Litigation Division to challenge sportsmen in the courts

[mike bell]

They will never ban hunting.......

Anti-Hunting Group Announces Litigation Division

(Columbus) "“ The nation"™s largest anti-hunting group has launched a new legal department to challenge sportsmen in the courts.

An Animal Protection Litigation section was created in the wake of the recent merger of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Fund for Animals. Attorney Jonathan Lovvorn was selected to head the department. The organization intends to add four litigating attorneys by the end of the year.

"œThe animal rights movement sees the courts as the easiest way to realize its anti-hunting agenda,"� said U.S. Sportsmen"™s Alliance Senior Vice President Rick Story. "œAnti-hunters are in court right now to halt black bear hunting and kick sportsmen off of public lands. The move to implement an HSUS Animal Protection Litigation function so quickly and the commitment to the program"™s expansion prove that it is a priority for the newly formed mega-anti-hunting rights group."�

Lovvorn has been a partner with Meyer & Glitzenstein, the Washington, D.C. law firm used by the Fund for Animals in legal battles against sportsmen. He will assume his duties as vice president on January 1, 2005.

The merger of the two anti-hunting groups was announced on November 22, 2004. It will formally occur on January 1, 2005. The new group will have as much as $98 million in annual support to derail hunting and traditional wildlife management in the United States.

After the merger, the new organization will continue to be known as the Humane Society of the United States. It has stated that the abolition of hunting and trapping will be priority issues. Bowhunting is the first form of hunting that the group has vowed to eradicate.

The U.S. Sportsmen"™s Alliance has begun working with bowhunting organizations, businesses and publications to organize bowhunters nationwide to prepare a defense.

The U.S. Sportsmen"™s Alliance 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.

[JoeA]

If their anti-hunting stance is that it is cruel, then I would like to ask them to define cruelty. To me, knowingly engaging in an activity that will result in habitat loss & ulimtately starvation & rampant disease from over crowding in some animal populations is cruel.

If it's an issue of decling populations, then I know they haven't spent much time in the woods and are ignoring many animal related population issues especially in urban areas all over the country. (cougars in the West, out of control geese populations, overbrowsing by growing deer numbers, increasing no.s of bear-human interactions in NJ & MD, moose-car collisions in New England, rabies & racoons, expanding coyote populations, nuisance neighborhood turkeys [yes there is such a thing], ...and many more)

I wonder how much the HSUS and the Fund for Animals have spent to save animals and their habitat?. Here's a few quick hunting facts. I extracted these from a recent edition of American Hunter magazine.

1. In 2003, the Pittman-Robertson Act generated $215, 456,365 to pay for state-run conservation programs. (11% tax on the purchaser & mfgr of hunting and archery equipment)

2. In 2003 the National Safety Council found that there were 520,000 animal related accidents, up from 490,000 in 2002. (100 more deaths & 4,000 more injuries)

3. Deer hunters know what a buck scrape means, why a buck rubs his antlers, what deer eat, where they like to bed down and what deer sounds mean. Most non-hunters don't know these things. Who's more in tune with nature? Hunters or anti-hunter "environmentalists"

4. Gary Alt, Penn. Game Commission's former head deer biologist noted that an overpopulation of deer will result in a browse line 6ft off the forest floor. Without underbrush, many smaller animals and songbird won't have adequate cover to hide from predators.

Who did & does more for the wild animals?

[North Texan]

These people should be held under a light and sterilized. Like they do some types of pesky insects.

[Briman]

Take these antihunters very seriously.

They were able to stop my state's first dove hunting season last year by shopping around for a sympathetic judge to file an injuction against the hunt for the first season. The suit filed against the DNR for opening the season had no merit whatsoever, but the judge put it on the docket and delay the hunt for another year.

Lefties cannot win through legislation to get what they want, but they are experts at gaming the judicial system.

[Total Kaos]

I have a question...why dont the local DNR departmens ever step up and put their voice to these issues?

I mean can you imagine what shape the public lands would be in if they did not have the dollars paid by SPORTSMEN for hunting/fishing licenses.

These anti hunting groups have a serious inability to see the effect of what they propose