If the radicals can’t get us one way, they’ll
try another
By Ken Marden
By now, most of
the field trial community is aware of the disastrous actions taken by the US
Fish and Wildlife Service utilizing the provisions of the Pittman-Robertson
Act. For those who may not be familiar with what has happened within the past
year, I will review the situation and provide some insight into why this is
occurring.
Under the Pittman-Robertson
Act, money derived from federal taxes we sportsmen pay on the purchase of firearms,
ammunition, archery equipment, etc. is supposed to be allocated to state wildlife
agencies for purchase and maintenance of public use grounds and wildlife restoration
projects. Since its enactment in 1937, the P-R Trust Fund has accumulated more
than $3.4 billion under the control of the USFWS.
Under this act,
an event can be barred from these areas if it fails a four-point test:
- Destroys habitat
or interferes with habitat restoration;
- Disrupts or
destroys wildlife on these areas;
- Interferes
with other public use of these areas; and
- Requires additional
facilities or habitat changes.
The USFWS selects
the targeted areas and notifies the state that events such as field trials should
be barred from them. The hammer is that if the state doesn't go along with the
ban, the agency will withhold P-R funds.
Most of us know
that we lost the Green River field trial grounds, a truly wonderful field trial
venue in Illinois. What you may not know is that last December, field trial
clubs in Michigan were notified that four field trial grounds are no longer
available for their events per the 'recommendation' of USFWS.
It's hard to blame
the State of Michigan for going along with these directions: it was either capitulate
or lose the annual $5.5 million in allocated funds. You can bet this is just
the tip of the iceberg - it's going to happen all across the country if the
animal rights and environmental activists have their way.
Field trialers,
this is your wake-up call!
Why
is this happening?
The scary answer
should send a shiver through the entire field trial community. The USFWS has
been infiltrated by animal rights humaniacs. When you find that a former Humane
Society of the US executive now occupies a key position in the agency and you
know that HSUS is vehemently opposed to hunting in any form, everything becomes
clear.
When I went to
Zimbabwe two years ago to represent the National Animal Interest Alliance in
the fight to permit downlisting of the elephant from endangered to controlled-harvesting
status so that natives in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia could conduct controlled
hunting safaris, I saw the problem firsthand. Elephants are over-running those
three countries. Zimbabwe can handle 40,000 elephants with minimal confrontation
and damage. At the time, the elephant population had reached 67,000 and was
increasing at a rate of seven percent per year. The result was decimation of
crops, demolition of villages, and deaths of native people. Among 136 countries
debating the issue was the delegation from the US headed by (you guessed it)
USFWS. And guess what the US delegation's position was? To hell with the people,
save the elephants that are overrunning the countries.
I attended the
US strategy sessions each night to gain insight for my appearances on local
and South African television. I was shocked to look around the room and see
a half-dozen people wearing HSUS badges! They and their no-hunting philosophy
dominated the US delegation. You can bet I celebrated when science and common
sense prevailed and the final vote went against their position and the elephants
in the three countries were downlisted.
My point in telling
you this is to make you aware that it is not state and local government that
is the problem, it is our infiltrated federal government agencies. The anti-hunting
activists don't have to schedule protests or disrupt field trials. All they
have to do is get USFWS to do it for them.
Fortunately, there
are some bright spots on the horizon. Spurred on by such groups as the national
Wilderness Institute and supported by the American Kennel Club, NAIA, and sportsmen's
organizations, Representative Don Young (R-AK) requested that the General Accounting
Office audit P-R funding. I can hardly believe the abuses that were uncovered.
Among the most blatant were:
- At the direction
of the White House, millions of dollars have been taken from the fund and
diverted to finance animal rights groups intent upon curtailing hunting and
fishing in America.
- USFWS appointees
paid themselves $600,000 in bonuses.
- USFWS appointees
took expensive junkets around the country and the world, including 71 foreign
trips over 3.5 years by Robert Sousa, assistant regional director of the federal
aid division of USFWS.
- USFWS used $31
million of the tax money as a slush fund.
- $100,000 was
spent on programs benefiting the African rhinoceros even though the money
is supposed to be spent in the US.
- Liquor bills
of those given federal grants were paid with our excise taxes in violation
of federal rules.
- Money was used
to fund regional meetings at casino hotels in Puerto Rico, Atlantic City,
and Lake Tahoe.
As a result of
the GAO findings, Representative Young introduced HR 3671, a bill that would
curb abuses and mismanagement of the trust fund that have occurred over the
past 63 years. AKC worked with the committee staff to add language that would
include hunting tests and field trials as legitimate activities on public lands.
The bill passed the House by an overwhelming vote and was sent to the Senate,
where the Environment and Public Works Committee added language that while field
trials should be allowed, the states should determine whether they would be
appropriate. When the bill went back to the House, Representative Young made
a strong statement from the floor in support of field trials. He made it clear
that field trials are a quite compatible activity on lands acquired with P-R
funds and has assured AKC that if USFWS fails to heed this message, he will
introduce corrective legislation in the next Congress. Meanwhile, President
Clinton is expected to sign HR3671.
The
future
Most of those involved
in battling anti-dog legislation instigated by People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals, HSUS, the Fund For Animals, and other animal rights groups come
from the conformation ranks. Frankly, they have had little support from the
field trial fraternity in this effort. Now that our ox is being gored, trialers
have at last joined in the fight.
Anti-dog legislation
affects all of us whether it is breed-specific laws, breeding restrictions,
limits on the number of dogs we can own, unreasonable license fees for intact
animals, or any other permutation. Some animal rights organizations proudly
support terrorism in support of their agenda whether it be vandalizing animal
research facilities and destroying years of vital medical research; torching
a McDonald's restaurant because it serves meat; sending death threats, letter
bombs and razor blades to animal research scientists; releasing polar bears
and tigers from zoos, or releasing thousands of mink from fur farms to die on
highways or starve to death. These humaniacs campaign to elevate the legal status
of animals, but what they are really doing is demeaning humans.
Animal rights groups
like PeTA and HSUS are basically fund raising organizations. The majority of
their money is spent on lobbying, advertising, and direct-mail solicitation
of more funds. They support little or no research and fund few projects that
actually benefit animals. (PeTA did donate $4500 from their millions to a shelter
the same day they donated $45,000 to defend a man in Texas who had burned down
a mink farm.)
If there is anyone
out there involved with purebred dogs who is still donating money to any of
these organizations, he should be ashamed. Such donations support the animal
rights agenda and the eventual demise of the sport of purebred dogs as we know
it.
Ken Marden
is an NAIA board member, an AKC board member, a breeder/trainer/competitor with
German Shorthaired Pointers, and a long-time sportsman. This article appeared
in slightly different form in the newsletter of the German Shorthaired Pointer
Club of America and is reprinted here with the permission of the writer.
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