Papers in the Biological Sciences
Date of this Version
1-10-2014
Citation
Lincoln JOURNAL STAR, January 10, 2014.
Abstract
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission must be very pleased with its special hunting season for mountain lions: two cougars killed in only two days, one by a person who paid $13,500 for the privilege of blasting one out of a tree after it was cornered by dogs (to add to his 150 other game trophies), and the other by a teenager who began killing mountain lions when he was 13 years old.
Nearly 500 other people have bought $15 hunting permits in hopes of shooting one of the other 20-odd mountain lions somehow barely managing to survive in this gun -happy state. Given the great success of this cougars-for-cash season, I would suggest other possibilities for revenue-raising: bighorn sheep for bigots, badgers for bullies, groundhogs for gun lovers and raccoons for Republicans. We have more than 80 species of beautiful mammals in Nebraska; the hunting opportunities for the commission to exploit are endless.