Category: Animal Rights

Nebraska Senator Threatens to Shut Down Legislature Over Mountain Lion Hunt

GW:  Another liberal who doesn’t get it…

Just two weeks into Nebraska’s inaugural Mountain Lion hunting season, a bill has been introduced to stop the hunt.

The bill, LB 671 sponsored by Senator Ernie Chambers (D-Omaha), would ban mountain lion hunting, threatening not only livestock but public safety also.  Senator Chambers has also announced his intentions to oppose every proposal of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission until the mountain lion season is abolished.

In 1995, Nebraska added mountain lions to the state’s game list in order to protect the steadily growing population.   Over the past 20 years, the population levels have risen enough to sustain a limited harvest using a controlled quota system.  In 2013, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission established its first ever mountain lion season which commenced this month. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

QDMA to Convene First-Ever Whitetail Summit to Address Declining Deer Herds and Other Threats

GW:  It had to happen.  What goes up must come down.  But, what are the answers to land development, diseases, predators, etc?  Time to find out…

Declining deer herds and other threats to North America’s deer-hunting heritage will be the focus of the first-ever North American Whitetail Summit being convened by QDMA, March 3-6, at Big Cedar Lodge in Branson, Missouri.

“Whitetail numbers are down throughout much of their range due to many factors including EHD, predators, and even over-harvest,” said QDMA CEO and wildlife biologist Brian Murphy.  “In some areas, herds are below what the habitat can support and what provides a quality hunting experience. This is a serious issue with significant long-term implications for the future of deer hunting.” Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting

Safari Club International and Hunters Helping the African Lion

GW:  Another example of how hunting helps…

Tucson, AZ – From the outside looking in, a non-hunter might find it hard to comprehend. What needs to be understood is that hunters have a deep care and passion for the animals they pursue to ensure that a healthy population of that resource remains.

Hunters commit a large amount of resources and time to help promote species of game to sustainable levels to be able to pursue them for hunting.

The impact of hunters on the African lion has become a hot button issue, to say the least, over the past few years. What should be a discussion based on science has turned into an emotionally charged topic. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

Ranchers, Hunters Get Reprieve from Excessive Government Restrictions for Three Antelope Species

Washington, D.C. – With the passage of the Omnibus spending package that keeps the U.S. government funded until September 30, 2014, America’s hunters and ranchers received a welcome surprise that eliminates government restrictions on the hunting of U.S. populations of scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelle, and addax (three antelope species). The legislative fix, first written by Safari Club International’s Washington, D.C. staff, reinstates a 2005 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulation that facilitates U.S. conservation of these species. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting

The Paradox of Good Intentions

By Glen Wunderlich

A paradox of good intentions is the only description that comes to mind with a story from Texas relative to the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Although the ESA has been with us for some 40 years and is touted as having credible successes with certain species (and, rightfully so), it’s having a severe, negative impact on three antelope species:  horned oryx, Dama gazelle and addax.  These antelope species are known in Texas as the “Three Amigos.”

The U.S. House and Senate will consider Dallas Safari Club (DSC)-backed legislation that would exempt from ESA protections three antelope species nearly extinct in their native countries but thriving on ranches in Texas.  The exemptions would clear the way for ranchers to maintain their herds and to offer hunts for these game animals without government intervention.

Once again, the seemingly counter-intuitive rationale to allow hunting is being used as an argument to save the species.  Yes, they are not indigenous to Texas, but tell that to the once-thriving herd.

First, we must understand that the imposition of ESA mandates brings with it certain prohibitions Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting

HSUS “Ambassador” Caught with Illegal Ivory

This from www.HumaneWatch.org

We reported earlier this week about the controversy around an auction for a hunt of a single, non-breeding black rhino that raised $350,000 for anti-poaching efforts. It’s interesting that the biggest complainer about this auction, the Humane Society of the United States, isn’t apparently spending much, if anything, toward rhino conservation itself, according to its tax returns.  If HSUS had its way, this $350,000 wouldn’t make its way to anti-poaching programs, simply because HSUS is ideologically against hunting.

And now, the latest setback in the fight against illegal poaching comes from HSUS’s own “global ambassador,” the music artist calling herself Ke$ha. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

U.S. Congress to Consider ‘Three Amigos’ Amendment

GW:  An ESA failure with hope from hunters…

WASHINGTON- -The U.S. House and Senate will consider Dallas Safari Club (DSC)-backed legislation that would exempt from endangered species protections three antelope species nearly extinct in their native countries but thriving on ranches in Texas.
The exemptions would clear the way for ranchers to maintain their herds and to offer hunts for these game animals without government intervention. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife

DSC Auction Raises $350,000 for Rhino Conservation

DALLAS (Jan. 11, 2014)-A Dallas Safari Club (DSC) auction has raised $350,000 for rhino conservation efforts in Namibia.
All proceeds-100 percent-will go into a special fund used by the Namibian Ministry of Environment and Tourism for anti-poaching patrols, habitat protection, research and other measures crucial for protecting populations of endangered black rhinos.
The auctioned item is a hunting permit for a black rhino in Namibia’s Mangetti National Park. Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Poachers, Wildlife

Michigan Groups’ Battle over Wolves Looms

By Glen Wunderlich

Now that Michigan’s first wolf hunt is over, one thing is clear:  hunters did not wipe out our wolf population.  In fact, only about half of the kill quota was met, or more precisely, 23 of the maximum quota of 43.  That won’t stop the anti-hunting-anything contingent from furthering its emotionally founded cause to prevent another wolf hunt.  It also won’t stop wolf hunting advocates from squaring off all over again in the political arena this year.

Predictably, the protections afforded the gray wolf over the decades would end eventually based on the remarkable growth of the wolf population, which is far beyond recovery goals established under the Endangered Species Act.

The wolf hunt was the state’s first to feature online and call-in reporting of killed wolves and allowed hunters to get text alerts or to check a given hunt’s status via a state website.  The system also ensured that no over-killing would take place.  From a management standpoint, the system worked as planned.

But, groups like Keep Michigan Wolves Protected (KMWP), an arm of the world’s largest anti-hunting organization, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), is still kicking and screaming.  Read more

Animal Rights, Hunting, Wildlife
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