by Jack Lee
California, once the Golden State in so many ways is beset by forces akin to the four horsemen of the apocalypse, sharply declining tax revenues, a massive exodus of jobs, draught… and now the latest crisis, the violent rape of our natural resources by poachers on a massive scale! Poaching in terms of illegal revenue is now only exceeded by the drug trade.
Bears, salmon and deer are at the top of the long list of the most poached creatures. Thanks to this endemic poaching six of the eight bear species are now threatened with extinction. And, if the trend toward increased poaching continues, another may join that endangered list. The American black bear is in serious danger due to illegal hunting. Commercial poachers looking to turn a quick profit in the Asian medicine market has devastated the bear population because bear bile and claws bring in big money from the Chinese Medicine trade.
The California Department of Fish and Game is charged with patrolling over 150,000 square miles of land and over 250,000 square miles of water. And to protect our vast natural resources we have 331 employees and only 200 field agents. This thin green line is typically hours away from backup, they are almost guaranteed the suspect they will be approaching will be armed and they are also among California’s lowest paid cops. Ironically, they are among the best trained and attend the longest academy of all law enforcement agencies.
Complicating the job of protecting California’s game fish and animals from poachers
is the influx of marijuana plantations and crank labs on state and federal land that are often accompanied by armed guards, booby traps sand the pollution left behind from drug labs is considerable and costly to clean up.