606 | Wildlife Abuse 35 piping plovers, an endangered species A U.S District Court rejected an appeal by the Humane Society of the United States to stop the killing San Clemente Island, off the coast of California, has both endemic plant species and a population of feral goats, introduced by Spanish sailors two centuries ago To protect plants numbering in the few hundreds, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S Navy have shot tens of thousands of feral goats The Fund for Animals protested that it is inhumane to count a few plant species more than many mammal lives But again the ethic of species triumphed Further Reading Armstrong, Susan, and Botzler, Richard G., eds 2008 The animal ethics reader, 2nd ed New York: Routledge Hargrove, Eugene C., ed 1992 The animal rights/environmental ethics debate Albany: State University of New York Press Mighetto, Lisa 1991 Wild animals and American environmental ethics Tucson: University of Arizona Press Rolston, Holmes, III 1988 Higher Animals: Duties to Sentient Life, Chapter 2, in Environmental ethics Philadelphia: Temple University Press Rolston, Holmes, III 1992 Ethical responsibilities toward wildlife Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 200(1992):618–622 WILDLIFE ABUSE Although not all hunters engage in excessive or especially cruel methods of hunting, some do, leading to slaughters and endangerment of animals such as passenger pigeons and buffalo Methods of hunting captive animals, moreover, are seen by most to be not only inhumane but also unsporting Hunting seems to be lessening in popularity in the United States According to figures from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, the number of hunters 16 and older declined by 10 percent between 1996 and 2006—from 14 million to about 12.5 million (U.S Department of Commerce, 2006, p 22) Hunting organizations point to changing demographics, urbanization, and decreased access to hunting land as the cause for the shift However, with the growing increase in outdoor activity overall, a possible cause is a change in values Membership in humane-based organizations is at an all-time high, and in the last several years, states have passed a record number of animal-friendly laws At the same time, the number of Americans who participate in other humane wildlife activities like bird watching and photography continues to rise Wildlife watching appears to be increasing at a rate of about 16 percent from 1996 to 2007 (U.S Department of the Interior and U.S Department of Commerce, 2006, p 36) The Changing Face of Wildlife Management Organized wildlife management in this country dates back to the early 20th century, and was partially a reaction to the wholesale slaughter of many of the country’s most prolific species At the end of the 19th century, the commercialization of wildlife was reaching epidemic proportions Hunters were killing large numbers of animals for their fur, skins and parts; the most notorious case was the American buffalo, which hunters brought to the brink of extinction A second, even more troubling massacre followed The passenger pigeon was once the most common bird on the continent, perhaps in the world—migrating in flocks that took days to pass overhead