Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor (January 07, 2005)

Hunting doesn't make sense at Shoreline

Editor:

One beautiful afternoon I was watching the birds on the lake at Shoreline when many took flight toward the bay. Gunshots erupted. While continuing my hike along the path next to the bay, I watched as hunters came ashore, guns in arms and limp birds dangling from their hands.

How can I enjoy watching waterfowl when I know others are killing them for fun? Why was my peaceful experience ruined by gunshots? It did not have to be.

The Mountain View City Council is right to restrict access to hunters through Shoreline Park, but not just for the safety issue (as expressed in the Dec. 24 editorial in the Voice). They should be sending a clear message to the refuge manager that the citizens of Mountain View will not support hunting adjacent to Shoreline Park.

The area is now part of the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. The founding principle of the refuge system was that the lands and waters were to be inviolate sanctuaries, safe havens for wildlife, not killing fields.

Ironically, of 544 refuges, 321 now allow recreational hunting to appease the hunting lobby, even though these refuges comprise less than 10 percent of public land available to hunters, and hunters constitute just 4 to 6 percent of the population.

Americans should demand of refuge managers that National Wildlife Refuges be true sanctuaries or be renamed if recreational hunting and commercial trapping is permitted. End the public deception that these refuges are actually safe havens for wildlife.

Historically hunting was allowed, but that was when this area was privately owned, and landowners could permit hunting on their land.

Now the land is in public hands. Non-hunters are stakeholders of this refuge and their concerns are just as valid as hunters in determining whether hunting is in the public interest and in the interest of refuge wildlife. Surely, 10 percent of our public lands (the refuges) can be set aside to protect wildlife without compromising the opportunity for hunters to kill for fun on other public or private lands. Shoreline is usually a peaceful, restorative, enjoyable place for me. Please keep it so all year long.
Andi Sandstrom Tulane Drive

E-mail a friend a link to this story.