Just got back from a week on Martha’s Vineyard last night (we had to clear some space for the Obamas) and am trying to get caught up on what I missed.

But the best thing in the paper this morning came from Dennis Jensen in regards to “Pete the Moose”. For those in southern Vermont who may have missed it, Raised by a human, “Pete” is a moose who lives on an elk farm used for “canned hunts” – you know, Dick Cheney style stuff. The state is concerned about the elk, deer and moose all penned together in the property against state law designed to protect wild populations from illness such as chronic wasting disease. The fate of the moose – which could lead to being put down – has become a mini cause celebre thanks to coverage from the Times Argus’s Sue Allen and subsequent promotional efforts by the farm owner (including, apparently, a Facebook page for “Pete”).

Jensen cuts through much of the nonsense in play:

The moose is being kept as a pet illegally. Col. David LeCours, the chief warden for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, said that keeping the moose as a pet was illegal in Vermont. “You can’t keep any wild animals as a pet,” he said.

All of the formerly wild moose and deer in Dave Nelson’s elk farm, located in Irasburg, are being kept in an enclosure against state law.

Naming the moose does not change the fact that, while it has been tamed, it is still considered a wild creature.

[…] (Farm owner) Nelson holds canned hunts for these elk, some of which sport really impressive antlers. Some people – they will not be referred to here as “hunters” – shell out as much as $8,000 for a crack at a standing-still, fed-at-a-trough “trophy.” And he has opposed any move by Fish & Wildlife to have his moose and deer removed from his farm.

[…] The woes of the poor, the battered women, the number of young, unwanted kids looking for a home, elderly folks fading away in places no one wants to visit, American soldiers fighting and dying in two faraway wars. There are problems galore in our midst.

Yet we have 1,700 people (Facebook friends)  and counting who have nothing better to do but carry on about one should-be doomed “talking” moose – in captivity and in violation of the law – that could threaten a healthy herd of animals outside its domain.

I wonder where the concern over all of Nelson’s elk – fattened up to serve as nothing more than target practice and wall decorations for rich people – is. Let’s be serious – “Pete’s” champion is hardly a friend of the animal kingdom..