Activists urge Colorado to ban commercial sale of furs taken from state wildlife
Contrary to the vast protections granted by Colorado to other animals, the Centennial State currently allows the for-profit sale of furs from all species deemed 'furbearers,' according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the petition.
Among the state's furbearers are beavers, ringtails, red foxes, pine martens and bobcats, as well as swift foxes, which is a species of special concern in the state, the group noted.
'Auctioning off piles of pelts from native animals is a relic of an era that drove iconic species, like beavers and bison, to the brink,' Samantha Miller, senior carnivore campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Miller emphasized the need for Colorado to align with the policies of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation — a set of principles that many agencies use to guide their wildlife management and conservation protocols.
One key tenet of this model is the prohibition of commercial sales of wildlife, as such practices have hastened the declines and even extinctions of iconic species, the organization warned.
Although the petition calls for the elimination of wildlife fur commercialization, it does include some exceptions for hand-tied fishing flies crafted with incidental fur and for traditional Western felted hats, in recognition of the cultural importance of these items.
The petition also does not affect sales at stores that sell products with factory-farmed fur, as opposed to that of animals in the wild.
'Our state needs to modernize wildlife management to confront today's biodiversity crisis,' Miller said.
Advancing a statewide regulation, as opposed to targeted local policies, would ensure uniformity and avoid the creation of a 'patchwork' of ordinances that cause enforcement difficulties, according to the petition.
The document also stressed that a ban on commercial fur sales would remain 'consistent with the big game commercial hunting ban' upheld by Colorado, where it is a felony to sell or purchase big game.
After receiving the petition, Colorado Parks and Wildlife then must review the document and recommend to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission — the decisionmaker on citizen rulemaking petitions — whether the request should be denied or granted.
The Hill has reached out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
4 hours ago
- CNN
Grill marks are meaningless: Here's what matters when cooking out
Summer temperatures have cranked up to 'HI,' and many Americans will be turning up the heat another notch as they light the fire on family cookouts. Unfortunately for some, more grilling means more over-cooked hamburgers, burnt bratwurst and scorched steaks. But chef Tyler Florence, whose latest cookbook is 'American Grill,' says the biggest mistakes grillmasters-to-be make can easily be fixed before their next backyard feast. Without hesitation, Florence says the most common mistake grillers make is turning their grills to full heat. 'They'll either put charcoal and hard fuel in the bottom of a grill, light it, and make the entire thing one temperature,' Florence explains. 'Or they'll light all four burners on the gas grill and make the whole thing hot.' He says grills should be set up to have one hot zone, where meat and vegetables are exposed to direct heat, and a 'cool' zone that allows food to be cooked via indirect heat. If using a charcoal grill, the best way to create separate zones is to simply put the charcoal only on one side of the grill. For gas grills, only ignite the burners wanted as the hot zone. 'Beef, shrimp, chicken — protein loves high temperature, but only for a minute,' says Florence. 'They like the caramelization.' But he warns too much time at high temperatures directly over charcoal or gas burners will cause the meat to overcook on its outside before the inside cooks all the way through. 'You want to do this little dance back and forth between the hot side and the cold side. You start with searing on the hot side and getting a little more color, a little more golden delicious color. And then you move it to the cold side,' explains Florence. In the cool zone, Florence says the grill becomes more like a convection oven, with flowing hot air inside the grill cooking the meat internally at an even rate. 'The hot side is going to give you the color, and the cool side is going to give you the ability to cook it all the way through without flare ups,' Florence says before quickly pivoting. 'Let's talk about flare-ups.' Florence, chef-owner of San Francisco's Wayfare Tavern and Miller & Lux steakhouse as well as a Miller & Lux location in Hawaii, says meat cuts with high fat ratios like ribeye steaks and smashburgers are extremely popular to grill. But, he warns, they can cause unwanted flame flare-ups that can quickly ruin your grilling game plan. When fat renders down at high temperatures, it will drip onto the heat source and cause flare-ups that can burn the exterior of the meat and cause safety issues. Florence's simple solution: use a cast iron skillet on your grill. 'I like to use cast iron — on top of the grill — as a plancha,' says Florence. A plancha, made popular in Spanish cuisine, is a flat metal plate used to sear meats at a very high temperature. 'I want to put the hot pan over the hot side. I want to make sure the outside [surface of the meat] is dry. I want to season with salt and pepper, a little extra virgin olive oil and then I put it down on the pan to sear,' Florence details. 'And then when the fat collects, it doesn't drip. Also, it gives you something to baste back on top of the meat, which is great.' While marinades and sauces can enrich the flavors of grilled proteins, Florence warns that adding them before grilling can cause headaches. 'If you're going to make barbecue chicken, don't dip your barbecue chicken in barbecue sauce and then grill it because the sugar in the barbecue sauce will burn before the chicken can cook all the way through.' He believes patience is key before adding your favorite marinade or sauce. 'Grill the chicken two thirds of the way and then mop or brush on your sauce,' he says. It's in that final third that 'you get that gorgeous mahogany color.' And lastly … The sight of perfectly branded grate marks on grilled meat has long been sought by grillers at home and those in steakhouses across the globe. But Florence says aside from the aesthetics, grill marks are useless. 'F*** grill marks,' proclaims Florence. He says the pursuit of perfectly seared lines on meat cuts doesn't make the meat taste any better. Plus, it creates more opportunities for hamburgers, steaks, chicken and fish to stick to the grates and make it hard to scrape off. Florence reiterates that using a cast-iron skillet will create a more attractive-looking sear and more opportunity to baste the meats with fats and herbs. And that ups the likelihood that your guests will come back for the next backyard cookout.
CNN
4 hours ago
- CNN
Grill marks are meaningless: Here's what matters when cooking out
Summer temperatures have cranked up to 'HI,' and many Americans will be turning up the heat another notch as they light the fire on family cookouts. Unfortunately for some, more grilling means more over-cooked hamburgers, burnt bratwurst and scorched steaks. But chef Tyler Florence, whose latest cookbook is 'American Grill,' says the biggest mistakes grillmasters-to-be make can easily be fixed before their next backyard feast. Without hesitation, Florence says the most common mistake grillers make is turning their grills to full heat. 'They'll either put charcoal and hard fuel in the bottom of a grill, light it, and make the entire thing one temperature,' Florence explains. 'Or they'll light all four burners on the gas grill and make the whole thing hot.' He says grills should be set up to have one hot zone, where meat and vegetables are exposed to direct heat, and a 'cool' zone that allows food to be cooked via indirect heat. If using a charcoal grill, the best way to create separate zones is to simply put the charcoal only on one side of the grill. For gas grills, only ignite the burners wanted as the hot zone. 'Beef, shrimp, chicken — protein loves high temperature, but only for a minute,' says Florence. 'They like the caramelization.' But he warns too much time at high temperatures directly over charcoal or gas burners will cause the meat to overcook on its outside before the inside cooks all the way through. 'You want to do this little dance back and forth between the hot side and the cold side. You start with searing on the hot side and getting a little more color, a little more golden delicious color. And then you move it to the cold side,' explains Florence. In the cool zone, Florence says the grill becomes more like a convection oven, with flowing hot air inside the grill cooking the meat internally at an even rate. 'The hot side is going to give you the color, and the cool side is going to give you the ability to cook it all the way through without flare ups,' Florence says before quickly pivoting. 'Let's talk about flare-ups.' Florence, chef-owner of San Francisco's Wayfare Tavern and Miller & Lux steakhouse as well as a Miller & Lux location in Hawaii, says meat cuts with high fat ratios like ribeye steaks and smashburgers are extremely popular to grill. But, he warns, they can cause unwanted flame flare-ups that can quickly ruin your grilling game plan. When fat renders down at high temperatures, it will drip onto the heat source and cause flare-ups that can burn the exterior of the meat and cause safety issues. Florence's simple solution: use a cast iron skillet on your grill. 'I like to use cast iron — on top of the grill — as a plancha,' says Florence. A plancha, made popular in Spanish cuisine, is a flat metal plate used to sear meats at a very high temperature. 'I want to put the hot pan over the hot side. I want to make sure the outside [surface of the meat] is dry. I want to season with salt and pepper, a little extra virgin olive oil and then I put it down on the pan to sear,' Florence details. 'And then when the fat collects, it doesn't drip. Also, it gives you something to baste back on top of the meat, which is great.' While marinades and sauces can enrich the flavors of grilled proteins, Florence warns that adding them before grilling can cause headaches. 'If you're going to make barbecue chicken, don't dip your barbecue chicken in barbecue sauce and then grill it because the sugar in the barbecue sauce will burn before the chicken can cook all the way through.' He believes patience is key before adding your favorite marinade or sauce. 'Grill the chicken two thirds of the way and then mop or brush on your sauce,' he says. It's in that final third that 'you get that gorgeous mahogany color.' And lastly … The sight of perfectly branded grate marks on grilled meat has long been sought by grillers at home and those in steakhouses across the globe. But Florence says aside from the aesthetics, grill marks are useless. 'F*** grill marks,' proclaims Florence. He says the pursuit of perfectly seared lines on meat cuts doesn't make the meat taste any better. Plus, it creates more opportunities for hamburgers, steaks, chicken and fish to stick to the grates and make it hard to scrape off. Florence reiterates that using a cast-iron skillet will create a more attractive-looking sear and more opportunity to baste the meats with fats and herbs. And that ups the likelihood that your guests will come back for the next backyard cookout.
Boston Globe
a day ago
- Boston Globe
What Makes Someone Cool? A New Study Offers Clues.
The study, published Monday in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, surveyed nearly 6,000 participants from 12 countries around the world. Their beliefs about what's 'cool' were similar regardless of where the study participants lived, and despite differences in age, income level, education, or gender. 'What blew my mind was the fact that it was pretty much the same result everywhere,' said Caleb Warren, one of the authors of the study and a professor at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona who has researched consumer psychology for two decades. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In the study, each participant had to recognize the word 'cool' in English, without translation, suggesting that they were already familiar with — or maybe even idolized — notions of coolness from wealthy Western countries like the United States. Advertisement In that sense, the study offers a window into the spread of cultural beliefs from one group of people to another, said Joseph Henrich, an anthropologist and a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University who was not involved in the study. 'Globally, American success has led to the diffusion of music styles and an immense amount of cultural content, including, apparently, the concept of cool,' Henrich said. Advertisement Coolness is not a widely studied subject. Past research has found that coolness is usually considered something positive: People who are cool are also friendly, competent, trendy, and attractive. But Warren and his colleagues wanted to know what makes a person distinctly 'cool' rather than just 'good.' So the researchers asked the participants to think of specific people: one who is cool, one who is not cool, one who is good, and one who is not good. Then they asked the participants to evaluate each person by answering questionnaires that collectively measured 15 different attributes. While the cool and good people had overlapping traits, compared with their cool counterparts, good people were perceived as more conforming, traditional, secure, warm, agreeable, universalistic (the extent to which a person sees everyone and everything as being equal or equally worthy of care and respect), conscientious, and calm. Those who were perceived as capable were equally considered cool and good. One limitation of the study was that anyone who did not know the word 'cool' was automatically filtered out. As a result, the data cannot determine how frequently the word is used in different countries or, whether in certain cultures, coolness will lead to a higher social status relative to others. In addition, while the study included participants with a wide range of ages, the population skewed young: The average age from each region was generally 30 or younger. Other studies have shown that there are important cultural differences that can affect the traits that we value. 'Factors like aggression make us have higher status in some Western cultures and simultaneously give us less status in the East,' said Mitch Prinstein, the chief of psychology at the American Psychological Association, who has written two books about popularity, which can be a consequence of coolness. Advertisement Research on coolness suggests that the desire to be cool is particularly strong during adolescence, and it influences not only what people buy or whom they admire, but also how they talk and what they do for fun. But what's considered cool by the broader culture might not be the same as what you personally believe is cool. This is why Warren and his colleagues asked each participant to think about the people they considered cool vs. good. Interestingly, across the board, the types of traits that are typically associated with kindness or helpfulness were more often perceived as good instead of cool. So is coolness a trait that's worth pursuing? To that end, Warren said, 'I have serious doubts.' Coolness that involves risk-taking and being socially precocious during adolescence may offer popularity during youth, but one study published in 2014 found that many teenagers who behaved in this way would later struggle in their 20s, developing problems with alcohol, drugs, and relationships. 'They are doing more extreme things to try to act cool,' one of the researchers told The New York Times. For the popular kids in school, 'status is dominance, visibility, attention,' Prinstein said. But, he added, it is how well-liked you are that contributes to long-term success. 'Even the most uncool kid will probably fare well if they have at least one close friend,' he added. Perhaps coolness -- particularly the dismissive 'too cool for school' variety -- isn't all it's cracked up to be. This article originally appeared in
