Exposing the Big Game

Forget Hunters' Feeble Rationalizations and Trust Your Gut Feelings: Making Sport of Killing Is Not Healthy Human Behavior

Exposing the Big Game

Category Archives: Sport Hunting

Save Orangutans and Support Anti-Trophy Hunting Bill: 10 Petitions You Should Sign This Week to Help Animals!

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By Sharon Vega

Lead Image Source : Don Mammoser/Shutterstock

It’s horrible to hear about animal abuse cases or read the ways humans are endangering many species. Fortunately, there are things we can do to speak for them. One of the ways we can help and lend our voices to good causes is by signing petitions. Such petitions are sent to people in powerful positions that can make a change, especially when they see just how many people stand behind the cause. We can demand change, justice, and stop tragedies by speaking up and doing our part.

There are horrifying things happening around the world every weeklike the destruction of endangered animals’ habitats and extreme trophy hunting. If you are looking for a way to help animals, here are 10 petitions you should sign this week!

We want to thank you for being the change you wish to see in the world and giving a voice to the voiceless.

1. Save Bald Eagles From Lead Poisoning

Source: Bald Eagles and Other Animals Are Dying Slow and Painful Deaths From Lead Poisoning

Bald eagles scavenge on the carcasses of other animals, and when the animals have been killed by lead bullets, the eagles ingest fragments of the lead bullets which poisons them. According to the American Bird Conservancy, an estimated 10-20 million animals are killed by lead poisoning in the United States each year. It’s a painful death—the poisoning causes starvation, paralysis, and damage to the nervous system. Sign this petition asking for the ban on lead ammunition and fishing tackle on federal lands to be restored to save wildlife.

2. Support the Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act

Source: The Tiger Must Be Saved From Extinction — Here’s One Way to Help

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Animals like the iconic tiger are endangered with only about 4,000 wild tigers left on Earth. The Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act of 2019 would “bolster our current anti-trafficking regulations by giving more power to federal agencies to fight poaching and wildlife trafficking.” Sign this petition to tell the US Congress that you support this bill!

3. Give the Cloud Rat a Safe Haven on Dinagat Island

Source: Give the Cloud Rat a Safe Haven on Dinagat Island

The bushy-tailed cloud rat of Dinagat Island is the most endangered of the six cloud rat species. There are no national land protections on the island and the forests are disappearing. The remaining forests have been claimed by mining companies and whenever they decide to begin excavation, the cloud rat will lose its last remaining habitat. Conservationists are working with locals to set up a nationally protected forest habitat on the island so that animals can survive. Sign this petition asking the Philippine government to set up a nationally protected for the cloud rat and other indigenous animals to survive.

4. Ask Department of Interior to Stop Extreme Hunting on Federal Land

Source: The Trump Administration Wants to Make It Easier to Kill Baby Bears and Wolves

wants to lift the ban on “extreme hunting” in Alaska that would allow hunters to “lure brown and black bears with bait, hunt black bears and their cubs using artificial lights, […], and use dogs to hunt black bears.” Sign this petition to tell the Department of Interior that you don’t want these extreme cruel hunting techniques to be allowed on federal land!

5. Save the Tapanuli Orangutan

Source: Mandarin Oriental Hotel: Save the Tapanuli Orangutan

British conglomerate Jardine Matheson purchased the Martabe gold mine on Sumatra, Indonesia, which is the home to the world’s only population of Tapanuli orangutans. They plan to build a hydroelectric dam right in the middle of the Tapanuli orangutan habitat. There are only 800 of these orangutans left. Sign this petitionasking Jardine Matheson to not destroy their habitat!

6. Someone Shot and Killed a Dolphin and Her Unborn Calf

Source: Someone Shot and Killed a Dolphin and Her Unborn Calf

A man in Mississippi shot and killed a pregnant dolphin. Animal welfare organization are offering a reward of up to $11,000 for information that leads to the killer’s arrest. The culprit could face up to one year in prison and $100,000 in fines. Since 2002, twenty-four dolphins have been found dead from human-inflicted injuries including guns, arrows, or being impaled. Sign this petition to show that you want the killer to be brought to justice, especially to stop others from doing the same.

7. Support Bill Honoring Cecil the Lion That Will Protect Wildlife from Trophy Hunters

Source: Bill Honoring Cecil the Lion Will Protect Wildlife from Trophy Hunters

A new bill introduced in honor of Cecil the lion would “ban the unpermitted take or trade of species proposed for listing, which would mean they’re treated like they already have protection, and it would increase transparency by requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to publish permit import applications and hold a public comment period before issuing permit.” It would also ban the import of endangered elephants and lions as trophies from Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. Sign this petition to tell Congress you support the passing of this bill!

8. Ask Department of the Interior to End The Expansion of Offshore Drilling

Source: The Risks to The Environment, Humans and Animals is Just Too Great!

Anyone who remembers the explosion of the BP Deepwater Horizon knows that 11 people died and more than 210 million gallons of oil poured into the ocean and polluted over 1,300 miles of shoreline, killing many animals. Yet the Trump administration has opened up almost all US waters to offshore drilling. Sign this petition calling on the Department of Interior to end the expansion of offshore drilling and increase the number of oil drilling.

9. Stop the Slaughtering of US Horses in Canada

Source: Stop the shameful slaughter of horses by our country, Canada

It is illegal to slaughter horses in the USA, so sadly they are sent to Canada to be slaughtered there. They are terrifyingly chased and rounded up by helicopters then shipped. On the way, they are overcrowded and in filthy conditions. Some foals are even shipped to become meat in other countries. Sign this petition asking Canada to stop slaughtering horses for the US.

10. Full Prosecution for Asheville Cat Killers!

Source: Full Prosecution for Asheville Cat Killers!

At the end of last year, a sweet and loved cat named “Kitty” was mutilated and hung behind a grocery store in Asheville. There were photos of the dead cat strung up and sliced open with hypodermic needles in its body and drugs in its mouth. The people who committed this atrocity were charged with improper burial of an animal and instigating cruelty to animals. This disturbing tragedy rocked the community, but animal cruelty cases there in the past have not been taken as seriously as they should be. Sign this petitionto tell the authorities in Asheville that animal cruelty cases like this need to be taken seriously!

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The Pastime of Psychopaths

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President and co-founder, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

What kind of person enjoys taking another living being’s life? It may seem improbable at first glance, but what if the same twisted psychology that drives a man to maim, stalk and—an agonizingly painful 40 hours later—shoot a lion to death might also drive a man to break into a house and plunge a knife into the people found inside? Such killers hide in plain sight. They are military officials and Boy Scout leaders. Gynecologists and dentists.

Serial killing and trophy hunting are terrifyingly similar. As wildlife researcher and author Gareth Patterson* points out, both types of killers often immerse themselves in violent imagery. Hunting magazines are designed to titillate hunters and help fuel violent fantasies of stalking and killing prey. They are full of pictures of hunters standing victoriously over animals they have slain, the obvious message: Kill something—or, rather, someone—and you, too, can achieve greatness.

Similarly, serial killers often draw inspiration from bondage pornography. Dennis Rader was obsessed with violent images of men dominating women, and he used them to fuel his fantasies of tying up and killing women. Eventually, fantasy made way for real life. The same has been true for other killers, like Ted Bundy.

Patterson notes that both types of killers enjoy the excitement of planning their kills and building anticipation while they stalk their eventual victims more than the actual act of killing. And how many times have you heard hunters say, “It’s more about the hunt than the kill”? They describe in detail their love of being outdoors, seeing their intended prey for the first time, tracking them down, cornering them and conquering them. Perhaps, like many serial killers, they’ve actually become addicted to the adrenalin rush they get from controlling their victims’ fates.

According to John Douglas, one of the FBI’s first criminal profilers, serial killers who take souvenirs from their victims do so to prolong their violent fantasies. Some take jewelry or locks of hair, while others take photographs or body parts. Trophy hunters proudly display their victims’ severed animal heads on their walls and share photos of themselves on social media grinning beside their corpses. Like serial killers, trophy hunters are compelled to prove their status as a person who has power over life and death. Between hunts, both value their souvenirs as a way to remember the power they once held over another living being.

Neither type of killer shows remorse for the killing but rather excuses the behavior as filling some sort of vague spiritual need. When selecting their victims, some hunters describe a “tremor” they feel when they see the “right” animal. They like to interpret this as nature’s way of telling them they are “supposed” to kill that particular being.

Some serial killers also believe they are instructed by a higher power to kill a particular person. Cannibal Richard Chase tried the doorknobs of strangers’ houses. If he found one locked, he took this as a sign that he was not welcome and would leave the occupant alone. An unlocked door, though, was an invitation—he was “meant” to kill the person inside.

Some hunters of animals “graduate” to killing people. Robert Hanson—an avid hunter with a living room full of mounted animal heads who was featured in a national hunting magazine—flew kidnapped women into the Alaskan wilderness, released them and then hunted them down. Why did he do this? Because hunting nonhuman species was no longer thrilling enough.

“[Killing people] is so much fun,” the Zodiac Killer said in one of his letters. “It’s even better than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal.”

Both types of killers could keep their fantasies as just that—fantasies. Trophy hunters could shoot photographs rather than high-powered crossbows. But both decide—enthusiastically—to take a life in order to fulfill their own selfish desires. They plan their killing sprees carefully, and then they kill and kill again, with no sign of stopping.

It’s time for us to call trophy hunting what it is: the pastime of psychopaths.

*Well known for his work with African lions, Gareth Patterson is an environmentalist, independent wildlife researcher, public speaker and author who has worked for more than 25 years for the increased protection of African wildlife. His current book, an autobiography, is My Lion’s Heart.

Big game hunter who has killed more than 5,000 elephants says he is ‘totally unrepentant’ after being named in investigation into plummeting numbers – and admits killing 60 lions, 50 hippos, and 40 leopards

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An African hunter who claims to have killed more than 5,000 elephants says he is ‘totally unrepentant’ about the deaths he has caused.

Ron Thomson, 77, who worked in Africa’s national parks for almost six decades, claims he was not hunting the animals for pure sport but was managing population that would otherwise have got out of control.

However, animal rights campaigners point out that elephant numbers are in steep decline and say ‘management culling’ is often used as a cover for trophy hunting.

Mr Thomson was forced to defend his record after a report by the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting branded him one of the world’s most prolific elephant killers.

On his website, Mr Thomson also claims to have killed 800 buffalo, 60 lions, 50 hippos and 40 leopards.

animal on the water: Campaigners rubbished Mr Thomson's claims, saying elephant numbers are in steep decline and 'management culls' are often used as fronts for trophy hunts© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited Campaigners rubbished Mr Thomson’s claims, saying elephant numbers are in steep decline and ‘management culls’ are often used as fronts for trophy huntsThat total does not include kills he made while leading a culling team that shot 2,500 elephants and 300 hippos in Gonarezhou National Park in the 1970s.

Speaking to The Independent, he said: ‘I’m totally unrepentant, a hundred – ten thousand – times over for any of the hunting I’ve done because that’s not the problem.

‘The problem is we’ve got a bunch of so-called experts from the West telling us what to do. I’m a trained university ecologist – I must surely know something about this.’

During his career he has held posts including game warden of Hwange National Park, and was a professional hunter for three years.

He no longer routinely hunts, though said he would go again if invited, and instead writes books about his experiences, including God Created Man The Hunter.

On his website, he is described as ‘one of the most experienced African big game hunters alive today.’

In videos posted to the YouTube channel of his wildlife organisation, The True Green Alliance, Mr Thomson outlines his view of wildlife conservation.

a man looking at the camera: Ron Thomson, 77, says he is 'totally unrepentant' after killing more than 5,000 elephants during a nearly six decade career working in Africa's national parks© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited Ron Thomson, 77, says he is ‘totally unrepentant’ after killing more than 5,000 elephants during a nearly six decade career working in Africa’s national parksHe argues that elephants are not an endangered species, that wildlife parks in southern Africa have ‘ten to 20 times more elephants’ than they can sustain, and that this is destroying the environment.

Without proper management, including culls, he argues that the parks will be overrun and endanger far more species than elephants alone.

Eduardo Gonçalves, founder of the Campaign to End Trophy Hunting, rubbished Mr Thomson’s claims – saying natural animal populations rarely ‘overstock’ themselves.

‘The African elephant population as a whole is in very serious decline,” he said, adding that ‘there are numerous instances of “management culling” being used as a cover for trophy-hunting.’

Mr Gonçalves’ report claims that, since the 1980s, elephant numbers in southern Africa have declined from 1.3million to just over 400,000.

In the same time period, hunters from around the globe have taken more than 100,000 trophies back to their home countries.

The group said there has been a four-fold increase in the number of elephant trophies taken in 2015 compared with 1985, and the jump in the amount of ivory taken over the same period was nearly twelve-fold.

Related slideshow: 14 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know Elephants Could Do (Reader’s Digest)

Baker City man killed when hunting rifle accidentally discharged

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LOCAL

The accident happened at a home in Unity, Oregon.
Author: KTVB Staff
Published: 1:58 PM MST February 20, 2019
Updated: 1:58 PM MST February 20, 2019

BAKER CITY, Ore. — A Baker City man has died following a hunting accident, according to the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.

It happened Tuesday at around 6 p.m. at a home in Unity, Oregon.

Deputies say they found the victim, George Sherman Van Cleave, next to a pickup in a driveway.

The sheriff’s office says another man, Richard Toubeaux, was securing a rifle in the pickup after the parties returned from a hunting trip.

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The rifle discharged and hit Van Cleave.

Toubeaux is not charged. The sheriff’s office calls the incident a “tragic accident.”

THE BEAUTIFUL REASON COLOMBIA JUST BANNED RECREATIONAL TROPHY HUNTING

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Charlotte Pointing
Senior Editor, UK | Contactable via charlotte@livekindly.co
 

Colombia has banned recreational trophy hunting, citing the protection of animals and the environment as its main reasons.

“Animals are not things, they are beings with feelings,” the magistrate behind the legislation said.

The ban – pushed forward by lawyer and animal advocate Laura Santacoloma  – will go into full effect in one year’s time, giving Colombians time to adapt. Fishing for sport will not be included under the ban.

According to the court, recreational trophy hunting is unconstitutional; it causes species numbers to decline and it’s harmful to the environment. Colombia is home to rich ecosystems and has the second-highest biodiversity in the world; more than 9,000 species in the country are endemic.

Despite what the Colombian Federation of Shooting and Recreational Hunting believes, the sport isn’t an inherent part of Colombian culture, notes the court.

According to Phys.Org, Magistrate Antonio J José Lizarazo said, “It is not constitutionally allowable to kill or mistreat animals for the sole purpose of recreation.”

Animal rights organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has praised Colombia’s decision, noting that the ban will save the lives of “countless deer, doves, ducks, rabbits, peccaries (who are related to pigs), and other animals.”

Colombia is only the second country in Latin America to ban recreational trophy hunting; Costa Rica was the first, passing a law against the sport in 2012. Similar bans have been proposed in other countries around the world, including Britain.

In December, musician and former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher and a number of other influential figures – including MP Jeremy Corbyn and TV presenter Chris Packham – asked for the import of hunting trophies to be banned as soon as possible in the UK.

“Trophy hunting is having a negative impact on wildlife through the loss of significant numbers of healthy individuals that are key to the survival of rapidly declining populations,” they wrote in a lettersubmitted to national newspaper The Guardian.

Last September, Colombia made another significant step toward protecting animals. A bill was submitted to Congress calling for a ban on cosmetic animal testing, as well as testing for household cleaning items and other domestic products.

Deer camp & gay bars

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(Beth Clifton photo)

A 1974 study by James Kennedy for the Wildlife Society found that 75% of the hunters surveyed would prefer hunting with their buddies in an area with only a 10% chance of killing a deer to hunting alone with a 50% chance of making the kill.

Seeking the kill is only the pretext for the various other rituals that “separate the men from the boys,” determining “who’s a pussy.”

This,  not the supposed difficulty of shooting a deer,  probably best explains why approximately 70% of all licensed hunters don’t get one – while those for whom the kill is the paramount experience tend to “get their deer” year after year,  perennially bagging the limit and/or placing high in the buck pool.

The deer camp atmosphere of exaggerated masculinity is apparently not unlike the atmosphere of “leather trade” gay bars,  albeit that the gay bars more likely try to emulate deer camps than the other way around.

Ernest Hemingway himself appears on this book cover, with a lion he shot in Kenya in 1934. But the story the photo illustrates does not portray hunters in a positive light.

“Hunting is anything but expression of manhood”

One must wonder,  ultimately,  how sexually secure any of the posturing denizens are.

“You can take my word for it,” snorted former hunting guide Douglas Townsend some years ago.  Having escorted hundreds of big game hunters,  he concluded,  “This hunting habit is anything but an expression of manhood.”

Gregory Hemingway,  son of author Ernest Hemingway,  would probably have concurred.

Trying to impress his macho father,  a living symbol of hunters and hunting to a whole generation,  Gregory at age 11 won the World Life Pigeon Shooting Championship.  At 19 he was arrested for transvestitism.  Trying to regain his father’s respect,  he next slaughtered 18 elephants on a single African safari.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Gregory turned Gloria

But Gregory Hemingway remained an unhappy transvestite,  who spent,  he admitted in a 1987 interview,  “hundreds of thousands of dollars” trying to overcome the cross-dressing habit.  He had partial sexual reassignment surgery in 1995 and changed his first name to Gloria,  but then changed his mind,  tried to have the surgery reversed,  and remarried his fourth ex-wife.

Gregory/Gloria Hemingway died on October 1,  2001 at the Miami-Dade Women’s Detention Center,  hours before he was to appear in court after being arrested for indecent exposure and resisting arrest.

Gregory Hemingway appears to have never been an actual practicing homosexual,  just insecure – like his father,  who likewise spent his whole life trying to prove masculinity that no one else ever seriously called into question.

Marysville school shooter Jaylen Ray Fryberg (Facebook)

“Killed the wrong animal”

Literally killing the female,  Cameron Robert Kocher of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, nearly ten years old,  said he was only “playing hunter” on March 6, 1989, when he fatally shot Jessica Ann Carr,  age seven,  with his father’s rifle.

Observing subsequent legal proceedings,  Cleveland State University law professor Victor L. Streib unequivocally blamed the killing on Kocher’s exposure to guns and hunting. “All he has done,” Streib summarized,  “is kill the wrong animal.”

There have been hundreds of comparable incidents,  including one not far from ANIMALS 24-7.  Avid hunter Jaylen Ray Fryberg, 14, on October 24,  2014 shot five fellow students at Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington, killing two, putting two more into critical condition, and then killing himself

(See Marysville school shooter loved hunting & pit bulls;  and Killing the white deer & the Marysville massacre.)

Woodchucks. (Susan Federico photo)

“Just another woodchuck”

An upstate New York man named Dave Goff cited childhood hunting experience,  which he said helped him learn to “kill the wrong animals,”  in persuading former Congressional Representative James T. Walsh to obtain for him a Distinguished Service Cross,  a Silver Star,  and nine other medals for Vietnam War service that he never performed.

“I was brought up on a dairy farm,”  Goff explained to syndicated veterans’ affairs columnist Laura Palmer.  “I used to shoot woodchucks all the time.  It got to the point where I would flash it through my head that it was just another woodchuck and it didn’t mean anything.  It was just a job.”

Goff claimed to have been assigned to killing civilians as part of the CIA’s infamous Operation Phoenix while still in his teens.  After military service,  Goff said,  he went through 13 years of breakdowns and alcohol abuse,  trying to deprogram himself from having been a killer,  trying to find his way into becoming a caring,  responsible human being.

Walsh saw to it that Goff in 1989 received the medals he said he had earned.  But Goff was in 1994 prosecuted for unlawfully wearing military medals and decorations,  after Stolen Valor author B.G. Burkett established that Goff actually spent his alleged time in Vietnam as an Army mail clerk in Okinawa.

Idaho F&G commissioner gets backlash, calls to resign after hunting trip in Africa

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Idaho F&G commissioner gets backlash, calls to resign after hunting trip in Africa

Idaho F&G commissioner gets backlash, calls to resign after hunting trip in Africa

by CBS 2 News Staff

Friday, October 12th 2018

An Idaho Fish and Game commissioner who emailed photos of himself posing with a family of baboons he shot and killed during a recent African hunting trip has led to former commissioners asking for his resignation. (Photo via Idaho governor’s office)

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BOISE, Idaho (CBS 2) — An Idaho Fish and Game commissioner who emailed photos of himself posing with a family of baboons he shot and killed during a recent hunting trip in Africa has led to a group of former commissioners asking for his resignation.

According to emails and photos obtained by CBS 2 News through Gov. Butch Otter’s office, commissioner Blake Fischer emailed several pictures of his kills to numerous people highlighting his hunting trip.

The pictures received swift backlash.

He begins the email saying he and his wife had just returned from a two-week hunting trip to Namibia.

“First day she wanted to watch me, and ‘get a feel’ of Africa,” Fischer said in the email obtained through the governor’s office. “So I shot a whole family of baboons.”

An Idaho Fish and Game commissioner who emailed photos of himself posing with a family of bamboos he shot and killed during a recent African hunting trip has led to fellow commissioners asking for his resignation. (Photo via Idaho governor’s office)

In addition to the baboon picture, Fischer emailed photos of other animals that he and his wife hunted and killed while in Namibia including a giraffe, leopard, impala, antelope and waterbuck.

“I shot a Leopard,” he wrote. “Super cool, super lucky. The Leopard is one of the big 5, as in one of the 5 animals in Africa that will kill you before you can kill it. Crazy cool animal. They are normally super nocturnal, so this was really unique.”

The photos have garnered the attention of Gov. Butch Otter.

“Governor Otter was briefed and has seen the pictures,” said Jon Hanian, the governor’s spokesman. “He has expressed concern about them and we’re looking into the situation.”

The story was first reported by the Idaho Statesman.

Former commissioner Fred Trevey, in an email obtained through the governor’s office, said Fischer sent the photos to about 125 people.

“My reaction to the photo and accompanying text of you smiling and holding a ‘family’ of primates you killed, dismays and disappoints me,” Trevey said. “I have a difficult time understanding how a person privileged to be an Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner can view such an action as sportsmanlike and an example to others.”

Trevey says that although the hunt may have been legal, “legal does not make it right.”

“Your poor judgement has unnecessarily put the institution’s credibility, and hunting in general, at risk in a blink of an eye,” he said. “My belief is you should take responsibility and resign, sooner rather than later.”

An Idaho Fish and Game commissioner who emailed photos of himself posing with a family of bamboos he shot and killed during a recent African hunting trip has led to fellow commissioners asking for his resignation. (Cropped photo via Idaho governor’s office)

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game told CBS 2 News that its commissioners are not employees of the department and therefore it has no comment.

Calls and emails to Fischer seeking comment have not been returned though he told the Statesman, “I didn’t do anything illegal.”

Two commissioners have declined comment to CBS 2 News, saying all media inquiries for the commissioners need to go through the governor’s office.

Steve Alder, executive director for Idaho For Wildlife, a pro-hunting group, said the hunts were despicable and that you shouldn’t exploit animals and stories like this fuel anti-hunting efforts.

“What bothers me is he’s got the family there and a little baby baboon sitting there with blood all over it, kind of like in the mother’s arms,” Alder said. “You just don’t do this. It’s just not something. We don’t want to put out to the public and many of us wouldn’t even do this in the first place.”

Donald Trump Jr. Ditched Secret Service to Go Moose Hunting

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READ IT AT THE NEW YORK TIMES   

Measure would grant constitutional right to hunt, fish in NC

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North Carolina voters will consider a referendum this November that, if approved, will enshrine the right to hunt and fish in the state constitution.

http://www.dailyadvance.com/2018-Elections/2018/07/07/Measure-grants-constitutional-right-to-hunt-fish.html

By Jon Hawley
Staff Writer

Saturday, July 7, 2018

North Carolina voters will decide this fall whether the state’s heritage of hunting and fishing should be enshrined in the state constitution.

“The right of the people to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife is a valued part of the state’s heritage and shall be forever preserved for the public good,” reads the opening of the amendment proposed in Senate Bill 677. Lawmakers voted last week to put the amendment on the Nov. 6 general election ballot as a referendum.

The bill passed with bipartisan — though not unanimous — support, the General Assembly’s website shows. Among those voting for the amendment were Republican lawmakers Sen. Bill Cook and Rep. Bob Steinburg. Area Democratic Rep. Howard Hunter III of Hertford County had excused absences for votes on the amendment, but wrote in an email Wednesday that he saw no harm in it.

If passed by the voters, the amendment would be a win for hunting and fishing groups, including the Eastern Carolina Houndsmen Alliance. In an interview Friday, alliance President Terry Morse said his organization has members throughout the state — including bear hunters in the western mountains — and it’s endorsed the amendment as preserving a heritage that predates the state itself.

Asked why the amendment is necessary, given the wide popularity of hunting and fishing in the state, Morse suggested some animal rights and humane societies might seek to limit hunting in the future. He claims the amendment is a proactive step to not only protect hunting and fishing, but preserve them as conservation tools.

Would the amendment’s guarantee of a right to hunt and fish force major changes to state laws and regulations, or otherwise have unintended consequences? Morse and other supporters say no.

The amendment’s text specifically states the right to hunt and fish are subject to state laws and regulations to “promote wildlife conservation and management” and “preserve the future of fishing and hunting.”

The amendment also states it shall not “be construed to modify any provision of law relating to trespass, property rights, or eminent domain.”

Morse said the amendment preserves the authority of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to regulate hunting and fishing, including by setting annual limits on how many animals can be killed. That’s important, because preserving the heritage of hunting and fishing requires maintaining game populations, he explained.

Similarly, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission Executive Director Gordon Myers said Friday that the amendment would not change the commission’s authority. He said the commission would also still have authority to ban hunting or fishing specific animals, if it determined their numbers were already too low.

Though the amendment preserves authority to regulate hunting and fishing for conservation, and to protect property rights, it does call at least one hunting regulation into question: restrictions on Sunday hunting. In deference to religious services, current state law restricts hunting on Sunday mornings, the use of hunting dogs, and hunting within 500 yards of a place of worship.

In an interview Thursday, Steinburg confirmed that lawmakers had debated, but apparently not settled, the question of how the amendment would affect Sunday hunting restrictions.

“That’s one of those things that, if it’s challenged in court, it will be interesting to see how it turns out,” Steinburg said.

Notably, the General Assembly’s website shows that state Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, filed amendments to S677 that would have stipulated hunting rights were subject to laws and regulations relating to public safety and public peace, “including limitations on Sunday hunting.” The amendments also would have allowed hunting to be affected in “regulation of commercial activities.” Both amendments failed.

In supporting the amendment, Steinburg said he did so because it seeks to ensure that “extreme environmental groups” or liberal judges won’t wrongly infringe on rights to hunt and fish.

Cook also strongly supported the amendment in an email Thursday, noting it would “bring North Carolina in line with 21 other states that already guarantee this right in their constitutions.”

Cook also noted the amendment enjoys strong support from hunting-related groups, including the National Rifle Association, Delta Waterfowl, Safari Club International, the Eastern Carolina Houndsmen Alliance, and others.

Cook also said the most recent state data found sportsmen and women spent $2.3 billion on hunting and fishing in 2011, supporting more than 35,000 local jobs.

Contacted on Friday, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Sierra Club said the environmental group had not taken a position on the amendment yet. The club’s statewide leadership is still considering it, she said.

Alaskans say ‘no’ to cruel hunting methods for killing hibernating bears, wolf pups in dens

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Alaskans say ‘no’ to cruel hunting methods for killing hibernating bears, wolf pups in dens

The poll found a whopping 71 percent of Alaskan voters oppose allowing hunters to use artificial light to attract hibernating black bears and their cubs out of their dens to kill them. Photo by Jos Bakker

June 29, 2018

A rule recently proposed by the Trump administration would roll back an Obama-era regulation that prohibits controversial and scientifically unjustified methods of hunting on Alaska’s national preserves, which are federal public lands. These egregious hunting methods include the use of artificial light to attract hibernating bears and their cubs out of their dens to kill them, shooting wolf and coyote pups and mothers at their dens, using bait to attract brown and black bears, shooting vulnerable swimming caribou, including with the aid of motorboats, and using dogs to hunt black bears. Biologists have already condemned these methods, and now a supermajority of Alaska’s residents have spoken out resoundingly against allowing them in their state.

The telephone poll, conducted by Remington Research Group and released by the Humane Society of the United States, found a whopping 71 percent of Alaskan voters oppose allowing hunters to use artificial light to attract hibernating bears and their cubs out of their dens to kill them. Sixty-nine percent oppose hunting black bears with packs of hounds, and 75 percent oppose hunting swimming caribou with the aid of motorboats. Sixty percent of Alaskan voters oppose the baiting of bears with pet food, grease, rotting game or fish or other high-calorie foods, and 57 percent oppose killing whole packs of wolves and coyotes when they are raising their pups in their dens.

The poll also found that a majority of voters disfavor allowing trophy hunters and trappers killing wolves, brown bears, black bears, wolverines, lynx and other wildlife on state lands along the northeast boundary of Denali National Park and Preserve.

In complete disregard for the wishes of the state’s residents, however, the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service is now accepting public comments on the controversial rule that’s designed to benefit a handful of trophy hunters looking for their next big kill.

This indiscriminate killing of native carnivores such as grizzly bears and wolves is often justified as “protecting” ungulates, animals like caribou and moose. But in Alaska and elsewhere, studies show, such predator control, including trophy hunting or culling of wild native carnivores in order to grow game herds, just doesn’t work. In fact, that is precisely the finding of a comprehensive new study that was reported in Scientific American.

On the other hand, live native carnivores like grizzly bears and wolves contribute immensely to the state’s economy. In Alaska, wildlife-watching tourism brings $2 billion every year to local, rural economies.

Several studies in Alaska show that predator control is doomed to fail, because the unforgiving Arctic lands cannot sustain large numbers of prey herds in the short growing seasons followed by extreme winters. Alaska officials have also failed to acknowledge that with the massive killing of wolves or bears, other smaller predators rise up to compete for those same prey, rendering these cruel and harmful predator control practices utterly futile.

Most Alaskans do not want hunters, backed by the deep pockets of trophy-hunting groups like Safari Club International and Alaska Outdoor Council, treating their state as a shopping mall for bearskin rugs and wolf heads to adorn their walls. American wildlife is for all of us to enjoy, and you can do your part to help save it by submitting a commentopposing this new proposed rule by July 23.