Exposing the Big Game

In a scene all too reminiscent of something out of the movie, Mississippi Burning, a rural sheriff is urging his hate-filled, violence-prone constituents to defy federal law enforcement officers and continue their attacks on the objects of their redneck derision. This time, instead of the Deep South, the setting is extreme Northeastern California, and rather than the Civil Rights Amendment, the federal law being defied is the Endangered Species Act. The potential victim warranting protection is a wolf known as OR7, who could be caught in the crossfire of a depraved tradition know as a “contest hunt” targeting coyotes with the savage glee of an angry lynch mob.

The above analogy highlights how far we’ve come in terms of civil rights since the early ‘60s—and just how far we have to go before the country embraces the mere concept of animal rights. Try to suggest relegating any group…

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