Wilful destruction - a gallery of shame

[peter]

This forum is about the natural world, which is quickly disappearing nearly everywhere. Our aim is to provide those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea a voice, so that they can be heard. 

The destruction of the natural world is a result of different factors. Most unfortunately, all are strongly related to humans. The most important of these is the growth of the population. The 7 billion plus need room to live, leaving less and less for others. Another factor is the system we use to survive. It produces what is needed, but it also produces a lot of waste. All of those in the know agree human activity is the reason for climate change. The planet is warming up real fast.

Although there is growing awareness about the consequences of human activity, the commitment to implement a number of fundamental changes isn't there yet. In countries where there is some kind of commitment, the follow-up often is lacking. I'm not saying poachers can do what they want, but it's quite close in many countries. One reason is politicians often are involved. 

Poaching is related to money, but some types of destruction are not. 

In Russia in particular, there is growing concern about the attitude of some young people. A man living in southeastern Russia recently said he was able to cope with bears and tigers to a degree. He was, however, concerned about some people he had never seen before. Many of them have expensive cars and rifles. The best of the best. At night, they drive in wild country and shoot at everything that moves. The victims are put in a van, whereas the killer car continues it deadly work. When it's stopped by police or by patrolling rangers, it's difficult to charge them. The reason is there are no dead animals in the killer car. When the van with dead animals is stopped, they say they found the animals on the road. It's not easy to prove there was planning and cooperation.

It was seen before in India after Independence (same in many other former colonies), but in those days civilians didn't have the destructive rifles seen today.

The brutal violence used against wild animals is getting worse. I read reports about bears willfully shot or blasted to bits and I also remember a report about a bear willfully mauled by young people with a large car. Yesterday, I found this report about a large brown bear hit by a car. Those present encouraged each other. The bear was killed:
       
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/12/28/squash-him-video-of-gruesome-bear-killing-in-russia-goes-viral-and-could-be-a-crime/?utm_term=.546988ef1487

It's difficult to understand why people do this.

This thread is about willfull destruction of wild country and wild animals. I thought about it for some time. At first, I decided against it. After reading ever more reports, I concluded we have no option but to report on it. 

Anyone with reliable information about (seemingly) pointless destruction is invited to post it here. I hope the thread will be limited in size, but I could be very wrong. Reply