Search - Varmints on DVD

Disrespect for the Lord's creation.

Preston C. Enright | Denver, CO United States | 02/20/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Varmints" is about the relentless attack on prairie dogs. Sometimes with poison gas, sometimes by "sport" hunters, sometimes by the destruction of their habitat. It was interesting to hear the different rationales people have for wanting them dead; and then to hear from others about how feeble the rationales are. It reminds me of how people are propagandized to go to war. . . there's always a campaign to devalue the lives of "the other," including derogatory labels (i.e. - "Islamo-fascists," "illegals," "varmints"). And as with our wars against people, this war against communities of animals is a big revenue generator for the gun industry. Some gun-makers have special models like "The Varmint Hunter," and each year millions of rounds of bullets are shot across the plains where prairie dogs live. The film speaks with hunters, ranchers, and wildlife biologists who have studied these creatures. It was interesting to learn that the prairie dogs have a particular squeak they make when they see a person, and another squeak for when they see a person with a gun.



Hopefully, with a growing environmental movement - including evangelical "creation care" activists - this sort of sadistic destruction of a species will be outgrown.

I'd also recommend the other documentaries that "High Plains Films" has made ("The Naturalist," "Killing Coyote" and others).



Grandfather Great Spirit

All over the world the faces of living ones are alike.

With tenderness they have come up out of the ground.

Look upon your children that they may face the winds

and walk the good road to the Day of Quiet.

Grandfather Great Spirit

Fill us with the Light.

Give us the strength to understand,

and the eyes to see.

Teach us to walk the soft Earth as relatives

to all that live.

-Lakota Prayer"