If you’ve turned on the TV, radio, looked at a newspaper, or used the internet in these past few weeks, you have heard of Kendall Jones.

Kendall Jones is a 19 year old cheerleader studying at Texas Tech who has stirred up some recent controversy. She is a seasoned hunter that has been lucky enough to travel to Africa to hunt the big five; work alongside organizations to provide meat to local communities and help treat wounded animals. Recently, she has been targeted on social media sites and attacked by news agencies for having pictures of her hunts published on Facebook. There has been much misinformation spreading around about what she has hunted and the specific role hunting plays in conservation. Bill McGrath, SCI’s Legislative Counsel was fortunate enough to sit down with Kendall to discuss the media backlash and correctly set the narrative. Read more

This from www.humanewatch.org

In March, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt announced that his office was opening an inquiry into the fundraising of the Humane Society of the United States, issuing a “consumer alert” to the public about national animal charities. Things have been fairly quiet in the news since then—until yesterday.

Speaking to the radio show “All Around Oklahoma Ag,” Pruitt offered an update of his office’s investigation of HSUS. Pruitt stated that his office has recently issued subpoenas to HSUS in light of the $25 million settlement that major HSUS contractor and direct-mail firm Quadriga Art agreed to with the New York Attorney General earlier this month.

Pruitt also revealed that his office has met with HSUS leadership, and it didn’t seem to go well. Pruitt says that HSUS’s reaction has been “in some respects, not good…there’s been denial.”

HSUS can deny that its fundraising is deceptive all it wants to, but we have its CEO Wayne Pacelle admitting last year, on audio, that “I think there is some confusion among the general public and I think there’s occasional confusion with, with donors.” You can’t play the denying game when you’ve already admitted that there’s a problem with your donors. Even for an organization with dozens of staff lawyers, it’s hard to talk your way around that one. Read more

Washington, D.C. – Safari Club International (SCI) and millions of hunter conservationists worldwide are shocked and disappointed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decision to continue the ban on the importation of elephants from Zimbabwe for the rest of 2014.

“Like my fellow hunters, I am disappointed in the FWS decision to persist in upholding a ban that has no sound basis in science and undermines conservation,” said SCI President Craig Kauffman.  “This administration continues to talk publicly about the benefits of hunting while siding with anti-hunting extremists time after time.  SCI’s Washington team will do everything within its power to reverse this misguided and baseless policy.” Read more