Several New York-based groups, including the NY Whale and Dolphin ActionLeague and the Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting announced in August that they were filing a lawsuit against the New York State Department of Conservation’s offerings of hunter training courses.
The hunting courses are divided into four areas — Hunter ED, Bowhunter Ed, Trapper Ed, and Waterfowl ID — and new hunters are required to pass the appropriate course before they can be granted a license to hunt or trap in New York State.
Animal rights activists in New York have formed a new group, Coalition for the Ethical Use of Public Money, to sue the state on the grounds that providing such courses is a discriminatory use of taxpayer funds. In a press release put out by Animal Defenders of Westchester, NY Whale and Dolphin Action League director Taffy Williams said,
We find the use of public funds to train hunters and bow hunters a misuse, discriminatory and unethical management of public funds. . . also, the use of taxpayer funds for hunting-related activities is a discriminatory use of public monies, since there are no programs to benefit birdwatchers, kayakers, nature-enthusiasts, etc. The link between hunting and other forms of violence has been established in such sources as the Journal of Interpersonal Violence (B.W.Boat, June 1995) and the Purdue University Press (Child abuse, Domestic Violence and Animal Abuse, 1999).
Similarly, the Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting’s president, Anne Muller, said in a press release,
Towns should be frowning upon the DEC’s practice of building wildlife populations for hunting. The Bureau of Wildlife is running a private hunting business on taxpayer money. The excise taxes on firearms, bows and arrows are insufficient to pay for their sport of killing animals. (New York State is required to match 25% of the federal excise tax that is contributed to the State.) All of the Bureau of Wildlife’s overhead costs are paid out of the general fund.
The courses at issue are free to individual hunters, and according to the DEC’s website,
New York’s Sportsman Education Programs are supported in part by Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration, funded by your purchases of hunting equipment. Additional funding comes from sales of hunting and trapping licenses. Hunters and trappers pay for Sportsman Education and wildlife conservation.
Source:
Hunters under fire for abuse of taxpayer money. Press Release, Animal Defenders of Westchester, August 16, 2004.
NYS DEC Running Free Hunting Training Course. Press Release, Animal Defenders of Westchester, Undated (Accessed September 16, 2004).
Sportsman Education Classes. Press Release, New York State Department of Conservation, Accessed September 16, 2004.