Letter: Save our parks and wildlife

Re: Guest Opinion, “Killing wildlife to see who wins,” by Ted Williams

It’s wonderful that we humans share this planet Earth with so many different plants and animals. Just as we need safe places to live, so do they. But wildlife has been pushed out of our cities, our suburbs, and most of our farmland. The only places left for them are our “public lands” — our state and national parks and forests.

The parks and forests are national treasures that belong to all of us and future generations, and we have a responsibility to take care of them and all the life within them. They should be guarded as sanctuaries, especially since the world’s wildlife is disappearing so rapidly. It’s wrong that those in charge of parks let thoughtless, careless people kill so much wildlife in exchange for money. It’s been done for hundreds of years, but it’s time for a change. If our government could budget sufficient funds to care for parks and wildlife, they wouldn’t have to depend on money from people who destroy the very lives that the parks are there to save.

Karen Sommer

Smith River, California