Could This Be The Start of A Trend?
News out of New Jersey where a bill to move oversight for wildlife to the environmental protection and to severely reduce sportsmen representation on the board to two while putting tree huggers on the board. There is an emphasis being placed on non lethal control by creating a special committee to address these issues.
Tom over at the Black Bear Blog had a post about this alerting me and I’m sure many others to this issue. Now two members will be sportsmen but who else will get a seat;
And five members will be “individuals with experience in environmental protection or other fields relevant to animal welfare and with a background in the preservation of wildlife, recommended to the Governor for appointment to the council by the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance, The Bear Education and Resource Group, and the Humane Society of the United States, and chosen with due consideration to achieve balanced geographic representation of all regions of the State.”
What a ridiculous plan but I caution you it’s coming to a Wildlife Commission near you if you’re not careful. Our license, tags, and taxes on our hunting equipment are traditionally the revenue source to fund our wildlife departments but more often these funds are diverted, misused, or used on non wildlife projects. Now these kooks want a seat at the table when it comes to wildlife management even though their main agenda is to end all forms of hunting, trapping or fishing drying up the funding sources that support many game and non game species. We need to be ready to take these kooks on because no matter how they want to present themselves they are not mainstream but fringe kooks.
I hope it isn’t the start of a trend, but I’m betting, at least in some parts of the country, it is. Those of us who support hunting really have to work harder to make sure people understand why hunting is beneficial and how much economic clout hunters have. Let’s see those wildlife management bureaus survive without hunters and anglers.
Comment by Kristine Shreve — February 6, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
It’s not coming to CA, it’s already here.
Of the five people on our CA Fish and Game Commission (the lawmaking group), do you know how many have a valid CA Hunting License?
Yeah. It’s that bad.
Comment by Phillip — February 6, 2008 @ 7:11 pm
Our traditions are under attack from all angles and so is our habitat and our way of life. It is one of the reasons that I am beginning to support SCI and groups like it very strongly.
Comment by Kevin Paulson — February 7, 2008 @ 10:58 am