Hunt-Happy Texas Breeds Deer Smugglers

Even if Rick Perry thinks so in Texas: Mark Essig

(NEWSER) - A new law signed by Rick Perry will allow hunters in Texas to rent a seat on a helicopter and hunt wild pigs from the sky. It may work for Perry politically, but the scheme is a short-sighted one that won't solve the growing problem of feral pigs destroying crops and wildlife, writes Mark Essig in the New York Times . For one thing, it's cruel because the pigs often end up being only wounded. What's more, it ignores the main cause of the problem—hunters are trapping and releasing pigs into new areas to create hunting grounds. More»

'Don't fence me in' doesn't wash in Texas

(NEWSER) - The fallout from a Texan's shooting of 51 buffalo that strayed from his neighbor's hunting ranch is sparking a modern day range war, and highlights a cultural chasm in America's wide open spaces. A working stiff foreman shot the buffalo after they escaped through a washed out section of fence from their al fresco quarters on a 20,000-acre ranch owned by a Dallas oilman. The foreman has been charged with criminal mischief, but it may have been legal for him to shoot the animals. The clash underlines tensions between old timers and millionaires scooping up land. More»

Residents blame population for upswing in tick-borne diseases

(NEWSER) - When the first deer landed on Nantucket in 1926, cheering crowds greeted them. But as a vicious trio of tick-related diseases devastates the island, many say the Bambis have overstayed their welcome, the New York Times reports. “The numbers of tick-borne diseases are so off the graph, and it all comes back to the deer,” one official says. Residents remain divided over a controversial proposal to eliminate ticks, which feed on deer blood, by allowing more deer hunting. More»

(NEWSER) - Fish don’t get much uglier than the alligator gar, but lately the dinosaur-like monstrosity has attracted a following… of crossbow-wielding sportsmen trying to kill it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Part fishing, part monster hunting, bagging an alligator gar is a thrilling exercise, and at up to 8 feet long, they make great trophies. In many states officials, fearing the gar could become endangered, are enacting fishing limits. More»

Ban on food offerings 'angers' hungry lizards

(NEWSER) - Komodo dragons in an Indonesian park are increasingly attacking humans, and villagers who share their habitat say environmentalist policies are to blame, reports the Wall Street Journal. Inhabitants of Komodo National Park have traditionally left deer and sheep for the carnivorous lizards, the largest in the world. But new laws banning the offerings have made the dragons “angry with us,” said a villager. More»