Who cares if it's rare

I think I am just going to have to admit that there is no way I can stay away from the news. Although there is enough stuff that annoys the hell out of me in day to day life I never cease to be amazed at the amount of new stuff that comes along.

"It's something we've all known was theoretically possible because their habitats overlap a little bit and their breeding seasons overlap a little bit," said Ian Stirling, a polar bear biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Edmonton. "It's the first time it's known to have happened in the wild."

This is from a CNN story that I saw this morning. An unheard of hybrid between a grizzly bear and a polar bear. You heard the man, first time it's happened in the wild. Probably not unique but rare as you like.

"Idaho big-game hunter Jim Martell,"..."paid C$50,000 (US$45,500, or euro35,800), for a license to hunt polar bears."

Yep, he shot the rare bear. He said "It will be quite a trophy,".

Let me recap here. this guy actually paid 35,800 euros to end the life of something. To stop something from living. Not because he'd starve if he didn't but because he wanted a trophy.

Don't misunderstand me I understand that species have to be controlled, maybe even culled but I found that his explanation that hunting is done sustainably smacked of an attempt at justification for something that can't be justified.

Even if the bears must be culled to protect other wildlife or humans what sort of a person actually enjoys it? Harming anything is a terrible thing. If it must be done then you do it but you don't enjoy it. It suggests someone lacking an essential part of their humanity. To want to kill something? I'd pity him if he wasn't already off on another hunt, this time for a grizzly.

Sometimes I just don't understand other people, sometimes I hope I never do.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/05/11/canada.hybrid.ap/index.html