NSSF Survey: 94 Percent of People Support the Right to Hunt

Sept. 22, 2011
Public Support for Hunting Remains Strong, NSSF Study Shows

94 Percent Agree with 'Right to Hunt'

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- As sportsmen and sportswomen prepare to celebrate the 40th annual National Hunting & Fishing Day this Saturday, a new study shows that the majority of Americans continue to support hunting.

The scientific telephone survey of American adults 18 and older was conducted in early September and commissioned by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry.

Three-fourths of survey respondents (74 percent) said they approved of hunting, a level of support that has not varied by more than a few percentage points since 1995. "The numbers have been consistent over the past two decades," said Mark Damian Duda, executive director of Responsive Management, the research firm that conducted the study. "Support for hunting is solid."

The new study went a step further than previous research, however, revealing extraordinary support for the "right to hunt." No matter what their opinion about hunting, Americans stand firmly behind a person's right to hunt, with 94 percent agreeing it is "OK for other people to hunt if they do so legally and in accordance with hunting laws and regulations." Only four percent of respondents wanted to strip citizens of the right to hunt.

"It's gratifying to see that strong public support for our great tradition of hunting is unwavering," said Steve Sanetti, NSSF president and CEO. "For many of us, it is extremely fulfilling to provide food for ourselves and our families through hunting, even if only on a few days a year. That's one of many reasons why NSSF and others work so diligently to protect hunting."

The survey also revealed that Americans have a taste for eating what sportsmen harvest. Sixty-seven percent of respondents indicated they have eaten some type of wild (non-farm) game meat or fish within the last 12 months. This finding corresponds to people's growing interest about their food sources. Hunters and their families have always known the benefits of eating healthful, hormone-free game meat, and now more people are enjoying cooking and eating game, with some even taking up hunting because it connects them directly with locally acquired, sustainable foods.

The survey also revealed the public was equally supportive of target shooting, with 93 percent agreeing that target shooting is acceptable.

Survey respondents closely matched the age, gender, race and region of the American population 18 and older. Of the hunters in the survey--about 10 percent--the average age was 41. "It remains a goal of the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the many programs it funds to increase hunting participation among all ages, especially by attracting younger participants and former hunters," said Sanetti. "It is they who will carry on this great American tradition and continue to fund the protection of wildlife and habitat."

The billions of dollars generated through hunting license sales and excise taxes on firearms and ammunition, as well as fishing tackle, provide the foundation for wildlife conservation efforts in America. Excise taxes on firearms and ammunition sales alone have resulted in more than $6.8 billion benefiting conservation through the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, also known as the Pittman-Robertson Act. One of the objectives of National Hunting & Fishing Day is to raise awareness of the many contributions sportsmen make in this area.

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About NSSF
The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 6,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen's organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.

Wisconsin agrees: Delist wolf

Editorial from the Wisconsin State Journal Sept. 28, 2011

Wisconsin is now home to some 800 gray wolves.

Wisconsin has more wolves than every state in the nation except Alaska and Minnesota.

These majestic animals have more than tripled in numbers here over the last decade, thriving far beyond state and federal recovery goals.

So why are they still on the federal endangered species list?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should remove the gray wolf from the list in and around Wisconsin so wildlife officials here can better protect farm livestock and pets — as well as the wolf's reputation.

Virtually every member of Wisconsin's congressional delegation — even U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison — agrees. The delegation this week sent a letter asking Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to delist the wolf.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed doing just that. Yet its process is incredibly slow and complicated by an effort reclassifying gray wolves in the eastern United States as a new species. Read more..

Spay Neuter HSUS Campaign Update

A message from Lobbyist, Frank Losey.

BEHIND THE MASK OF DECEPTION WORN BY THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATED (HSUS)

• Eight Members of Congress have requested the Inspector General of the Department of the Treasury to investigate "HSUS's apparent improper activities and its tax exempt status." By letter dated April 18, 2011, six of these eight Members of Congress also asked the Treasury's Inspector General to "investigate IRS's potential failure to conduct a proper investigation pursuant to Congressman Leutkemeyer's March 23, 2010 letter." The eight Members of Congress include Senator Lugar and Representative Visclosky from Indiana, Representative Young from Alaska, and Representatives Emerson, Hartzler, Long, Leutkemeyer and Graves from Missouri.

• The Treasury's Inspector General for Tax Administration, by letter dated August 24, 2011, informed Senator Lugar from Indiana that his Office "recently initiated an audit to determine whether the IRS's Exempt Organizations function is accurately accounting for referrals of alleged violations of Federal tax law, acknowledging receipt to submitters, and tracking and monitoring the time frames for working referrals."

• During 2010 more than 6,000 concerned, tax-paying citizens from all 50 States wrote to the IRS and requested the IRS to investigate the excessive, prohibited, non-reported and under-reported lobbying activities of the U.S., which are the subject of 17 Formal Submissions to the IRS that are substantiated by 1,628 pages of incriminating and self incriminating documents. These documents include:

1. Extracts from HSUS Tax Returns that literally "brag" about all of its lobbying activities while claiming on other sections of its Tax Returns that none of its paid staff or volunteers lobby;

2. Claims by the President and CEO of the HSUS that he and the HSUS are responsible for the passage of 1,000 laws - - some of the claims are recorded on CDs furnished to the IRS;

3. Federal Election Commission Documents that reference nearly 3,000 pages of lobbying related documents that were generated by three subsidiary organizations and PACs of the HSUS which confirm that Millions of Dollars have been contributed to Hundreds of Federal Election Campaigns, and these expenditures do not include the Millions of Dollars expended by the HSUS at the State Level where it claims to be responsible for the passage of more than 525 State Statutes and Ballot Initiatives; and

4. The failure to report any receipt of Membership Dues for the last five years, which could amount to more than $500 Million.

• The Treasury's Inspector General has received a Documented Complaint that one or more IRS Employees has been improperly "leaking" portions of the above referenced 17 Submissions to the IRS to the HSUS.

• The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has received a Documented Complaint that the HSUS and Members of its Senior Leadership are in violation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 because they have never registered as a Lobbying Organization or as Lobbyists with the two Houses of Congress, notwithstanding 1,000s of direct "lobbying contacts" for the purpose of influencing legislation. In contrast, the President and CEO of the HSUS is a Registered Lobbyist in MO.

NOTE: If the HSUS and its Senior Leadership had registered with both Houses of Congress, the HSUS would be admitting that it has done excessive lobbying, which in turn, could result in the IRS rescinding its tax-exempt, public charity status, and the HSUS could become subject to the IRS assessing Tens of Millions of Dollars in back taxes, penalties and interest.

• The Parent Company of the Ringling Brothers Circus has filed a Lawsuit against the HSUS, and alleged the following violations: Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act; Money Laundering; Bribery; Obstruction of Justice; Mail Fraud; Wire Fraud; Illegal Witness Payments; Virginia Conspiracy Act; Conspiracy to Harm a Business; Abuse of Process; Malicious Prosecution; and a Fundraiser Held in Furtherance of the Schemes.

GAO: 'Limited Progress' in Addressing Antibiotic Resistance

by Helena Bottemiller Sep 15, 2011
Federal agencies have made "limited progress" in addressing antibiotic use in food animals and lack the data needed to track progress, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

The GAO found that the government is lacking the detailed data needed to measure efforts to reduce antibiotic resistance and fully examine the relationship between using antibiotics in animal agriculture and the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Without that analysis, it's difficult to measure whether or not policies to combat resistance are working.

The National Pork Producers Council pointed to the GAO report as confirmation of the group's long-held position that science does not back up the link between food animal antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance in humans.

"Not only is there no scientific study linking antibiotic use in food animals to antibiotic resistance in humans, as the U.S. pork industry has continually pointed out, but there isn't even adequate data to conduct a study," National Pork Producers Council President Doug Wolf in a statement. "The GAO report on antibiotic resistance issued today confirms this." full story at Food Safety News

The GAO report details background, research challenges, and recommendations.

Sen. Blunt Recognized as Friend of Ag Economics

Agricultural economic organizations name Sen. Roy Blunt as 2011 awardee.

Compiled by Missouri Ruralist staff
Published: Sep 15, 2011

The Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) and National Association of Agricultural Economics Administrators (NAAEA) recently recognized Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) as the "2011 Friends of C-FARE and Agricultural Economics." This annual award is given to individuals who support the application of economics to policy issues involving agriculture, natural resources, food and nutrition topics.

C-FARE Chair Damona Doye of Oklahoma State University spoke at a Sept. 6 reception in Washington, D.C., held in the senators' honor. "Our profession is grateful to both senators for their continued appreciation of economic analysis to improve public policy," she said.

Mike Monson of the University of Missouri presented the honor to Sen. Blunt. "With his Missouri farm background, Sen. Blunt understands the key role that agriculture plays in driving the nation's economic recovery," Monson said. "[He] is a strong supporter of continued investments in agricultural research to provide producers the tools needed to stay competitive in the world market, ensure our food supply, improve the efficiency of our infrastructure and foster policies that provide benefits to the entire economy." full story

New ag organization started to protect state's animal agriculture

By Robert Pore robert.pore@theindependent.com
Published: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 8:27 PM CDT

Animal agriculture in Nebraska is a more than $7 billion industry that supports thousands of jobs.

But a group of agricultural organizations believes the livestock industry is threatened by outside groups, such as the Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

These organizations have formed We Support Agriculture (WSA) to educate Nebraskans about modern agricultural practices and to defend against attacks and misinformation about modern technology used to raise livestock.

WSA was announced on Tuesday at Husker Harvest Days. Pete McClymont, vice president of government affairs for the Nebraska Cattlemen, is WSA president.

He said Nebraska's farmers and ranchers are "caring people who know how to care for their animals properly."

"They go to great lengths to protect their animals from disease, predators and harsh Nebraska climate while feeding their neighbors and the world."

But they now have a new predator to contend with, McClymont said, in the form of increased activity across the country by "extreme animal rights groups who have an agenda to make Americans eat less food originating from animals -- such as meat, eggs and dairy."

He said these groups want to institute "hostile regulations that will increase the price of food and make them much more difficult to produce."

According to WSA, "This negatively affects consumers by inflating the cost of food and limiting the availability of nutritious food choices for their families."

WSA said its goal is to "defend agriculture against this extreme agenda."
Full story
Visit We Support Agriculture website

California Foie Gras ban goes into effect

The Artisan Farmers Alliance and intends to fight the California law.

Chef Gary Danko sears an inch-thick slice of duck liver in a small pan in the San Francisco restaurant where he earned a Michelin star until the meat develops a golden-brown shell.

The delicacy known by its French name, foie gras, is garnished with figs and champagne grapes, a variation on a dish he’s served since opening Restaurant Gary Danko near Fisherman’s Wharf in 1999.

“I sell probably 40 orders a night or more,” Danko said in an interview while salting the meat. “When the protesters are here, double that.”

The protesters are animal-rights advocates who say force- feeding ducks and geese to fatten their livers is cruel. Danko and other California chefs will have to remove foie gras from their menus in July, when the state becomes the first to ban the dish, under a 2004 law.

At issue is the method of feeding the birds, with a tube inserted in the esophagus.

“These birds have done nothing to deserve this fate of being force-fed several times a day,” Paul Shapiro, a spokesman for the Washington-based Humane Society of the United States, said in a telephone interview. “It’s an inhumane practice that should be relegated to the history books.”

Connoisseurs say the process mimics behavior in the wild, where the birds gorge themselves before migrating. Foie gras purveyors say the force-feeding causes no pain, and that opponents are trying to impose the values of vegetarians on everyone else. Full story

HSUS’s Wayne Pacelle Endorses Human Exceptionalism

The "father" of the animal rights movement, Peter Singer, said "Christianity is our foe. If animal rights is to succeed, we must destroy the Judeo-Christian Religious tradition." Pacelle, it seems, is determined to use the Bible and Christianity as yet another platform for preaching the hypocritical animal rights agenda. Well done, as usual, commentary by Wesley J. Smith on the disingenuous evangelist Pacelle.

Thursday, September 1, 2011, 2:05 PM
Wesley J. Smith
Wayne Pacelle is the head of the Humane Society of the United States. He is very slick, sophisticated, and runs HSUS as if it is only about animal welfare. I don’t believe it for a second. HSUS works diligently to make meat raising more expensive and morally marginalized, without vocally pitching the animal rights dogma. It’s a tactic, not a true belief in the principle of animal welfare.

Toward that ultimate end, Pacelle has explicitly embraced human exceptionalism. From an article in Prism, an evangelical magazine, “A Call to Compassion From Our Brothers the Animals:”

Wayne Pacelle, CEO and president of the HSUS, explains why it encourages animal welfare instead of animal rights: “I think it’s a recognition that we are special and exceptional,” he says. “All these creatures are at our mercy…The rights language suggests that that there’s something inherent in them, and I think it’s more about us.”

Well, I can agree wholeheartedly with that. Human exceptionalism is why we have duties to animals. That is what I preach here every day and indeed is the core thesis of my book A Rat is a Pig is a Dog is a Boy. (Funny, I missed that rave review from Pacelle.) Indeed, that is the core animal welfare principle. We have a right to use animals instrumentally, so long as we balance the human benefit with the best and proper methods for attaining humane care.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t for a second believe Pacelle means what he said. He’s an old animal rights radical, a belief system predicated on the concept of “speciesism,” which explicitly holds that HE is unwarranted discrimination against animals. Moreover, while HSUS implicitly endorse humane meat, I perceive it as obfuscation. Read on .......

Federal Judge takes BLM to task over mustangs

The roundup of nearly 1,300 horses, which began July 20, is scheduled to end this week. The horses targeted in the Triple B roundup are among an estimated 2,200 that roam a series of horse management areas covering a total of 1.7 million acres southeast of Elko and northwest of Ely in eastern Nevada. BLM officials maintain the area can only sustain between 500 and 900 horses.

By SCOTT SONNER — Associated Press
RENO, Nev. — A federal judge in Nevada is taking the U.S. government to task for misconduct by a helicopter contractor during one of the biggest mustang roundups in the West, granting a rare emergency order sought by wild horse protection advocates who argue all of the gathers on public lands are inhumane and illegal.

U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben denied a request late Tuesday to halt the roundup at the Triple B complex in northeast Nevada near the Utah line. But he did issue a temporary restraining order banning any mistreatment of mustangs like the Wild Horse Freedom Federation caught on camera earlier this month.

Laura Leigh, the vice president of the Texas-based group that filed the lawsuit against Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar, who oversees the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said it was a small but important victory in a larger effort to bring attention to what she says is the BLM's routine violation of federal laws protecting the horses.

"This is significant because the judge saw what we see every day," Leigh told The Associated Press.

"This is a recognition in the federal court system that there is something wrong with not only what is going on out there but something wrong with the justification process."

BLM officials denied the group's claims that the helicopter pilot on the video actually struck a horse with a helicopter skid on Aug. 11.

Full story