Posted on 02/28/2012 10:53:32 PM PST by SmithL
California Fish and Game Commission President Daniel Richards said Tuesday that there is "zero chance" he will resign over a photograph showing him grinning as he holds up the body of a mountain lion he shot, killed and ate in Idaho recently.
In a letter addressed to Assemblyman Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, one of dozens of public officials who called for Richards' resignation in recent days, Richards blasted lawmakers and others for their criticism of his hunting expedition and mocked their condemnation of the kill.
Richards wrote that he did eat a cougar for dinner, did not use a high-powered rifle and said he has "consistently supported" conservation efforts as a commissioner when they were backed by scientific evidence. He compared his actions to a California official gambling in Nevada.
While it's legal to kill the big cats in Idaho, California has banned the hunting of mountain lions since 1972, and voters have twice renewed that restriction. After the photo surfaced online this week, at least 40 lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for his resignation.
Newsom, in a letter, said the "actions call into question whether you can live up to the calling of your office," and "do not reflect the values of the people of California."
Richards was unapologetic.
"Do you really think a California commissioner is actually obligated to follow California laws across these United States? Really?" Richards wrote on Fish and Game letterhead in a two-page correspondence he also sent to the entire Legislature, the governor, the California secretary of Natural Resources, and members of the Fish and Game Commission.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"So the a hole thinks he is above the law, put his a** in jail."
I don’t have a problem with the guy here. He took the cat in Idaho, where the hunting of cougars is perfectly legal. That his home state bans it has no bearing, or should have no bearing, whatsoever on what the guy legally did in another state.
What this is about is getting him off the commission so that the power shifts entirely from hunting to environmentalism.
And this is your org.whodat on drugs...
What law did he break?
I often hike the Los Gatos trail here in the SF Bay Area. All over, there are signs warning against mountain lions. If one of the cuddly things one day makes a dinner of me or someone else, will it have to answer to Gavin Newsom, et al?
I have known a lot of people from here (San Diego) going to Idaho. It is a good state and they love it.
And yet, try taking a fish without a license in Californa, and watch this guy and his ilk string you up from the nearest tree.
I hope they seriously screw this guy over. What goes around, comes around butt-wipe.
“...And yet, try taking a fish without a license in Californa, and watch this guy and his ilk string you up from the nearest tree.
I hope they seriously screw this guy over. What goes around, comes around butt-wipe...”
If you fish without a proper license, *YOU* deserve to be “screwed over”...Buttwipe!
Well then, that was one of the stupidest comments I’ve read today. But the day is young, I still have time to read more of your comments. LOL
No, it’s respectable and legal to be eaten by a mtn lion, just don’t eat one
“Ate?”
Yeh, they taste like tuna.
Sure, he was in a different state when he killed one ~ and ate it ~ and it was all legal ~ but what is he doing protecting the darned things back in CA? Certainly they are as dangerous there as they are in Idaho
What I wonder is if he brought back trophies. That'd be paws, a head, maybe a tail. Where are they? Or, did he save the hide for preservation as a rug, and just what are the California laws on ownership of such materials?
If Californians think these critters are in some manner endangered and have protected them, it follows to reason that they have created some evidentiary standards ~ one of which would be possession of hide, skeleton, etc. ~ maybe even gallstones!
If he took trophies it would be reasonable to ask where he put them ~ maybe in the Fish and Game Commission's meeting room?
Do you have a reading problem, the poster in 9 said he had no tag I believed him. Now take it up with him, if you want to start some petty little fight.
Why does he say he didn’t use a high powered rifle....Hell, I’d be proud of jumping out of a tree and wrasslin’ him to death with a garrote, too. Why rain on his parade?
Ate?..I found that part of the story...rather distasteful.
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