The Cyberactivist

I have offered before to other people the chance to use this blog to get the word out about problems that need addressing. You have probably noticed that I have done this for Dave Louthan, among others. Well, now there is a young woman in one of the groups I am a member of that wrote about a problem in her area that she felt needed addressing. When I read her post in that group, I contacted her by email to find out if she was interested in having her issue posted here to gain more attention to it. She was quite interested, so here is her post (only edited slightly for typos and capitalization of words that were needing it to make it more readable - the words themselves that she used, as well as her grammar, have not been edited or changed by me at all - they are all hers):

I live in California, and off of our coast is an island chain called
the Channel Islands. I don't know how many of you have heard of this
group of islands, but one of its popular/well known parts is
Catalina. I am speaking of the other, unpopulated islands which I
know and have loved for my entire life. To know my love for these
islands, you would have to know my family and how I was raised. when
I was 7, about 8 years ago, these islands were privately owned and
managed very well. I knew the care takers, and they were my friends.
Soon the national park service decided that they wanted to buy the
islands and return them to their natural state. Many endangered
species live on these islands, such as the bald eagle, the island fox,
various rodents and numerous birds. The iron wood tree grows ONLY on
these islands. The park service attempted to buy Santa Cruz, the
largest of the islands, but the owners would not sell, so the park
service sued the owners for the "smuggling of ancient artifacts,"
those of the Native Americans that lived there so long ago. The
service won the case and received the islands as payment. After this,
they began to remove all 'unnatural' species from the islands.
Sometime in the 50's, farmers brought sheep out to raise. The park
service allowed hunters to come out and eradicate every last sheep.
The hunters did not take the carcasses, but rather the heads and left
the islands covered with sheep bodies. My family saved 2 lambs, but
the rest were brutally murdered. Now the island fox were always doing
poorly on Santa Cruz, and there was a slight rise after the sheep were
eradicated. But soon there was a great rise in the number of golden
eagles because they began to flock out to the meat source. The eagles
are now in danger of being shot because they are 'unnatural' too,
though they flew out there themselves. There is much more to this
story than I am telling you - for the most part of it is kept hidden
from the public.

Another species they are trying to eradicate are the feral boars.
Two families of boars roam Santa Cruz - three adolescents were released
there, and one was named Harry. Harry was the sweetest wild boar ever.
He was just like a dog, he loved being pet on the belly, and he would
roll over and just follow me around. Last time I ventured out to his
beach we found him dead, a bullet wound in his hide, and his head
was gone. I know I may be young to all of you, but I care just as
much about all animals as many of you do. I wish there was something
I could do, but I just seem so small compared to the rest of the
world. My dad is with me on this one, but I don't know anyone else
that knows of this situation, where the national park service is more
of a hindrance than a help.

If you wish to offer help and/or advice, then her email address is jerber2713@yahoo.com (Yes, she asked me to include it here as she needs all the help she can get.)

**NOTE** I remind readers that if you are in a similar situation and need an issue addressed, then just shoot off an email to me, and I will see what I can do to help you. I don't mind the occasional use of this blog as a platform for other activists to use to speak out about an issue that they are personally aware of and needing help with. I won't post all the alerts I receive from activists, though, because there are many groups and lists to do that on that are dedicated to doing just that, with members that are signed up to do that very thing for you. So, don't send me petitions and action alerts from organizations. I get those every day through the groups I am a member of.

But, if you have a local issue that isn't being covered, and you have nowhere else to turn for help, then go ahead and write me on it, spelling out in detail what the problem is and preferably what can be done about it, especially if you are taking steps and just need a little help getting the word out. This won't be a regular thing featured here. This is still my blog for me to write my own comments in, so regular readers have nothing to fear. This won't degenerate into an action-alert list. However I do believe in helping the "little guy" whenever I can, even if all I end up doing is contacting a few other activists to help, rather than actually posting here on the blog about the problem.**END NOTE**

I believe that the efforts of young people like this young woman should be supported. If you can't offer anything but your moral support, she would probably appreciate hearing from you. Perhaps if she has enough emails from enough concerned citizens, something could be done to save these animals from being brutally executed. Maybe then the officials would listen. Even if it is decided that some of these animals should be removed, I'm sure that there are sanctuaries that would be glad to take them. If you are involved with a sanctuary yourself, perhaps you could contact the officials in charge of this and offer these animals a home?

Surely there are other options than simply murdering these innocent, and apparently very beloved and affectionate, animals. There are always other options. Animals should not be killed because that is the cheapest and/or most convenient solution. That is cruel and barbaric, not to mention uncaring.

I am working on another post now after reading a story in the news that I think everyone will be interested in reading. I should have it up by tomorrow. It will be another graphically gross one, though. You have been warned. I told you there were other stories buried in my memory. I just need to be prodded with a little reminder to bring them up from the depths. Remember, I spent a long time burying such things in order to be able to keep working in that hellhole. It is hard to access some of them without something to prod the old memory.

Okay. Okay. I have your curiosity up now, don't I? I'll give you a hint then.