Like Tom Talley in his letter to the Herald (Oct. 17), I seek honesty in the McLachlan-Brown campaign concerning Wildlife Services. I do not believe the McLachlan campaign is against Wildlife Services, especially since the program has moved away from the earlier kill practices to a variety of intervention methods to prevent or dissipate conflict between humans and wildlife.
I believe that the McLachlan campaign is responding to a drumbeat of criticism of all government programs in the form of statements about “big government” “small government” “cut spending,” etc. Government programs addressing the special needs of certain groups or individuals have been one of our society’s ways of taking care of each other for a very long time. The issues get blurred in sound bites or short ads.
On this particular issue, Wildlife Services alone cannot solve our problems. We should be more sensitive to habitat destruction in developing communities. We should stop attempting to make our wildlands safe for domestic animals and put more emphasis on the ancient practices of herding.
Terry Fitzgerald
Bayfield
