These matters are driven not by the hunters themselves, but by wildlife
biologists, who grant the hunting permits. They hand out very few for desert
rams in AZ and NM, because the populations are so small: one has to win a
lottery; my friend Craig waited for 30 years to win the chance to take one
of those.
Hunters are merely tools used by state wildlife biologists to generate
revenue and to keep populations of each species in check against others. The
management is done by the state, and is an appropriate function for each
given state. Otherwise, as with the American buffalo, we find out too late
what the effect of indiscriminate hunting is.
So Mr. Holmes's quarrel should be with the authorities in Alberta, who are
granting these licenses--perhaps too liberally.
--J
On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 7:37 AM, Rin Watt <katecwatt_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> from In the Blink of an Eye, by Bob Holmes
>
> ... One of the best places to see evolution in action is high in the Rocky
> Mountains of Alberta, Canada, home of the largest bighorn sheep in North
> America. Hunters can pay six-figure sums for the right to shoot a big ram,
> the massive, curling horns of which make it the continent's most highly
> prized hunting trophy. On one peak, aptly named Ram Mountain, hunting has
> been so intense that rams can expect to live only a year or two after their
> horns reach the almost-360-degree curl that makes them a legal target for
> hunters. Not surprisingly, this has led to intense selection in favour of
> males whose horns never grow to reach trophy status.
> Sure enough, a study led by Dave Coltman, now at the University of Alberta
> in Edmonton, found that average horn size has declined by about 25 per cent
> over the past 30 years (Nature, vol 426, p 655). And the genetic erosion
> doesn't end there because larger-horned rams tend to have better genes in
> general. "You start taking out the prime-quality rams and the next
> generation will be missing those genes, because their fathers will be lower
> quality," says Coltman. In other words, every time they pull the trigger,
> hungers are working against their own long-term interests. "Its a form of
> artificial selection where instead of getting more of what you want you're
> actually going to end up with less," he says. ....
>
>
>
--
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Received on 2009-03-16 09:01:15