Sportsman's Alliance of Maine
205 Church Hill Road, Suite 1, Augusta, ME 04330
ALERT
Constitutional Amendment/ Hunting and Fishing
Legislative Alert
Help Needed Fast
LD 1303, Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Establish the Right to Hunt and Fish, Sponsored by Rep. Fredette.
What do you do when faced with a bully that is ruthless, bigger than you and has more money than you can imagine?---Get some help and fight!
We need your help to fight the Humane Society of the United States, HSUS, (not associated with area humane society animal shelters).
In testimony last week on the HSUS bill, LD 1474 to ban bear hounding and trapping, (see testimony below) I revealed how the HSUS tried to use threats of a full blown citizen referendum to ban most all types of bear hunting and how they tried to hold hostage our rural Maine economy to extort our support for their radical agenda.
HSUS is a deep pocketed out of State anti-hunting, anti-sportsmen group with a $100 million annual budget and $200 million in assets. They thrive on bringing litigation and anti-hunting referendums into small states like Maine. They raise money from wealthy States like California and New York and then use the money to stop hunting in small poor states like Maine. This is what they said to me recently,
"We have $3 million dollars, polling data that says we can win a bear referendum in Maine, and if SAM will support LD 1474, HSUS will not submit a referendum to ban trapping and hounding. If SAM doesn't support LD 1474, HSUS will add baiting to their bill and go to referendum and Mainer's would likely lose baiting, hounding and trapping."
They went on to say, if they win, they will continue to push for more referendums in Maine!
What can you do in the face of such overwhelming force? Join me in stepping up to meet it! We have options to save our rural economy and outdoor heritage. LD 1303 is a Constitutional Amendment that would enshrine the rights of Maine residents to hunt and fish, forever. It would take away the ability of wealthy, out of State interests to use the referendum process to manage our wildlife and take important management tools from biologists at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and leave them at the whim of special interests. If we pass LD 1303 these decisions would still be subject to laws and rules enacted by the Legislature, but not in the hands of HSUS.
If passed by the Legislature, this important bill would be ratified by Maine voters at referendum. Ironically, HSUS and their five lobbyists are roaming the halls of the Statehouse telling legislators this bill would take away the rights of Maine citizens to vote on wildlife policy. They fail to mention they are the reason this bill is necessary and that Maine people would have to ratify the Constitutional Amendment and if approved, Would Be, The Will Of The Maine People!
HSUS is deathly afraid of LD 1303 and have hired the huge, Portland law firm of Verrill Dana, (more than 125 lawyers and lobbyists) to work against us. We are up against a bully with deep pockets and we are outnumbered by HSUS/Verrill Dana lobbyists, we need your help. Call or e-mail your legislators now to please support LD 1303!
The bill will come out of committee today. Sadly, two legislators on the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, Sen. Haskell of Portland and Rep. Marks, of Pittston voted against us. Let them know you are sad they sided with HSUS and not Maine people and our right to manage our own wildlife with biologists and laws enacted by our legislature.
It is unfortunate we have to change the Maine Constitution to protect our state sovereign right to manage our own wildlife in a sustainable manner, but as long as we are vulnerable to out of state money and influence, this is our only hope.
Link to Verrill Dana LLP
Link to Humane Society of the United States
Link to Humanewatch Budget of Humane Society
Link to FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR
Make a donation or become a member of SAM
Testimony in Opposition
LD 1474, An Act to Amend the Law Pertaining to the Hunting of Bear
Before the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Presented by David Trahan, Executive Director, Sportsman's Alliance of Maine
May 10, 2013
Senator Dutremble, Representative Shaw, members of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, I am David Trahan, representing the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. The Sportsman's Alliance of Maine strongly opposes LD 1474, An Act to Amend the Law Pertaining to the Hunting of Bear.
Would you ask a carpenter to build a house without a hammer? Would ask a farmer to plow his fields without a tractor? Obviously not, but that is exactly what national, out of state animal rights activists like the Humane Society of the United States, (HSUS) ask biologists to do when they attempt to take away important harvesting methods from wildlife biologists tasked with managing prolific wildlife species like bear.
The HSUS will argue that if trapping and hounding of bear is banned, as this bill proposes, hunters can still use traditional methods like baiting and stalking. Do not be fooled by this ploy. In a recent meeting with five representatives from HSUS and Don Kleiner from the Maine Professional Guides Association, I was given this ultimatum, "We have $3 million dollars, polling data that says we can win a bear referendum in Maine, and if SAM will support LD 1474, HSUS will not submit a referendum to ban trapping and hounding. If SAM doesn't support LD 1474, HSUS will add baiting to their bill and go to referendum and Mainer's would likely lose baiting, hounding and trapping."
The HSUS would take away every viable bear management tool from wildlife biologists if they had their way. The Sportsman's Alliance of Maine does not believe political extortion is an acceptable tool for managing any wildlife species. Our answer was no!
Maine's rural landscape is unlike most states around the country, most of the remote northern regions of our state are recovering from a devastating 1980's outbreak of Spruce Budworm which leveled millions of acres of spruce and fir and replaced it with vast areas of thick re-growth that is almost impenetrable by hunters and nearly impossible to stalk or glass hunt. The only practical way to hunt these areas is by trapping, hounding and baiting.
Even with all these available management tools, the bear population and the subsequent related bear complaints continue to grow. According to Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, between 1990 and 2003, Maine's bear population increased from 18,000 to 23,000. Since 2003, Maine's bear population has grown to over 30,000, (a 67% increase). Nuisance bear complaints increased from 396 in 2011 to 828 in 2012. At the same time, bear hunter participation decreased by 24%.
Organization like HSUS has a very narrow agenda and shrewd tactics. They depend on emotion and public sympathy to generate membership, money and support at the ballot box. On the Humane Society website, CEO and President Wayne Pacelle brags of participating in 25 successful national referendum campaigns. For him, this bill and upcoming referendum is just part of their national agenda, but when they move on to another state, we are left to live with their latest political conquest.
Legislative policy committees are tasked with determining if harvesting methods are ethical and humane and as a result there are many harvesting methods that are illegal, but it is essential that enough tools are available to biologists so they can effectively and efficiently manage sustainable bear populations. Using the referendum to manage wildlife is as dangerous as using political polling to manage our court judges.
HSUS is making a direct attack on our rural way of life, unlike most urban states and cities, rural Mainer's have few economic opportunities. Guiding and hunting is a major economic engine in the woods of Northern, Eastern and Western Maine. Taking away bear hunting is just a start for HSUS. In their discussion with me recently, Don Kleiner, Executive Director for the Professional Guides Association asked HSUS representatives, "Why Bears?" the answer, "We oppose all predator hounding." If HSUS is successful in banning bear hounding, trapping and baiting, you should expect further attempts at banning all predator hounding methods.
This bill is just another HSUS bill in a long list of national and state anti-hunting proposals. We ask this committee to reject this bill and continue to use biology and common sense as well as accepted ethical standards to guide state wildlife policy. Furthermore, we ask you to reject emotion, politics and the bullying tactics used by HSUS. Have faith in Maine people, they rejected a similar referendum attack on bear hunting just a short time ago because they understand the realities of living in rural Maine and they don't like deep pocketed special interests thinking they can come here and throw their weight around.