The good folks at the U.S.National Park Service do not want licensed
hunters with rifles and bright orange vests traipsing around Rocky
Mountain National Park (Colorado) for all the world to see.
They might scare the bejabbers out of the non-hunting visitors to the
park.
Worse, they might expose non-hunters to the unvarnished reality that
"culling" an elk herd means actually killing some charismatic megafauna
near and dear to animal lovers.
So, the National Park Service last week announced its chosen plan to
reduce the oversized elk herd in the park.
It intends to authorize its own employees, hired outside contractors and
perhaps a few volunteers to roam selected areas of the park.
Rambo-like, to kill elk as discreetly as possible.
They will be trained to hunt at night using lasers, spotlights and night
vision scopes to spot and kill elk.
They will also use silencers in many instances to prevent visitors from
hearing their deadly gunshots.
Killing elk as secretively as possible to minimize public reaction?
There's a rational policy decision!
Because numerous Colorado residents as well as the Colorado Division of
Wildlife urged the National Park Service to consider recreational hunting
as a means to control the elk herd, the National Park Service did give
some cursory consideration to allowing traditional hunters in the park.
But it concluded it was not a viable option.
Large sections of the park would have to be off limits to other visitors
during hunting season, the National Park Service concluded.
Perhaps, but the Colorado Division of Wildlife routinely manages for
special hunts in restricted locations.
The same could be done in the national park, minimizing park territory
closed at any one time.
Additionally, while federal law doesn't currently allow hunting in the
park, an exemption could be made, as has been done in a few other national
parks.
In fact Senator Wayne Allard and 2nd District Representative Mark Udall
introduced legislation to allow the National Park Service to use
volunteer
hunters there.
Recreational hunters would remove the elk meat for their own use and for
less cost than the $6 million estimated over the next 20 years for the
National Park Service's preferred alternative,
Vegetation destruction makes it necessary to reduce the elk herd in Rocky
Mountain National Park from the estimated 3.100 animals there now to
approximately 2,000.
Recreational hunters under the guidance of the Colorado Division of
Wildlife and the National Park Service could perform the task in a
reasonable and cost-effective manner if the National Park Service's top
priority didn't seem to be prevent park visitors from witnessing what
actually happens when an elk herd is culled.
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