AR-News: (US-WA) Quinaults allowing public bear hunts

[jim robertson]

Quinaults allowing public bear hunts
By Kaitlin Manry
TAHOLAH - For the first time ever, the Quinault Indian Nation has opened its 
reservation to non-tribal hunters.

In a controversial move that some say amounts to giving away the tribe's 
treaty rights, the Indian Nation's business committee decided to host spring 
and fall bear hunts on the 211,000- acre reservation.

Dick Stone, wildlife policy lead for the Washington Department of Fish & 
Wildlife, said he thinks this is the first time a Washington tribe has 
sponsored a public bear hunt.

"It's not our intent to eradicate the bear," said Vice Chairman Guy 
Capoeman. "We just want to bring it back to a stable population." He says 
hungry bears cause around $1 million in damage to the tribe's timber 
resources each year.

Some tribal members, however, say the hunt, which began April 1, is 
unnecessary and is undermining century-old treaty rights that grant Native 
Americans special privileges, like the ability to hunt year-round.

http://www.thedailyworld.com/archive/2004/04/19/LocalNews/184428.html

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"As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he
always had the same thought: in their behavior toward creatures, all men are 
Nazis.
The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased
exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is 
right."
                     ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer

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