No Puppy Killer She: Kimberly Guilfoyle Writes Dog Book, Social Media Howls

She is one scary looking, ugly woman, despite the botox and air brushing.

You have a point. In an earlier life after leaving active duty I found myself working for an old, not that well known but national conservation group as the Outdoor Ethics Coordinator. Due to my work on hunter education and hunting issues I also found myself getting familiar with animal rights groups and some of the people in it. Two stories from 30 years or so ago come to mind.

First was one from out in northern California. A young mother in a then smallish and newish town was out for a jog on a road outside town limits. She was an active jogger and it was a regular route. Unfortunely, development was pushing people into what were once mostly undeveloped areas and not all the wildlife was friendly. A mountain lion had gotten emboldened enough to range near the town. It attacked and badly mauled her badly enough she wasn’t abulatory enough to get back to town. Again, this was over thirty years ago and so no cell phone in a fanny pack. By the time she was found it was too late. The mountain lion was quickly tracked and killed as it had taken human life. It turned out to be a she and had two cubs. Outrage animal rights activists mounted a campaign that within a a few weeks had raised well over 20k for the care of the cubs. Closer to 30k if memory serves. As for the single mom and HER children, well he kids didn’t seem to matter. Less than fifty bucks was raised to help out the now motherless young children! Kind of makes you wonder about people’s priorities alright.

Later on I was part of a group that organized an international conference on wildlife law enforcement. (Had a great time in Reno!) This was in those promising years shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall when there was so much hope for Russia. One of my co-hosts/organizers had developed a friendship with a rich guy over in Russia who’d become a Minister who’s portfolio included this type of thing. Dave had been to Siberia and Kamchatka to work with Russian counterparts (Dave was already a legend in U.S. Fish & Wildlife law enforcement) and he reached out. Sure enough this guy came over and delivered a dinner speech one night. He spoke no English and relied on an interpreter. I got to talk with her and she was really cool, and so hopeful for her country. She was a true pro, and given some of the attendees and dumbass “guy” questions never missed a beat translating some questionable to the point of crude comments and questions to her boss. Never ‘broke character once” at daytime meetings, receptions etc. After Alexandar’s big speech there was a Q and A session. Someone in the crowd posed what for anyone in the U.S. at the time would have been an unremarkable, even obvious question given new freedoms over there at the time. The guy ask “Do you have a problem with an Animal Rights movement in Russia?” I swear her reaction was like she’d been slapped. In a stunned tone she said “ANIMAL rights?” Then quickly recovered and translated the question to her boss and things went on. I got to talk for her for a few minutes after he’d gone up to his room for the night and explained things to her and that the guy who asked that question wasn’t trying to be mean or upset her. But hearing the scope of the animal rights movement here, the various organizations and how substantial their resources were she just couldn’t understand it. Much of the testing on animals she agreed was cruel and it was good that people were trying to address that issue. But the subject here was hunting and for so many in Russia in rural areas it was quite literally subsistence hunting. People weren’t being cruel hunting, but simply trying to survive. AND they were worried that a growing “trophy hunting” trend would cause more problems for them, and while it could raise a lot of money if not properly managed like her boss wanted NONE of the money would go to locals. Only the rich folks organizing the trips! But that night and that exchange where she couldn’t help herself and blurted out “ANIMAL rights?” stuck with me for years. And as Russia devolved, and when I think about days past when I could still hunt I think about it. We all should.

Trust me when I say anyone being mean, or worse cruel to one of my “boys” back when I still had doggies was in for a world of hurt. And I wasn’t shy about dealing with people I observed being cruel to other’s companion animals or animals in general. I don’t feel a responsible hunter who eats what they kill is a bad or evil person. I, and countless others like me sometimes passed up taking a shot for fear of only wounding instead of killing game.