I can't help but share this story about wildlife and politically correct. soon you'll see where i get my ... genes from.
As you know, i'm very proud of my parents. my dad is a retired naval officer, fighter pilot for 25 years; famous for his record setting number of nighttime aircraft carrier landings. graduate of the naval academy and an ego the size of texas (but in a pleasant way; just very confident). well, when we moved to arkansas, there was a festival called "turkey trot" in our hometown. during the festival, turkeys would be dropped over the town, often from roof tops. well, we moved to town, and people found out he was a pilot. dad found out that the national forestry service would drop turkeys from small airplanes to distribute turkeys. so, for about 15 years, he and buddy would fly a small plane over the town (safely of course), and drop turkeys to people below; turkeys would fly down and run around and people would catch them and take them home for thanksgiving or release them (festival is in october). tshirts were made, news crews visited, magazines did articles...the National Enquirer, Saturday Evening Post, Wall Street Journal.
Well, the Environmentalists thought it was cruelty to animals, made a big stink about it. dad would have his pilots license suspended every year for 90 days until the faa finally said, ok you can do it but only those few days a year.
well, amidst all of this, Wall Street Journal interviewed him. The following was printed in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal:
"We asked Commander USN retired , former fighter/attack pilot in the Navy for 25 years if he felt GUILTY about dropping turkeys out of airplanes. CDR Williams replied, "Do I feel GUILTY about dropping turkeys out of airplanes?? I dropped napalm on the vietnamese...hell no I don't feel guilty about dropping turkeys out of airplanes" !!
so i say again (thanks to my father's genes), screw being politically correct.
mark
