesday. But Jennifer Fearing, state director of the Humane Society of the United States, said the letter would only increase the likelihood that Richards will soon be removed by state lawmakers.

 

"We never said Richards' Idaho trophy kill was illegal," she said. "We said it showed poor judgment. And this letter is just another example of horrendously bad decision-making and why Richards no longer has the trust of Californians and the Legislature."

 

Meanwhile, Joseph Peterson, the guide who led Richards on the hunt in January at the 5,000-acre Flying B Ranch in northern Idaho, said Richards went to the ranch seeking to hunt pheasants. Peterson said that he asked Richards, whom he had not previously met, if he wanted to kill a mountain lion because the ranch was trying to stem a recent increase in the number of lions as a way to preserve deer and other big game popular with sport hunters there.

 

"He killed the cat as a favor to me, to help our predator management on the ranch," Peterson said, adding that he did not charge Richards the ranch's normal $6,800 fee for a lion hunt.

 

"The cat would have died if Dan was here or not," Peterson said.

 

Peterson said he tracked the lion for 15 hours, and Richards tracked it for about eight hours, through miles of hilly country in the snow. After the lion, a 3-year-old male, was driven up a tree by hunting dogs, Richards shot it, he said.

 

Richards sent a photo of himself holding the dead lion, which he left in Idaho to be taxidermied, to Western Outdoor News, a hunting newspaper. The paper published the photo, prompting an outcry from the Humane Society, Sierra Club and other groups.

 

Peterson said he thinks Richards is being treated unfairly. But he added that Richards seemed to know his actions would be controversial in California, where former Gov. Ronald Reagan first banned mountain lion hunting in 1972 in five-year increments. California voters then made the ban permanent with the passage of Proposition 117 in 1990.

 

"I didn't realize, although Dan may have, that it would cause that big of a fuss," Peterson said. "He knows the people in his state. He said he was going to have that photo in some publications down there. He mentioned it would cause some stir among the environmentalists. He knew it would cause some trouble."

 

Peterson said critics, who have bombarded his Facebook page with negative comments, misunderstand much of his ranch's operation.

 

The ranch kills only one to four lions a year on its property, he said. It also offers fly-fishing and other activities, along with hunts for birds, deer, wolves, bears and elk. And many of the people who hunt lions on the ranch actually consume them as they would venison, he said.

 

"We do eat them," he said. "It's like lean pork. It's fairly common in Idaho and western Montana. I have guests who ask me to send them cougar meat from all over the country."

[DesertBull]

In recent days, 40 Democratic Assembly members and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom have sent letters asking Richards to resign. They've accused him of thumbing his nose at California voters who have banned mountain lion hunting twice at the ballot box, in 1990 and 1996.

 

But it is ok to thumb the noses of people that voted to ban same sex marriage? Hypocrites.

[257wby]

WOW!! This is why I would rather be homeless, than live in California. What a joke.

[2 Full Curls]

I sent an email to Commissioner Richards today expressing my support and hope that he maintains his firm position.

 

The email and mailing addresses for the commission are below if you are interested in doing the same. Even though the addresses are general, I hope that my message reached his desk:

 

Mailing Address:

 

California Fish and Game Commission

P.O. Box 944209

Sacramento, CA 94244-2090

 

Email:

fgc@fdc.ca.gov

 

Phone Number:

(916) 653-4899

 

Fax Number:

(916) 653-5040