From: wheeler@SUPER.ORG (Ferrell S. Wheeler)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.animals
Subject: HUNTING NEWS
Date: 28 Jul 92 16:58:29 GMT


HUNTING NEWS
 
 
+ The Montana Shooting Sports Association's attempt to enshrine a 
"right to hunt" in the state constitution failed to qualify for
the June ballot because only 15,261 of the required 36,702 voters 
had signed the initiative petitions by the Feb. 21 deadline. MSSA
head and proposed "right to hunt" amendment author Gary Marlbut 
charged that the state Dept. of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks
sabotaged the amendment by pointing out that it could have 
interfered with enforcement of hunting laws. 
 
+ The National Shooting Sports Foundation claims that taking a 
bath is twice as dangerous as hunting because 350 people per
year drown in their bathtubs, while "only" 146 people were killed 
by hunters.  However, the 16 million licensed hunters hunt fewer
than 10 days a year on average.  Thus if the 251 million Americans 
bathe on average once a day, 83,665 people per year would
drown in bathtubs if bathing and hunting really were equally 
dangerous hunters would kill only one person every four years.
 
+ A mob of 2,500 bird hunters attacked an estimated 100 
anti-hunting protesters Feb. 16 near Privas, France.  The mob dispersed
units called in a helicopter to evacuate the protesters, 
who want the government to ban hunting thrush and wood pigeons in the
Ardeche region.
 
+  The House Subcommittee on Libraries and Memorials concluded 
March 3 after hearing a day of testimony that the Smithsonian
Institution improperly paid $477,000 in legal costs for U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Richard Mitchell, who spent much
of the 1980s trophy hunting while on loan to the Smithsonian. 
(See "Gutting Fish And Wildlife," June 1991.) Mitchell also used
his post to help other trophy hunters to import the heads and 
hides of endangered species under museum permits, evading the intent
of the Convention on Intl.  Trade in Endangered Species.
 
+ Vermont house speaker Ralph Wright (D-Bennington) pledged 
March 10 to prevent a bill authorizing moose hunting from
reaching the floor.  "I don't want to shoot moose," Wright 
commented.  "Shooting moose is like shooting a parked car." Thank
Wright c/o State House, Montpelier, VT 05602. 
 
+ Hunters in Connecticut and Massachusetts are pushing bills to 
legalize Sunday hunting.  Mass. rep.  William Reinstein (D-Revere), 
who sponsors three different Sunday hunting bills, told The Boston 
Sunday Globe on March 14 that Sunday hunting should
be legal so that teenagers can "learn to respect a firearm and 
learn to live off the land," never mind that the last person to live off
the land in Massachusetts other than by farming was probably 
the vegetarian Henry David Thoreau, in 1845-1847. 
 
+ Seeking to preserve uncontested authority to "manage" wildlife, 
the Colorado Division of Wildlife is opposing state ballot
initiatives that would ban wildlife killing contests, spring bear 
hunting, and bear hunting through use of bait and hounds.  The
agency officially opposes both killing contests and spring bear 
hunting, but hasn't yet acted to block events such as the annual
Nucla, Colo. prairie dog killing contest, and has thus far only 
gotten the state Wildlife Commission to phase out spring bear hunting 
over a three-year period. The anti-killing contest bill is also 
opposed by the National Western Stock Show, a rodeo, because rodeo
executives believe it could "prohibit contests involving livestock 
raised to be food." 
 
+ A major poll of British voters commissioned by the Int'l.  
Fund for Animal Welfare discovered in February that the pro-hunting
Conservatives could lose the next Parliamentary election "if 
anti-hunting Conservative voters switch their votes to Labour."  IFAW
argues that the present Conservative majority depends upon retaining 
a margin of under 5% in numerous districts; that 3% of voters
who supported Conservatives in the 1987 election already say they 
will support Labour this year; and that enough Conservatives
say they will switch to Labour, in opposition to hunting, to account 
for at least another 2% of the electorate.  The poll was taken
just after Conservative opposition defeated a proposed ban on 
fox hunting, 187-175.  The defeated bill also would have banned
hunting deer and rabbits with dogs, and all forms of commercial 
and recreational trapping.
 
 From: Animals Agenda
 456 Monroe Turnpike
 Monroe, CT 06468
 Issue: 5/92
 
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