Drizzt
Member
Copley News Service
February 25, 2003 Tuesday
SECTION: WASHINGTON WIRE
LENGTH: 410 words
HEADLINE: Assembly bill seeks ban on dove hunting
BYLINE: Ed Zieralski Copley News Service
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
BODY:
Not satisfied with the proposed legislation to outlaw the use of hounds to hunt black bears, a member of California's Democratic-controlled Assembly wants to outlaw dove hunting.
State assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, who represents Marin and Sonoma counties, introduced a bill Friday that would ban the hunting of mourning and white-winged doves in California.
The bill, AB 1190, already has been praised by the Sacramento-based Animal Protection Institute, the New York-based Fund For Animals and the Washington D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States.
They are the same organizations that co-sponsored the bill to outlaw the use of hounds to hunt black bears, or AB 342, introduced by Paul Koretz, D-Beverly Hills.
Nation's bill would remove mourning doves and white-winged doves from game-bird status and make it illegal for any person to kill them.
Paul Smith, who is Nation's chief of staff in Sacramento, said Monday that sportsmen throughout California already have lit up the assemblyman's phone lines to voice opposition and outrage about the proposed legislation.
"We expected it," Smith said. "Any time we introduce a bill that gets a key constituent group upset, we expect reaction."
Smith said Nation feels it is "highly unlikely" the bill will become law.
"This is more of an ideological statement," Smith said. "Mr. Nation doesn't believe that these animals should be used for hunting or target practice. He feels this is something that needs to be considered ... debated."
In Imperial Valley, the Imperial Valley Press ran a story Friday about how the bill would impact that area during dove season. Cathy Kennerson, chief executive officer of the El Centro Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Bureau, told the Imperial Valley Press that dove hunters spend more than $1 million each fall in Imperial Valley.
Desert Wildlife Unlimited, working with the California Department of Fish and Game and local businesses in Imperial County, now cultivates more than 2,000 acres of farm land between Calipatria and Niland to improve dove and pheasant hunting.
Veteran dove hunters such as San Diego's Ray Newton, who has been hunting Imperial Valley since 1968, had excellent hunts last year.
"I saw more birds last year than I've seen in a long time," Newton said.
"Hunters in California are being demonized again," Newton said. "The battle to maintain hunter's and gun owner's rights is never-ending."
February 25, 2003 Tuesday
SECTION: WASHINGTON WIRE
LENGTH: 410 words
HEADLINE: Assembly bill seeks ban on dove hunting
BYLINE: Ed Zieralski Copley News Service
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
BODY:
Not satisfied with the proposed legislation to outlaw the use of hounds to hunt black bears, a member of California's Democratic-controlled Assembly wants to outlaw dove hunting.
State assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael, who represents Marin and Sonoma counties, introduced a bill Friday that would ban the hunting of mourning and white-winged doves in California.
The bill, AB 1190, already has been praised by the Sacramento-based Animal Protection Institute, the New York-based Fund For Animals and the Washington D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States.
They are the same organizations that co-sponsored the bill to outlaw the use of hounds to hunt black bears, or AB 342, introduced by Paul Koretz, D-Beverly Hills.
Nation's bill would remove mourning doves and white-winged doves from game-bird status and make it illegal for any person to kill them.
Paul Smith, who is Nation's chief of staff in Sacramento, said Monday that sportsmen throughout California already have lit up the assemblyman's phone lines to voice opposition and outrage about the proposed legislation.
"We expected it," Smith said. "Any time we introduce a bill that gets a key constituent group upset, we expect reaction."
Smith said Nation feels it is "highly unlikely" the bill will become law.
"This is more of an ideological statement," Smith said. "Mr. Nation doesn't believe that these animals should be used for hunting or target practice. He feels this is something that needs to be considered ... debated."
In Imperial Valley, the Imperial Valley Press ran a story Friday about how the bill would impact that area during dove season. Cathy Kennerson, chief executive officer of the El Centro Chamber of Commerce and Visitor's Bureau, told the Imperial Valley Press that dove hunters spend more than $1 million each fall in Imperial Valley.
Desert Wildlife Unlimited, working with the California Department of Fish and Game and local businesses in Imperial County, now cultivates more than 2,000 acres of farm land between Calipatria and Niland to improve dove and pheasant hunting.
Veteran dove hunters such as San Diego's Ray Newton, who has been hunting Imperial Valley since 1968, had excellent hunts last year.
"I saw more birds last year than I've seen in a long time," Newton said.
"Hunters in California are being demonized again," Newton said. "The battle to maintain hunter's and gun owner's rights is never-ending."
