Day: September 28, 2003

Michigan House Bill No. 5029 (Dove Hunting)

HOUSE
BILL No. 5029

August 13, 2003, Introduced by Rep. Tabor and referred
to the Committee on Conservation and Outdoor Recreation.

A bill to amend 1994 PA 451,
entitled

“Natural resources and
environmental protection act,”

by amending section 40103 (MCL
324.40103), as amended by 2000 PA

191; and to repeal acts and
parts of acts.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE
OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

1 Sec. 40103. (1) “Game”
means any of the following animals

2 but does not include privately
owned cervidae species located on

3 a registered cervidae livestock
facility as that term is defined

4 in the privately owned cervidae
producers marketing act:

5 (a) Badger.

6 (b) Bear.

7 (c) Beaver.

8 (d) Bobcat.

9 (e) Brant.

10 (f) Coot.

 

1 (g) Coyote.

2 (h) Crow.

3 (i) Deer.

4 (j) Duck.

5 (k) Elk.

6 (l) Fisher.

7 (m) Florida gallinule.

8 (n) Fox.

9 (o) Geese.

10 (p) Hare.

11 (q) Hungarian partridge.

12 (r) Marten.

13 (s) Mink.

14 (t) Moose.

15 (u) Mourning dove.

16 (v) (u)
Muskrat.

17 (w) (v)
Opossum.

18 (x) (w)
Otter.

19 (y) (x)
Pheasant.

20 (z) (y)
Quail.

21 (aa) (z)
Rabbit.

22 (bb) (aa)
Raccoon.

23 (cc) (bb)
Ruffed grouse.

24 (dd) (cc)
Sharptailed grouse.

25 (ee) (dd)
Skunk.

26 (ff) (ee)
Snipe.

27 (gg) (ff)
Sora rail.



1 (hh) (gg)
Squirrel.

2 (ii) (hh)
Weasel.

3 (jj) (ii)
Wild turkey.

4 (kk) (jj)
Woodchuck.

5 (ll) (kk)
 Woodcock.

6 (mm) (ll) Virginia
rail.

7 (2) “Interim order of
the department” means an order of the

8 department issued under section
40108.

9 (3) “Kind” means
an animal’s sex, age, or physical

10 characteristics.

11 (4) “Normal agricultural
practices” means generally accepted

12 agricultural and management
practices as defined by the

13 commission of agriculture.

14 (5) “Open season”
means the dates during which game may be

15 legally taken.

16 (6) “Parts” means
any or all portions of an animal, including

17 the skin, plumage, hide,
fur, entire body, or egg of an animal.

18 (7) “Protected”
or “protected animal” means an animal or kind

19 of animal that is designated
by the department as an animal that

20 shall not be taken.

21 (8) “Residence”
means a permanent building serving as a

22 temporary or permanent home.
Residence may include a cottage,

23 cabin, or mobile home, but
does not include a structure designed

24 primarily for taking game,
a tree blind, a tent, a recreational

25 or other vehicle, or a camper.

26 Enacting section 1. Section
40110 of the natural resources

27 and environmental protection
act, 1994 PA 451, MCL 324.40110, is

1 repealed.

Animal Rights Extremists Vandalize Sonoma, California Restaurant

On the night of August 9, animal right extremists broke into and vandalized a new restaurant in Sonoma, California and also damaged an adjoining 19th century historical building which had recently been restored.

Activists targeted Sonoma Saveurs because one of its owners, Guillermo Gonzalez, is the only producer of foie gras in the Western United States and the restaurant will feature foies gras, among other things, when it finally opens.

According to the Press Democrat, the animal rights activists got into the restaurant by squeezing through an exterior water heater closet and then tearing a hole in an interior wall. One in, they spray-painted animal rights slogans throughout the building, poured dry concrete down drains, and then turned on the water.

By the time the vandalism was discovered, water had seeped into surrounding buildings including a historic 19th century adobe building that had once been used by Mexican Gen. Mariano Vellejo. The water also damaged a women’s clothing store that adjoins the restaurant.

The three owners of the restaurant, Gonzalez, Laurent Manrique, and Didier Jaubert, have also faced acts of harassment and vandalism from animal rights extremists at their homes.

The Sonoma News reported that,

Late last month vandals trashed Jaubert’s home in Santa Rosa and Laurent’s residence in Mill Valley. They spray-painted the buildings, etched the windows with acid, poured glue in locks, covered a statue of a Buddha with red paint and splashed acid all over a car. A report lauding those attacks is posted on the Bite Back site.

Jaubert told the Sonoma News,

You can be tolerant, you can believe in freedom and respect diversity, but it is sometimes difficult to understand some actions. … If you don’t like foie gras I can understand. If you don’t want foie gras to be sold you can demonstrate in front of the store, you can write letters to the editor, you can do many things. But to destroy a historical building, to attack a family’s home, to do this at night and to be proud of your actions – this is very difficult for me to understand.

Total damage from the attack is estimated at $50,000.

Sources:

Animal activists vandalize Sonoma Plaza restaurant. Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, August 15, 2003.

Animal activists vandalize restaurant. Associated Press, August 15, 2003.

Vandals flood historic building. Patricia Henley, Sonoma News, August 15, 2003.

Animal Rights Foundation of Florida Protests Against Hermit Crab Sales

The Boca Raton News reports that on August 15 activist with the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida showed up at the Town Center Mall to protest against a kiosk there selling hermit crabs.

Animal Rights Foundation of Florida outreach director Fred Ellis told the Boca Raton News that,

It [selling hermit crabs] sends the message to kids that animals are here for us to use and abuse on a whim and they’re not. They belong in the wild, not locked in a plastic box.

ARFF communications assistant Loretta Murray added that,

They[hermit crabs] don’t reproduce in captivity so every crab in Crab Buddies kiosk was ripped away from his or her home and family.

Hermit crabs are apparently a recent fad in the area, and sell at kiosks for $20-$50 apiece.

Source:

Protestors get crabby at Town Center Mall. Kelli Kennedy, Boca Raton News, August 16, 2003.

Israeli Supreme Court Bans Force Feeding of Foie Gras

Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled on August 11 that the force feeding of geese and ducks in the production of foie gras violates that country’s Animal Welfare Law.

A group called Concern for Helping Animals in Israel filed a lawsuit in 2001 against foie gras producers in Israel claiming that the force feeding of approximately 800,000 animals each year violated the Animal Welfare Law.

Israel is the world’s third largest producer of foie gras, and the industry employs about 600 people. There are about 100 farms producing foie gras, with about 45 percent of those using force feeding.

Those currently using force feeding will have until at least March 2005 to develop alternatives.

Sources:

Israel court cans foie gras farms. BBC, August 13, 2003.

High Court rules against force-feeding geese. Stuart Winer, The Jerusalem Post, August 13, 2003.

Court bans fattening of geese for foie gras. National Post (Canada), August 12, 2003.

Hunt Supporter Threatens Libel Lawsuit Against Opponents

Hunt supporter Iain Harris, 66, announced in August that he plans to sue opponents of hunting foxes with hounds who describe such hunts as “cruel.”

Harris told the Western Morning News (Plymouth),

This is nothing to do with trying to save hunting or with the Countryside Alliance – it is about objecting to being called cruel. I am delighted with the support we have for a joint action which we are very serious about.

As far as I am concerned this is personal and I am furious that I have been smeared. I go hunting, which is my legal and just right to do, and I do not cause any damage, I behave properly and I am certainly not cruel to any animals.

. . .

We are sick and tired of people getting away with it and other people believing they are right.” Mr Harris said he had hunted all his life, and that it gave him the opportunity to follow the hounds and ride across country where he would not normally be allowed to go.

. . .

That is the top and bottom of hunting for the majority of people. I have never done anything cruel in my life. It is nothing to do with hunting, it is about the fact that I go hunting, and I am described because of that as being cruel.

Harris claims that he has consulted with lawyers who told him he may have a case, and given the UK’s loopy libel and slander laws he may. On the other hand, even if successful, such a lawsuit would probably simply garner public support for opponents of the hunt.

As Peter Anderson of the League Against Cruel Sports told the Western Morning News,

Let him sue. All the independent MORI opinion polls which we have had carried out have consistently shown 70 per cent of the country think hunting is cruel and want it to be banned.

They are going to need a few more than 7,000 people offering support to take everyone to court.

League Against Cruel Sports head Douglas Batchelor expanded on those views telling the Western News,

Suggestions that hunters have a case against those people and organizations that say hunting is cruel have no basis in law.There is and should be no freedom to be cruel.

The legal definition of cruelty is the causing of unnecessary suffering. A cruel act is cruel, whether it be by design or neglect. Hunting with dogs is based on practices which are inherently cruel.

While Mr. Harris and others may want to use the law to silence those who oppose the deliberate cruelty of chasing wild mammals with dogs for sport, most members of the public have a very clear understanding of the cruelty of hunting. That is why, on their behalf, MPs have voted to ban it and to make it a crime. If Mr. Harris wishes to swell our campaign coffers by funding our costs when he loses, we will be happy to meet him in court.

A couple weeks after announcing his lawsuit, Harris reported receiving death threats from hunting opponents. Harris told the Press Association, however, that the threats would not deter his lawsuit,

We have got cameras all around the property recording everything that moves.

Regardless, the proposed lawsuit is simply a bad idea all around and should not be pursued.

Sources:

Anti-hunt groups react to libel threat. Western Morning News (Plymouth), August 11, 2003.

Legal fight looms over ‘cruel’ hunting claims. Nathan Pynn, Western Morning News (Plymouth), August 12, 2003.

Hunt supporter threatens to sue over cruelty claims. Richard Savill, The Daily Telegraph (London), August 14, 2003.

Hunt-Follower Receives Telephone Threats. Chris Court, Press Association News, August 23, 2003.

Michigan Lawmaker Proposes Mourning Dove Hunt

Michigan State Rep. Susan Tabor (R) recently introduced a bill in the Michigan tate House that would remove the mourning dove from the state’s list of protected bird species, thereby allowing hunting of the mourning dove in Michigan.

Mourning dove hunting is currently legal in 39 states, including three that border Michigan — Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana.

Tabor was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying that the goal of the bill,

. . . is to convince hunters that we need to stand together on this one. I hear people say, ‘I’m a deer hunter. I don’t want to hunt doves,’ and I wonder what’s wrong with them. This isn’t about doves. It’s about hunting, and if you claim to be a hunter, you should understand that.

Animal rights activists are gearing up to oppose the move. According to the Humane Society of the United States, for example, hunting mourning doves is wrong because, among other things,

Mourning doves are small birds, yielding very little meat. Hence, dove hunting amounts to nothing more than target practice for hunters.

To which Detroit Free Press outdoors columnist Eric Sharp retorts,

I guess you’ve never heard of shrimp, oysters and bluegills. Doves are smaller than chickens, so you eat three or four instead of half of one, just as we usually eat a half-dozen or more perch compared to a single walleye fillet. And eating doves does nothing to hurt the survival of the species. If you really want to save doves, come up with a way to stop hawks from eating them.

The full text of the legislation introduced by Rep. Tabor can be read here.

Sources:

Michigan: Preserve the Ban on Dove Hunting. Press Release, Humane Society of the United States, Press Release, Undated.

Dove hunting deserves a shot. Eric Sharp, Detroit Free Press, August 21, 2003.

Help Defeat Michigan Dove Hunting Legislation. Press Release, Animal Protection Institute, August 26, 2003.