Gavin Newsom Demands Fish and Game President Resign After Shooting Mountain Lion

Newsome needs to get back to banging his best friends' wives.  He clearly has nothing better to do with his time.

Sorry, outlaw cows and chicken!

Its legal to hunt them in Idaho. He didn't break the law, he went hunting.  I wish activists would go to idaho and run through the woods, one less group of idiots to worry about.  I am sure some moron will an cow and chicken if this guy gets replaced. Good grief, the idiot Governor goes away for a week and the clown Newsom goes headhunting (no pun intended).  Get a life 

I’m not a hunter and never touched a gun in my life, but I the witch hunt against the Fish and Game Commissioner Richards, an ethical environmentalist, is appalling and irrational. I appreciate Richard’s courage to speak his convictions and to educate about environmental management and ethical hunting. In his honor, and inspired by his example, I am making a commitment to eat what I kill from now on.  I’m not going to buy chicken only to let it rot in my fridge.

Wow, alot of really interesting comments. Where to start......as a Montana rancher, raising beef cattle, every time I lose a cow, it's a $10,000 hit to me, if you figure future calves. So if I lose 5 cattle a year to lion predation, what beef I do have are going to cost you more. So you ecoidiots, everytime you drive your Prious out to your favorite restraunt can expect to pay a heck of alot more for my beef. This is my land, and it's where I make my living. Wolf, coyote, lion, it doesn't matter, you chase and eat my stock, I will shoot you.What your Director did was a perfectly legal, and much needed method of controlling populations. I am so glad I live up here, and not in your state!

I support your legally taking of a mountain lion in Idaho or any other State where it's legal.  The responsible management of our wild game is both intelligent and humane.

You people know that the cat was on private property and that they ate it afterwards right?  

Folks, regardless of how you feel about whether he should have or shouldn't have shot the mountain lion, the issue I see is Politcal Correctness taking precedent over the Constitution.  What Constitutional right do they have to tell Dan what he can and cannot do in IDAHO!

Political Correctness gone crazy!

fire dan richards NOW!

Renee, I would rather liberals actually be liberal. I would rather you mind your business and let us enjoy our freedoms. If you don't like hunting, it's simple, don't hunt!

Any meat taken from the wild is soooo much better tasting, more healthy than anything you buy. The animals I have harvested were born wild, lived natural lives, and ate foods natural to their diet. Free of growth hormones, antibiotics. Unlike the the food mill assembly line crap in the store.

I would rather see inbred illiterate hunters shot and posed as trophies. And their dogs too.

Mountain Lions Killed Yearly In California On Depredation Permits.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/iss...

I say good for you Dan Richards for taking a legal mountain lion in a state that's not afraid to control it predators. California has done a piss poor job of this and our deer herds pay for it..I have been huntin in california for 25 years or more and watched the deer herds go from 12000 to 3000 in my zone alone..Just because he works for fish and game doesn't mean he can't hunt  and enjoy the freedoms we have in the USA..I'll pass this on to all my huntin buddies to quite the non hunting rhetoric out there these days. DAN YOUR WELCOME IN MY CAMP ANYTIME.

Liberal sons a bitches.  Live and let live, it's called freedom of choice.  The animal rights fanatics got their way, but what about the outdoorsmen?  They lost rights!  Oh, and imagin people get attacked and killed by mountain lion's in CA now, strange??  There's another thing called conservation, wise use of a resource.  You can hunt mountain lions without making them extinct.  Thats what bag limits and game wardens are for. 

I want someone who knows a bit about hunting and fishing to be in charge of it.Hunters do more, care more, and spend more money on the preservation of wildlife than any other group.

We need more leaders in our government that actually know something about their job.

Hey Mikell Millar, 

 Wow you think Richards should be fired for hunting the lion.  He paid an out of state license and out of state tag fees which goes into management of game in Idaho.  I am a hunter and have been so all of my life.  I was also a cop for over 30 years so should I not have had the public's trust since I was a hunter?  I do not understand your correlation.  Can you elaborate or are you simply blowing off emotional steam???  Additionally please explain what money amounts you have donated for wildlife preservation.  I would suspect you do not even know that it is the sportsman dollar which has repeatedly brought back many species to record numbers, including deer, wild turkey, ducks, geese, elk, and many types of fish which have been destroyed by man's encroachment  In fact it was sportsmens groups who supported the wolf introduction and proper management.  Problem with the wolf issue is the pro wolf people believe that the number of wolves is never enough.  Meanwhile the elk and deer have been decimated.   Wolves, and lions, must be managed.  i use to hunt deer in California.  I stopped since i rarely even see a deer.

Henry,

Please explain how Richards is a hyocrite.  He does not set the laws regarding the non hunting of the mountain lion in California.  Possibly you should educated yourself before posting on this site.  The mountain lion issue was presented to the California voters under prop 117 and passed to end hunting of the lion in California several years ago.  Another law passed on emotion rather than scientific, biological facts.  The regulation of the lion was completely taken away from the experts, Fish and Game, and placed into the sympathetic voters of California.  You know people who have never seen a lion, don't live in lion country, and have no idea how the lion survives or the amount of space one lion needs for adequate survival. 

So when a person follows their pursuit of happiness, whether it be hunting or any activity, they can be subjected to dismissal from a public office, even without breaking the law? I think there is a due process issue here. For following a legal activity in a free society these can be the consequences. I thought we lived in a society of freedom, a society where people can pursue their happiness and enjoy freedoms.  I guess not if it is something Lt. Gov. Newsom is not in agreement. I hope Dan Richards considers suing Newsom for slander and infringement of his civil rights.  Newsom is attacking Richards over his own personal feelings (prejudices) while using his position as an elected official of California, and doing so at the cost of the California tax payer. 

I have read many of the posts on this article.  I am not certain what people are refering to as "trophy hunting," especially those people referring to it as being disgusting.  I had an elk tag in a coveted area of Nevada.  I "trophy hunted" for a certain size animal, having passed up many legal elk I could have taken to fill my tag and my freezer.  Consequently, I came home empty handed.  I find nothing disgusting about trophy hunting. I set a standard for myself during the hunt and the result was an empty freezer.  My choice.  Richards shot what looks to me to be a trophy lion.  Whether he eats it or not is his choice.  By law he does not have to eat it. 

To those of you who do not know, there is a huge difference between trophy hunting and a canned hunt.  Ethical hunters do not believe in canned hunts whatsoever!

I have heard aguments from non hunters telling me they do not know how I can shoot something cute like a deer (Bambe syndrome) but they have no issue with me catching and eating fish because they are "ugly."  Yet even some of you fishermen, who catch fish and eat them, have no thought of killing a carp or sucker fish with no intent ever of possibly eating it.  Why is it okay to kill a carp, Mr. Fisherman, but not a lion???  Or is it only because it is based on your personal thoughts (prejudices) or as the Lt. Governor stated that the lion is such a majestic creature but a carp I guess is not.  Your arguments, as are the Lt. Governor's,  are being based on personal boundaries.

Get over it people.  He legally pursued a lion and took it on his own time and not representing his position with the State of California during the activity. 

And for the record regarding Idaho hunting;  The state of Idaho now loses over 5 billion dollars a year in sportmens revenue from the lack of out of state license sales, food sales, equipment purchases, hotel accomadations, vehicle repairs, gasoline sales, etc.  This is due to out of state hunting revenue  refusing to come there with the decline of the elk and deer herds due to the "introduction" not 're-introduction" of the  Canadian wolf. 

He may as well move to Idaho.  It's attitudes like this that has caused California to be in the shape that it's in and why people are exiting California in droves.  

What's next?  California not letting people move out of state because they don't like the laws someplace else?  I realize that being Lt. Governor is like being Vice President.  You do the State wedding and funeral circuit and that's about it.  But this sounds like Gavin Newsom just doesn't have enough to do.

Gavin Newsom, who does nothing and he admitted it, out to stop taking tax payers money for a job he does nothing, and get a real job. What does he know about anything related to a persons rights to hunt in this country. This is embarassing to say the least.

Nobody, not even Gavin, are accusing Dan of illegal actions.  Gavin is accusing Dan of being the hypocrite that he is. 

If anyone should resign it should be  Gavin Newsom. He has no right to have someone fired for doing something legal.  It was taken in Idaho with a tag that he paid for. 

I support Dan in all his legal hunting activities. In Idaho hunting puma is perfectly legal with proper tags. 

All Dan is doing is embarrassing those who support a silly ban on the species. A ban that results in loss of human freedoms AND LIVES.

Bringing attention to this highly politicized matter is a good thing. Now perhaps we can have a reasoned discussion on the topic. 

@Dan congratulations on a great hunt! That's a big cat!

1890-1990, four mountain lion attacks on humans; 1990, passage of AB117, giving mountain lions a protected status, prohibited to hunt; 1991-2007, eleven mountain lion attacks on humans. Wildlife management by "popular" vote is not management, but the personification of a WILD animal. It's cute, it's fluffy, it's "PRETTY KITTY", watch "When Animals Attack", and then you will know it's not cute and fuzzy but a potentially dangerous WILD animal. Hunting is a wildlife management tool. Wildlife managers actually go to school to manage wildlife, using SCIENCE; carrying capacity, predator/prey ratios, territory studies, cover/habitat, you know real science. Biology by popular vote in the case of the mountian lion endangers people, pets, and other animals. Look at the big horn sheep population and the predation of mountian lions o...n them.Commissioner Richards was hunting out of state LEGALLY, again for the people that can't read, he was hunting LEGALLY. I was in favor of the Humane Society joining the Cal-Tip Program, because the premise of both agencies is the same on the fringe, to protect wildlife from poachers, but to see HSUS Jennifer Fearing and Wayne Parcelles both say they were not anti-hunting yet the HSUS website is 100% anti-hunting. Lookup Fearings press reports, even her Twitter account, and you can see for yourself. DFG needs to put pressure onthe CAL-TIP board to get rid of any anti-hunting voices since they do not represent the consumptive use public.In looking at the HSUS, they are attmepting to infiltrate the DFG Commission to unseat those that hunt to end hunting. The "PRESERVATIONIST" are attacking, the true "CONSERVATIONIST".The Pittman-Robertson Act money spent by hunters/fishermen/ campers fund open space, without them your open space will become malls.

He's got a lot of nerve. Did he resign after screwing his friend and campaign managers wife. He's a jerk and doesn't deserve the publics trust.

I am a resident and voter and am completely disgusted by his actions and photographs.  If he does not agree with the California law then he should move to Idaho, he should resign or be fired anyone that shoots animals for fun in this day and age is not someone I want in any elected position.

A)    A) It was a legal hunt. What happens in Idaho staysin Idaho.

B)     B) Mt Lions are over populated – what happens whena predator species is over populated? Not rocket science, but just in case…Your herd animal numbers drop drastically – herd numbers drops, predatornumbers drop (also more likely for grass and forest fires since less foliage isbeing consumed), herd numbers increase drastically causing and deficient infood supply – causing famine and diseases and the herds die off again…. Continuethe cycle long enough and there will be NOTHING!

C)     C) Bottom Line: People choose NOT to educate themselveson the issue of hunting and fishing. Rather, they have watched Bambi too manytimes and believe that is what happens. I ask those that are call themselvesanti-hunting and support organizations like PETA…What have you done? What haveyou done to help wildlife? Let me tell you what my fellow hunters/fishers and Ido for wildlife. We spend our money that goes to rebuilding and improvinghabitat, it goes to fund out state fish and game. Our F&G that tracks downand prosecutes poachers (do NOT confuse hunters and poachers – they are not thesame, educate yourself). As hunters/fishers we spend our off weekendsvolunteering with conservation projects, have you heard of the wood duck? We wouldn’thave wood ducks today if it wasn’t for conservation projects started by sportsmen.Hunting and fishing are essential for maintaining and growing healthy wildlifepopulations. Hunters/fishers are the reason we have national parks.Hunters/fishers are the reason we have the wildlife we do today (basic carrycapacity – if you missed that lesson in environmental science, please look itup).  Hunters/fishers are the reason ourrivers flow and our forests still stand. PETA doesn’t do that.  I understand the compassion people feel foranimals, I myself work with a few local animal rescue organizations. Every huntI have the chance to go on, whether I am fortunate enough to take an animal ornot, I am thankful for the opportunity. We are not blood thirsty people runningaround the woods with guns and bows. For the sportsman, getting out, watchingthe sunrise, hearing an elk in the distance, that is a part of us, our souls.We are not giving that up without a fight. We have fought before and we willfight again.  Before you say what you “thinkis best and/or right”, stop and think, are you willing to let our wildlife andwilderness die off, because without hunters and fishers, that’s what willhappen.

D)    D) I SUPPORT DAN RICHARDS! 

This guy is using the office for his own personal agenda.  That should be the issue here.  He even admits it in the article.  With some of your points of view no wonder other states think CA is full of dumb hippies.  NO laws were broken.  What if this animal was responsible for killing ranchers animals.  It is leagal to kill these animals in CA when they become a pest...agree or disagree your call but who are you to tell anyone what they can or cannot do when they do it leagally.  I carry a gun for protection and I have a permit to do so.  I some hippie areas of CA people want to ban handguns.  They also want to tell people what they can and cannot do to their children.  Wake up and shuut the F up!  Live your life like you want to and dont tell others how they should.

I'm still curious how a man who had an affair with another married woman can call out another as tow hether he  "can live up to the calling of his office". 

This is purely political and nothing more.  Hopefully, people will see it for what it is and keep their eye on the ball.

Unemployment above the national average, forclosures above the national average, a state in a budget crisis, the environment being polluted at unbeleivable levels, our public lands being raided by large landowners, poacher and illegal pot grows and this is what we focus on?

I do not agree with trophy hunting, but to seriously be this upset by this is a little disturbing.  We have much bigger issues to focus our attention on. 

@Marcy, there is a very large economy surrounding guided hunting.  In fact with the reintroduction of wolves in Idaho and Montana, and stricter limits on mountain lion hunting many outfitters have gone out of business in the last 10 years.  There is a very real economy that is affected by hunting or the lack thereof.

Seriously? This is not hunting. Going to a "ranch" where animals are basically confined, using dogs to chase'em up a tree so you can walk up and shoot doesn't require any real ability. 

That's shooting fish in a barrel.

Hunting is when an animal has a chance to escape or kill you.  The people that I know who hunt eat what they kill.  They don't live in California.

I seriously doubt that this guy plans to do anything except spread this animal's pelt on the floor of his study which is adorned with all the other animals he's "hunted".

This behavior is bizarre for someone who is supposed to be a conservationist - I guess only Big  Horn Sheep and Trout get that consideration.  The impact of human beings on animal life is already creating problems for so many species.  These hunting ranches and the people who go to them are part of that problem.

It's a mindset that doesn't belong in his job.