Protection of wildlife and wilderness areas is an important concern for most Americans. They want the natural heritage and beauty of their country to be preserved. In order to protect these things certain agencies have been set up around the country. At the top is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which is under the Federal Department of the Interior. On a state level and regional level there are also agencies that are set up to protect and wisely manage each state's fish and wildlife resources.

But who is really running these agencies? Do they have the fox guarding the chicken house at the peril of their wildlife? At the top of the pyramid as the Secretary of the Interior, is Ken Salazar who is a 5th generation rancher that was appointed by President Obama. Salazar is solidly behind leasing America's public wildlife lands for little to nothing to huge cattle ranching corporations. If the natural wildlife should by chance get in the way of these money making cattle interests, then under this administration's guidance the answer has been to delist the wolves and roundup the horses and buffalo many times to their demise. All of these actions have been approved by President Obama and signed into law.

To follow suit then on the state level there are governors and the state's wildlife agencies proposing and running longterm hunts on their apex predators such as the wolf, bears and mountain lions. However there are still some states that are very protective of their wildlife such as California which bans the hunting of mountain lions, wolves and bears. But once again who exactly are the U.S. citizens allowing to be in charge of enforcing these bans? The citizen as the taxpayers who pay the salaries of these people need to keep a much closer watch on who is being appointed to run their wildlife agencies.

Case in point is the contradictorary behavior of California's President of the Fish and Game Commission, Dan Richards. Richards own background is suspect as a commercial real estate developer and a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association. He is also opposed to the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA), which requires the state to evaluate all Marine Protection Areas to conserve marine life and biodiversity. But recently his actions that really crossed the line was when he went to Idaho and shot and killed a mountain lion which is banned in California. He was even photographed holding the dead lion up as a proud trophy. When asked about California’s mountain lion moratorium, Richards didn’t hesitate to callously answer, ‘I’m glad it’s legal in Idaho.’

These are not the kind of people that Americans want to manage and protect their wildlife and natural resources. A much closer watch will be necessary in the future if they are going to stop the constant deluge of attacks on their wildlife. It is high time to get the fox out of the henhouse.