So, you are one of those who might be a bit skeptical about whether or not the media shills for environmental and/or animal rights groups. It is often said that the media is owned by the same ruling establishment that also owns liberal, progressive movements as well. If the following is not a clear example of just that, then on its face value it is extremely poor journalism.
I was sent a copy of the original article that was found in the Kennebec Journal, a mid-Maine newspaper publication. It has since been removed and replaced with what we can only assume is a more accurate account of a man who shot his dog after being caught in a trap. Below is a copy of the KJ article that can no longer be found.
Bear (sorry) in mind that the Humane Society of the United States is presently collecting signatures in order to place a citizen’s initiative to ban bear hunting, trapping and hounding for a November 2014 election. This then becomes an example of how supposed journalism takes up sides to help promote fascist agendas.
To play on emotions, the writer first declares this man to be 90 years old. The second lie was that the dog was caught in a bear trap – a convenient misrepresentation of facts as a means of conveying to the public how bear trapping is dangerous for pets and humans. The author then attempts to present more ignorant crap by saying perhaps the dog was injured in the bear trap.
Perhaps the man would still have his dog if it had been caught in a bear trap. A bear “trap” is a snare. It holds enough tension around the bear’s, or in this case a dog’s, foot. Any injury that might occur would be caused from the animal struggling to get free, not a direct result of the snare. The old man could have easily released his dog.
The corrected story puts that 90-year-old man at 84 and his dog was caught in a legally set coyote trap. When the man attempted to free his dog from the trap, the dog bit onto the man’s hand and wouldn’t let go, according to the story written. The man shot the dog to get it to let go.
Had the man left his dog in the “foothold trap” and gotten the owner’s information off the trap (if not possible it wouldn’t have taken long to find out whose trap it was or get someone who knew how to release a trap with a catch pole), the dog would not have been seriously injured. The man wouldn’t have ended up with dog bites on his hand and his dog would still be alive.
I don’t take issue with information provided in a media story so long as it is factual. This, obviously, was a rush to pin blame on bear trapping and the victim was an old man and his dog. Also unfortunate, but I’m sure doesn’t bother the person who put out a bad story, is that some social media sites picked up the original story (the one shown above) and that started a buzz going about the evils of trapping, which was the intent of the writer from the beginning in my opinion.
Shameful!
