WOLF...WOOOLLFFF!!!!!!

Just a couple of years after they were taken off the endangered species list, gray or timber wolves might soon get their own hunting season.

I guess the wolves have bounced back nicely since Wisconsin hunters almost drove them to extinction in the 1950s and 60s, but I'm still not sold that hunting wolves is a good idea. Supposedly there have been some reports of wolves attacking livestock and domesticated dogs in Northern Wisconsin, and people need to hunt wolves to defend their animals. But I have sneaking suspicion that the folks advocating for a wolf hunt, are really deer hunters who are worried about being able to bag that buck this fall.

I constantly hear the argument that deer hunting here is Wisconsin is not only a tradition, but good wildlife management. If hunters didn't "harvest the herd," deer would destroy the forest undergrowth, cause an ever-increasing number of traffic accidents, and eventual starve from a shortage of food. So to prevent all of these atrocities, it has been our duty, come November, to pump bambi full of lead.

The deer population is out of control becasuse they don't have any natural predators. That at least was the case until the wolves bounced back. Wolves eat deer, a lot of deer. If there are enough wolves to kill and eat deer, we might no longer need to kill deer to keep them from starving.

Wolves are a danger to Wisconsin's hunting culture, and therefore a threat to everything that is good and sacred in this state. So do your duty this wolf season. Huff and puff and blow the wolves away.

Really Wild Turkeys

Here is the cartoon from Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal. There is a gang of Wild Turkeys attacking mail carriers in Madison. This is another cartoon that sort of wrote itself.

On a simple cartoon like this, it is sort of fun to push the visual action as much as possible. I personally am quite proud of the way I was able to make the mail carrier is this cartoon come alive, as he hammers the wanted poster onto the wall.

I am worried however, that maybe the action is a little distracting from the message of the cartoon. Then again this cartoon isn't making some sort of earth shattering point about government or society. Rather, I've just taken a news item and humorized it in an attempt to give readers something they can relate to, and above all else something that is fun to look at. And this cartoon, in my honest opinion, is very easy on the eyes.

Government Priorities.

Every once in a while a cartoon writes itself. I haven't posted of these until now, but I've started drawing about one editorial cartoon a week for the Tampa Tribune, in Florida.

Like just about every other state in the nation, Florida is having problems balancing their state budget. Unlike other state Florida seems more willing to make cuts in social services programs like prenatal care, for poor expecting mothers.

At the same time they plan on making these draconian cuts, there is another bill working its way through the legislature, that would require women who want an abortion (many of them the poor women who need the state supported prenatal care) to have an ultra-sound before they can exercise their right to choose.

Talk about screwed up priorities.

Hence this cartoon:


And the sketch:


On another note, Florida has one of the ugliest state capitol buildings I've ever seen. Apparently, there is a historic undersized capitol that was built in the 1850s or 60s and a monstrosity behind it, built in the 1970's after the state's population had ballooned.