NOV, 2012 "In The Crosshairs"
November 14,
2012
SCI Foundation & Boy Scouts Of
America Foundation Inaugural Shoot: TUCSON, Ariz. —
Safari Club International Foundation (SCI Foundation) and the Boy
Scouts of America Foundation (BSAF) are proud to announce the
Inaugural Sporting Clays Shoot in Reno, Nevada on January 22, 2013
at Sage Hill Clay Sports. All proceeds will go to support the
mission programs for SCI Foundation and BSAF. To read more, please
visit SCI Foundation’s blog at
http://bit.ly/W7SrCt.
Right To Hunt, Trap,
And Fish Ballot Measures Pass With Landslide Victories:
Washington, D.C. – Safari Club International (SCI)
congratulates the sportsmen and women of Idaho, Nebraska, and
Kentucky for ratifying their rights to hunt, trap, and fish. With
over 73% of residents voting “yes” in each of the aforementioned
states, sportsmen and women in Idaho, Nebraska, and Kentucky have
protected our sporting and outdoor traditions for generations to
come. “Hunters, trappers and anglers have always been, and will
remain the backbone of wildlife conservation in North America,” said
SCI President John Whipple. “SCI is extremely proud of our chapters
and members in Idaho, Nebraska, and Kentucky who spearheaded the
grassroots efforts to ratify these important constitutional
amendments.” To read more, please visit SCI’s FirstForHunters
advocacy blog at http://wp.me/p2C4PF-4f
SCI Legislative Alert
– Oppose H.R. 835 & S. 707, The Puppy Uniform Protection & Safety
Act (PUPS): Earlier this year SCI sent an
alert to members asking that you oppose H.R. 835 and S. 707, the
Puppy Uniform Protection and Safety Act (PUPS). The PUPS
legislation, backed by the Humane Society of the United States
(HSUS), is a veiled attempt to further regulate breeders of hunting
and working dogs. HSUS's end goal is to ban all hunting with
dogs and sport hunting generally. The PUPS bill is an
incremental step toward that goal disguised as harmless legislation.
Nothing could be further from the truth. HSUS is attempting to move
this legislation, as a non-controversial bill, during the lame duck
session of Congress and your help is needed to stop them.
Please contact your Member of Congress today and urge them to oppose
any attempt to pass H.R. 835 and S. 707 during the lame duck session
of congress. To contact your Representative please click the
following link: bit.ly/U066hz.
Registration Now Open for SCI Continuing Legal
Education Course for Lawyers : Attorneys!
Don’t miss SCI’s Sixth Annual Wildlife Law Continuing Legal
Education Course at the SCI Convention in Reno, Nevada. The
course is open to members of SCI and non-members. The registration
fee is $199.00 which includes same day (Friday) admission to the SCI
Convention. The course will run from 1:00 P.M. to 5:15 P.M. on
Friday, January 25th and will provide 4.0 hours of CLE
credit, including 1.0 hours of ethics credit. Online registration is
now open through the Nevada State Bar’s CLE website. To register,
please go to:
http://www.legalspan.com/nvbar/catalog.asp?ItemID=20121113-152194-163628.
If you have any questions, please contact Anna Seidman, SCI
Director of Litigation, at 202-543-8733 or
aseidman@safariclub.org.
Anti-hunting Groups Sue to Challenge Wyoming
Wolf Delisting: Defenders of Wildlife, the
Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and the Center
for Biological Diversity filed suit on November 13, 2012 to
challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s delisting of
Wyoming’s wolves. This suit is the latest in a long line of
cases challenging the FWS’s decision to recognize wolf recovery in
the United States. SCI is reviewing the Wyoming wolf
litigation for potential intervention to defend the delisting, state
management and hunting of the Wyoming wolf population. If you
are an SCI member, have definite plans to hunt wolves in Wyoming and
would be willing to provide a sworn statement to assist SCI’s
litigation efforts, please contact SCI Director of Litigation, Anna
Seidman at
aseidman@safariclub.org.
U.S. Endures
Near-Record Wildfire Season: “The total amount of acres
burned is roughly the same size as Massachusetts and Connecticut put
together. 8:31AM EST November 11. 2012 - Nationally, the scorching
heat and relentless drought this year helped spark a disastrous
wildfire season. For only the third time on record, the total
number of acres burned due to wildfires across the country so far
this year has topped 9 million, according to data from the National
Interagency Fire Center. The area scorched, as of Friday – 9,101,461
acres – is roughly the size of the states of Massachusetts and
Connecticut combined.” (Source: USAToday.com) To read more, please
visit http://usat.ly/VXKEfo
Yellowstone Grizzly
Bear Deaths Hit Record High: “Yellowstone grizzly bear
deaths for 2012 have tied a 2010 record high of 50. The average
number of Yellowstone grizzly deaths has doubled from 21 per year
for 2001-2006 to 42 per year for 2007-2012. In an article titled
‘Recent Wyoming grizzly bear deaths human-caused,’ Wyoming
Department of Fish & Game bear specialist Mark Bruscino said the
current number of grizzly bear deaths is ‘about average.’ That
depends on if you mean the average number of deaths before the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service removed Endangered Species Act protections
for grizzlies in 2007, or after.” (Source: Examiner.com) To read
more, please visit http://exm.nr/TJ3EcV
Phase One of Nevada
Bighorn Sheep Relocation Complete: “RENO-
November 8, 2012 – On November 6, 2012 the Nevada Department of
Wildlife (NDOW) completed the first phase of their 2012-2013 big
game capture, transplant and monitoring program by netting
twenty-four California Bighorn Sheep in the Sheep Creek Range
outside of Battle Mountain and releasing them in the Jackson
Mountains. This operation was the last of a four part effort
starting on Nevada Day that involved capture of fifty Desert Bighorn
Sheep in the Muddy Mountains near Henderson and the River Mountains
near Boulder City which were transported and released on the
Kaiparowits Plateau in Utah; and followed by twenty-five Desert
Bighorn Sheep captured on Lone Mountain outside Tonopah and released
in the Excelsior Mountain Range near Marrietta.” (Source: Wild Sheep
Foundation) To read more, please visit
http://bit.ly/XyFLcU
No Rain Brings
New Life To Waterfowl Habitat: “The drought that turned
shallow wetlands into mudflats and lowered lake levels throughout
Central Minnesota could ultimately improve waterfowl habitat,
clarify murky waters and eliminate invading fish.’What I’ve compared
it to is fire in the prairie,’ said Josh Kavanagh, a Spicer-based
Ducks Unlimited biologist who coordinates projects with the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service. ‘Like fire in the prairie, you need these periods
of dry weather to reset the ecology.’ That reset starts with aquatic
plants, which reseed when the water dries up or recedes. Plants such
as arrowhead, smartweed, soft-stem bulrush, river bulrush, cattail,
sego pondweed, coontail, wild celery and wild rice provide food for
waterfowl.” (Source:SCTimes.com) To read more, please visit
http://on.sctimes.com/UDlxsz
South Africa: Court
Sentences Rhino Poacher To 40 Years: “The South African
Revenue Service (Sars) has welcomed the sentencing of international
rhino horn smuggling syndicate kingpin Chumlong Lemtongthai. The
Kempton Park Regional Court on Friday morning sentenced the
40-year-old Thai national to 40 years in prison. Lemtongthai was
arrested in 2010 and together with five others was charged with
various counts of fraud, customs and excise violations and
transgressions of environmental legislation. ‘Today's sentence was
the successful outcome of comprehensive investigative work and
co-operation between various state law enforcement agencies in the
country, including the SAPS Directorate of Priority Crimes
Investigation, the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority, the
Department of Environmental Affairs and SA National Parks,’ Sars
said in a statement. On Monday, Lemtongthai pleaded guilty to 59
charges.” (Source: AllAfrica.com) To read more, please visit
http://bit.ly/TEWhTH