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Elk poachers a vile blight on our community

We spared out readers the terrible image of the severed elk cow head and her unborn fetus

We spared out readers the terrible image of the severed elk cow head and her unborn fetus, found discarded in the bush in the Cowichan Lake area last week.

Wilderness Watch’s Dennis Martel was not spared the sickening sight when he went to investigate the scene.

The poachers who illegally killed this animal discarded these unwanted parts like so much trash.

These poachers are a blight on our community and will not be spared out wrath, spilled out here in writing.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with hunting for sustenance.

Most of us eat meat, and those who want to harvest their own have only our respect — as long as they abide by the laws that protect human safety and the conservation of our precious natural resources.

These laws include such things as hunting in season only and not using weapons close to human habitation — the Lake area had a problem with someone breaking the latter law late last year.

These laws also include getting permits to hunt, and not hunting restricted animals, like the Roosevelt elk, without getting an OK from someone with more authority than your buddy next to you in the pickup truck.

This is vital to everyone’s continued ability to hunt. It’s what makes sure there are animals left to hunt at all.

And the survival of the elk and other wildlife are about more than just providing hunting targets.

We are awed and inspired by their presence, and each and every living thing plays a vital role in the whole of the ecosystem on which we depend for our lives.

It is just as fulfilling to shoot them with a camera as it is with a gun.

Tourists and locals alike marvel at their majesty (though the locals may curse them on occasion along with the deer when there are some veggies, flowers, or fruit missing in the morning).

We are lucky to live with these beautiful creatures as our neighbours. We are a each a little bit more because they too are here.

Like trophy hunters, who care about nothing but the thrill of killing another creature, poachers get no sympathy here.

With their calculated and cruel actions they are stealing from us all. Our entire community is harmed by their vile, selfish killing.

And when poachers hit a female, and a pregnant one at that, the crime is that much worse, as they endanger the continuance of the species.