Each one of these articles are very important and I urge you to go to the US Sportsmen's Alliance to read the complete articles... just don't forget to come back to WomenHunters. If you are not a member of their Email Network then I also urge you join it. God Bless, Sue
Congressmen Again Turn to USSA
For Expert Testimony
(Columbus) – The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), the nation’s premier organization in defense of hunting, fishing, and scientific wildlife management, has again been asked by federal lawmakers to weigh in on problems with the Endangered Species Act.
United States Rep. Nick Rahall, D-West Virginia, has scheduled a hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee to investigate the implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The hearing has been titled, “ESA, Science or Politics?”
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the ranking minority member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Rep. Henry Brown, R-South Carolina, ranking minority member of the Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee, have invited USSA Director of Federal Affairs William Horn to provide testimony.
Horn will provide the sportsmen’s perspective, and will draw from his experience as the former Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks during the 1980s. He will be one of two witnesses invited to the hearing by Republican leaders.
Horn will explain that the ESA’s “sloppy language” allows decisions that are based on sound scientific data to be challenged in court.
For example, in February, the Fish and Wildlife Service removed the abundant Western Great Lakes population of gray wolves from the endangered list. It determined that recovery efforts have been successful and the animals are no longer threatened. In late April, animal rights groups filed a federal lawsuit against the service, challenging the scientifically established delisting. The ESA’s vague language allows a judge to decide the agency’s authority to delist the wolves.
“Animal activists are not interested in species recovery,” said Rick Story, USSA senior vice president. “They want to use the ESA as a tool to force a hands-off approach for animals. The USSA is working to ensure that science will prevail over politics.”
Horn and the USSA are also taking the Interior Department to task for its proposal to list polar bears as threatened despite their growing numbers.
The department proposed the listing after several environmental groups threatened to sue the government. If the Fish and Wildlife Service does list the polar bear as threatened, polar bear research and conservation dollars will be eliminated because hunting programs that fund the efforts will be prohibited. The Canadian government and the state of Alaska also oppose the listing.
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance is a national association of sportsmen and sportsmen’s organization that protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs. For more information about the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and its work, call (614) 888-4868 or visit its website, www.ussportsmen.org.
Kansas Governor Signs Families Afield Bill (Click for more)
Kansas has passed a law, based on the Families Afield concept, which will create an apprentice hunting license for older youth and adults.
California Hunters Face Forced Spay and Neuter Law (Click for more)
California sportsmen face advancing legislation that will put unnecessary hardships on sporting dog owners and outlaw the breeding of accomplished hunting dogs.
Texas Animal Cruelty Bills Will Wreck Hunting (Click for more)
Texas sportsmen should take immediate action to oppose legislation that will derail hunting and wildlife management.
California Sportsmen Face Dog Breeding Prohibition (Click for more)
California houndsmen and sporting dog enthusiasts are urged to attend an assembly committee hearing this week to stave off a threat to sporting dog breeders.
Restrictive Pennsylvania Dog Regulations Sent Back to the Drawing Board - Sportsmen's Vigilance Still Necessary! (Click for more)
A Pennsylvania regulatory panel has scrapped proposed dog care regulations that would have wrecked hunting with hounds, field trialing, and sporting dog training. Legislators have sent the regulations back to the state Department of Agriculture for a complete rewrite.
New USSA Website Helps Sportsmen Lead the Fight (Click for more)
The USSA has overhauled its website, www.ussportsmen.org to provide sportsmen with more and better tools to fight for our outdoor heritage of hunting, fishing and trapping.
Anti’s Cry Wolf, USSAF Joins Suit to Downlist
(Columbus) - The U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund, the litigation arm of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, today moved to represent sportsmen in a lawsuit brought by anti-hunters that will make it virtually impossible to remove recovered wildlife populations from the federal endangered list. Obstructing delistings will also prevent states from resuming control of healthy wildlife populations.
On April 16, animal rights groups filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The anti’s claim that the service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it removed from the federal endangered species list distinct populations of abundant gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes region.
The U.S. SLDF, along with the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and Wisconsin sportsmen Scott Meyer and Robert Stafsholt, asked to join the case as party defendants, specifically to represent hunters’ interests. They contend that the ESA has been effective, this population of wolves is not endangered or threatened, and authority to manage wolves should now be returned to the states.
“The federal government has determined that the wolf populations have recovered and it is time for states to resume control of their wildlife resource,” said U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation Senior Vice President Rick Story. “Unfortunately, the animal rights plaintiffs are not interested in species recovery. Their goal is to force a hands-off approach for all animals, and they are simply using the ESA as a tool.”
Sportsmen support the delisting of the specific wolf populations. They want the states to resume management control of the animals, and establish regulations that will allow them to protect their property, including hunting dogs, from wolf attacks.
“The delisting of the gray wolf gives the Wisconsin government the ability to protect its citizens and our property by allowing the state to deal with problem wolves,” said Bill Klugow, president of the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association. “If this lawsuit succeeds in taking away Wisconsin’s right to manage its own natural resources, our state will lose the right to protect me, my family and my property from wolves.”
The FWS removed the Western Great Lakes wolves from the endangered list on Feb. 8 after determining that federal recovery efforts have been successful and the animals are no longer threatened.
Plaintiffs in the case against the FWS include the Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Protection Institute, groups that oppose all hunting.
This is the latest lawsuit brought by the anti’s to manipulate the ESA to eliminate hunting. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance is representing sportsmen’s interests in potentially precedent-setting lawsuits in Minnesota and Maine that will ban trapping to prevent incidental catch of lynx. A suit brought in Florida will make black bears in the state off-limits to sportsmen by classifying them as a sub-species and listing them as endangered.
The USSA is also challenging a FWS proposal to list polar bears as threatened and halt hunting programs, which came in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups.
The U.S. SLDF is the nation’s only litigation force that exclusively represents sportsmen’s interests in the courts. It defends wildlife management and sportsmen’s rights in local, state and federal courts. The U.S. SLDF represents the interests of sportsmen and assists government lawyers who have little or no background in wildlife law.
