Update on this morning’s news that a secret agreement has been made not unlike the lottery deal a few years ago to allow limited hunting for deer on Sundays with a bow.
From what I have been told that “donations” from the insurance lobby to the Non Game Animal fund were threatened to be cut off. For a number of years the insurance industry has been funding a pilot project with NCWRC and the restocking of the eastern cougar in a number of spots throughout the state. The cougar-stocking program was halted in 2006 because of the number of attacks on humans in other states and the possibility of liability for the state if this was to become general knowledge. Auto Insurance lobby continued to funnel funds into the Non Game Fund with hopes that this or a similar project would resume. With no longer any support at NCWRC to continue such an endeavor the lobby pulled the funds as of January of this year. These funds were being used to support a number of other projects as well and many of them are threatened. This compromise will open up the dried up funding stream once again enabling the State to meet requirements to get matching Federal dollars for these other projects.

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