FEB, 2013 "In The Crosshairs"
February 22, 2013
NBC/Comcast Adopts Anti-Hunting, Anti-Second Amendment Policy
Safari Club International members need to
reconsider local cable options in the wake of anti-Second Amendment
policies that NBC/Comcast has adopted. SCI has learned that local
businesses that conduct either firearms sales or support hunting
will no longer be able to pay for advertising on NBC/Comcast. This
is a blatant attack on small businesses that support hunters and the
Second Amendment around this country. Even during a time of economic
recession, sportsmen and women spend an incredible about of money
pursuing their sports around this country. The $90 billion spent by
hunters, anglers, and sport shooters in 2011 is the same as the
combined revenues for the United States’ TV broadcast and cable
network industry – that includes NBC, FOX, ESPN, etc. In fact,
America’s hunters spent $38.3 billion in 2011 on equipment and
travel in local economies; in total more than the entire revenues
for Comcast that year. The decision by NBC/Comcast to prohibit
advertising of hunting and firearms related businesses on their
network is not only an attack on the Second Amendment, but a
deliberate attempt to further stall out the American economy.
http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/comcast-pulls-all-gun-ads/;
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/19/nbc-parent-company-comcast-now-quietly-rejecting-ads-promoting-firearms-or-weapons
All economic facts can be found at
http://www.sportsmenslink.org/uploads/page/EIR%20final%20low-res.pdf.
Fighting For Lions – Enabling Conservation of the African Lion
Safari Club International (SCI) Foundation would like to express
extreme gratitude to the SCI Staff, SCI Members, Chapters, the
Hunters Legacy Fund, SCI Foundation Board of Directors and the
hunting community who demonstrated their commitment to science-based
wildlife management around the world. Once again, sportsmen and
women have shown leadership in generosity, in excess of $1.3
million, to solve complex natural resource management issues. Plans
are underway to use these funds to leverage additional support from
partners in the conservation community which will increase the
impact of the contributions, and enhance the overall scope of our
lion research initiative, Fighting For Lions. The SCI
Foundation Staff and Conservation Committee met on the Monday after
the Convention’s Saturday night fundraiser to begin developing a
comprehensive strategy to collect the necessary data and educate
decision makers about the real threats to the sustainability of the
species. Read more at
http://firstforwildlife.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/the-african-lion-initiative/.
If you would like to help SCI Foundation
save lions please contribute at
https://member.scifirstforhunters.org/static/donate/lion/.
All Hunters Advised to Boycott Comair Limited Flights in
South Africa
Safari Club International members and all
international hunters are advised to avoid Comair Limited, an
airline operating in South Africa. Comair Limited will no longer
accept firearms, including sporting firearms. This blatantly
anti-hunting policy will affect flights on both its British Airways
and Kulula flights effective 01 March 2013. This policy only applies
to Kulula and British Airways operated by Comair Limited. However
the policy does not include British Airways’ international flights.
Read more about this at
http://firstforhunters.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/all-hunters-advised-to-boycott-comair-limited-flights-in-south-africa/.
Big Cypress National Preserve ORV Use and Hunting Take
Steps Forward
ORV/Wilderness:
SCI received favorable news in the litigation over use of the
“Addition,” lands added to the original Big Cypress National
Preserve (“BCNP”) in Florida. A magistrate judge has
recommended that the National Park Service’s (“NPS”) plan for
off-road vehicle (“ORV”) use and Wilderness designation in the
Addition be upheld. The recommendation is now being considered
by the U.S. District Court Judge who will issue the final decision
in the case. SCI is participating in the case as a defendant-intervenor
to defend the NPS plan and, in this capacity, SCI will have an
opportunity to submit a brief supporting the magistrate’s
recommendation. The District Court judge may adopt the
magistrate’s recommendation or may reach a different conclusion.
Hunting Plan:
SCI recently submitted comments in support of the NPS’s hunting plan
for the BCNP, which would open the Addition back up to hunting for
the first time since Federal acquisition almost 20 years ago.
Although the Federal law that established the Addition mandates that
hunting be allowed, the NPS has delayed doing so, most recently
until it finalizes this hunting plan. SCI’s comments urged the
NPS to quickly finalize the plan and allow hunting under state
management, as occurs in the rest of the BCNP.
SCI Continues Legal Challenge to ESA Settlement
For almost two years, SCI has been
battling to get a court to at least consider SCI’s objections to the
massive ESA settlements the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service entered
into with the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth
Guardians. Those settlements force listing decisions on
hundreds of species, including three game species – the greater sage
grouse, lesser prairie-chicken (recently proposed for listing) and
New England cottontail. Despite a setback earlier this year,
SCI recently filed a “Petition” with the full D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals in an attempt to reverse the three-judge panel ruling that
denied SCI’s request to intervene to object to the settlements.
In keeping SCI out of the case, the appellate court relied on a
particular D.C. Circuit rule that imposes additional burdens of
proof on intervenors who seek to join a case on the side of the
defendants. The D.C. Circuit is one of very few jurisdictions
that imposes these burdens on prospective intervenors.
SCI has asked the full court to reverse this rule so that SCI can
more easily intervene in the case and voice its objections.
Oklahoma Members May Comment on New Ozark Plateau National
Wildlife Refuge Hunting Opportunity
The United States Fish and Wildlife
Service (FWS) recently published a draft comprehensive conservation
plan and environmental assessment for the Ozark Plateau National
Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. The refuge is located within
Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Mayes, Ottawa, and Sequoyah
Counties. Part of the Plan addresses hunting in the refuge.
The FWS is considering two alternatives: (1) the current management
plan which does not allow hunting on any portion of the refuge; and
(2) an alternative that would allow for walk-in-only, open-access
hunting on the Sally Bull Hollow Unit of the refuge, which is
adjacent to the State-managed Ozark Plateau Wildlife Management
Area. Comments on the plan are due on March 8, 2013. All
comments must be submitted by email to
sarah_catchot@fws.gov or
by U.S. mail to Sarah Catchot, Lead Planner, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, NWRS Division of Planning, P.O. Box.
SCI Foundation and Acclaimed
Wildlife Artist Linda Besse Join Forces for Conservation Funding
Washington, DC – Safari Club
International Foundation (SCI Foundation) has awarded Linda Besse as
the 2014 Conservation Artist of the Year, the most prestigious award
in big game wildlife artistry. Ms. Besse will create an original oil
painting of caribou that will be auctioned at the 42nd
Annual SCI Hunters’ Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort, February
5-8, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nev. All proceeds from this one-of-a-kind
caribou painting will fund conservation projects for big game
species in 2014. http://wp.me/p2AKuX-6N