Shooting cougars
Dear Editor,
Regarding "When the animals can shoot back" in Gazette's Feb. 2 issue:
Was this printed as a serious suggestion? That "Permits could be offered through an auction" to kill the 20 or so cougars left around Nebraska and "imagine what some hunters would pay for a permit to kill a mountain lion, and either have it mounted or have it made into a 'rug' type of trophy."
It concluded that the old 1980 bill might still be put into effect and hinted later that "killing off a portion (a portion? Of 20?) of Nebraska's cougar population could generate big revenue with very little effort."
A lot of us out here would be happy just to get glimpse of a mountain lion; we care about wildlife and would like to help the few left rather than treat them as "possible big revenue with very little effort."
This article doesn't speak well for Nebraskans, but makes us look like a bunch of ignorant morons. If this article was printed seriously by the Gazette, shame on you.
I dare you to print this.
Sheryl Patterson,
McCook, Nebraska