How does one send an animal rights activist into a fit of outrage? Depending on the level of lunacy, animal rightists oppose virtually everything from owning family pets to eating anything but vegetables. Hunting and fishing are at the top of their “freak-out” list.
The latest “outrage” to infuriate the animal rights crowd was Colorado hunter Franchesca Esplin posting a video of her hunting a mountain lion.
“The pictures infuriated conservationists, with the head of one organization calling it a ‘trophy hunt,’” according to a report by MSN Insider. One glaring misstatement is referring to animal rights activists as “conservationists.” They are protectionists, not conservationists.
Esplin’s response to the criticism was that she is a conservationist herself, who hunts to keep the predator population down.
Esplin told MSN Insider that she uses hunting for meat since it is more ethical than factory farming. She said she is more comfortable feeding her family meat she hunts herself because animals don’t have antibiotics or hormones injected into them.
Animal rights group Prairie Protection Colorado posted photos and a video from Esplin’s Facebook page in February. The video went viral.
Deanna Meyer, the executive director of Prairie Protection Colorado, assailed it as a “trophy hunt” and said the photos were “pure psychopathic evil.”
It is legal to hunt mountain lions and bobcats in Colorado with a permit, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW). In 2018, CPW planned to kill hundreds of mountain lions and black bears due to the degradation of the state’s environment. Their management plan was stopped by a lawsuit filed by environmental groups.
Esplin told MSN Insider that hunting is an important resource for her family of six.
“Any hunting we do throughout seasons is for meat for our family. We can't afford to always go to the store and buy steaks,” she said. “At least I know that the meat I get from hunting hasn't been injected with steroids, hormones, and all that nasty junk.”
She also said that she considers herself a conservationist, and that “wildlife management” by killing predators is part of that. The state of Colorado regulates killing animals such as mountain lions with quotas, and Esplin said she sticks to them.
“I'm a hunter and with that goes the several thousands of dollars [of value] that I've provided to the state to help with conservation efforts,” she said. “I do more for conservation than most.”
