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responders too fast on the trigger
 Wild
Lives: Wildlife responders too fast on the trigger
by Lynn Cuny, Founder & Executive Director,
Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation
Friday, July 6, 2007
When it comes to the way we treat so-called
"nuisance" wildlife, the crime rarely measures up
to the punishment delivered. We witnessed this judicial schizophrenia
in May when an area police officer killed a mother deer because
of a complaint call that she had head-butted a local college
student — though it was widely, and wrongly, reported
by the news media that a small child was involved.
It turned out in this case that the alleged
offender was a local "pet" named Koko, raised by
humans after her mother was struck and killed on the road.
The supposed crime committed by Koko was never investigated.
But bullets were dispatched without question, ending her life.
Now the 9-foot alligator gunned down by a
Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden in San Antonio this week
was certainly nobody's pet. Just as Mother Nature intended,
the healthy creature was living free in area waters. The animal
was free, that is, until it was determined the creature was
"lurking" near an apartment building. She was "showing
signs of aggression," news accounts related, and was
"unafraid to approach humans."
The sentence for such behavior was death.
One can only assume the statements made by
the game warden are true, even though they were not supported
by any of the media accounts of the incident. Perhaps the
"aggressive" signs and her lack of fear were extrapolated
by the agent from the one thing the animal did: walk toward
the apartment building from the water. Was she fleeing the
agent? Something else? It is unclear.
Among those residents interviewed by the San
Antonio Express-News supposedly at risk, none had ever
seen alligators said to be in the area and weren't particularly
concerned. Even so, the question begging an answer is if a
"lurking" alligator, living near people, showing
undefined signs of aggression, should be a dead alligator.
There must be stronger criteria than that
within the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for animals
determined to pose a risk to humans! If lurking is a crime,
which animals will we spare. For lurking is all in the eye
of the beholder.
Alligators, once almost eradicated in most
of the Southern United States, are becoming an unavoidable
reality in Texas again. That is something to be celebrated.
Many states (including Texas) have opened up alligator hunting,
though many have rightly argued such practice is not only
cruel to the alligators but puts people stalking the animals
at risk.
That's right. Alligators can be dangerous
— particularly when you crash into their wetland territory
to pick a fight. Still there have only been 20 fatal attacks
in the United States since 1970.
In this case at hand, the alligator was likely
flushed from her traditional habitat by the recent heavy rains
and would have returned to her territory as the extended damp
drained away again. The response was wildly out of proportion
to the actions of the alligator. Even nine-footer alligators
can be trapped and transported when they pose a risk. More
observation with the potential for relocation was the reasonable
course of action in this case.
When we are so fast on the draw, so quick
to condemn our nonhuman animal neighbors, it begs another
question of all of us. What kind of world are we creating?
What kind of world are we losing?
Media Coverage
9-foot
gator shot south of Loop 410
by Vianna Davila and Josh Baugh, San Antonio
Express-News
Friday, July 6, 2007
Game
warden kills 9-foot alligator in San Antonio
by Associated Press
Friday, July 6, 2007
About the Author
Lynn Cuny is the founder and director of Wildlife
Rescue & Rehabilitation in Kendalia, Texas. She is the
author of two books, Through
Animals' Eyes and Through
Animals' Eyes, Again. Her monthly column "Wild
Lives" examines animal issues and the intricacies of
human-wildlife relationships.
About Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation
Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation (WRR)
(www.wildlife-rescue.org)
was founded in 1977 in San Antonio by Lynn Cuny. Our mission
is to provide rescue, rehabilitation, and release of orphaned,
injured, and displaced wildlife, and provide sanctuary with
dignity for non-releasable and non-native wild animals who
have been the victims of the exotic pet trade, rescued from
roadside zoos, or used in research. Today WRR volunteers and
staff annually receive 5,000–6,000 animals at our 187-acre
sanctuary outside Kendalia, Texas. Over 600 wild and farmed
animals make their permanent home at WRR.
Contact Information
For more information about Wildlife Rescue
& Rehabilitation's sanctuary operations or educational
programs visit www.wildlife-rescue.org
or contact Education & Advocacy Coordinator Gregory Harman
at education@wildlife-rescue.org
or (830) 336-2725.
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