Flying Planes and Killing Calves

Last night I had the strangest dream. I was attempting to fly a small plane and I couldn’t get the nose of the plane up high enough to get past the towers that were stretching up into the sky.  No kidding. And then I crashed but luckily I walked away from it.  Hmmm… I wonder what sort of symbolism there is in that dream?

I’m surprised I didn’t land on a moose calf or two in the process.  It seems there is always something happening that gets me irritated.  Is it because I think I know what is best? Is it because I care too much? Is it because I’m so bored I have nothing else to worry about?

I’m not sure which of the above best describes me but I, for lack of a better phrase, “have my undies in a bundle.”

I read this post about the moose study and it really bothered me.  I wonder how many signatures we would have to get in order to stop the killing of moose calves yet this spring? So far there’s only 1400, it would be nice if it were 14,000.  Care to share with your friends and family?  Stop collaring calves petition! 

I wonder what I’ll dream about tonight?

Posted on Facebook page “Save Minnesota Moose” erika butler BEMIDJI, MN
As the former primary investigator of the mn dnr adult moose mortality project, I worked hand and hand with Glenn DelGiuduce. I know how he manipulates information for his own needs (they are NOT the first study to do this, in fact him and I both consulted with Alaskan biologists and Canadian biologistics who have been implementing essentially the same studies only without the abandonment issue. The first year Glenn ran the calf portion of the project, he KNOWINGLY left those abandoned calves out there to starve to death. As the MN DNR wildlife veterinarian I was tasked with ensuring that all wildlife research animals were treated humanely. I brought my concerns forward to Glenn, and Lou Cornicelli (the then and current research manager) but despite me pointing out that this classified as animal neglect and cruelty, they left those animals out there to starve. As I was leaving the DNR I approached the chief of wildlife with my concerns. He assured me that steps would be taken to ensure this wouldn’t happen again; well last years numbers were even worse. We are not learning anything about calf mortality with this project, but instead only seeing how big Glenn’s ego is. How can we leave research and management decisions in their hands when they don’t even care enough to prevent study induced abandonment. It’s time to throw in the towel on this study. We are learning nothing but how cruel Glenn is. In fact, maybe there should be an investigation into their animal cruelty… I’d gladly share copies of my records.