Wildlife officials will euthanize non-native smallmouth bass in Yampa River

Wow, this is a painful thing to read. ﾠWhenever wildlife officials target our favorite species, it is a difficult thing to understand. I can see the reasons why they are doing this but its ridiculous. ﾠ

Wildlife officials plan to euthanize non-native smallmouth bass removed from the Yampa River instead of transferring them to a reservoir. Wildlife managers have relocated about 6,000 bass from the Yampa, but officials say too many escape over the spillway at Elkhead Reservoir over the spillway and get back into the river.

Tom Chart, director of the recovery program, says officials don’t like to kill the smallmouth bass because they’re popular among anglers.

It’s tough to stand by and watch wildlife officials euthanize smallmouth bass in the Yampa River. ﾠCan you imagine if a bunch of fishermen took it upon themselves to kill this many smallmouth bass. ﾠThere would be hell to pay by the evironmentalists.