DUE IN LARGE PART TO OUR SUCCESSES STOPPING ANIMAL EXTREMISTS IN STATE LEGISLATURES , THEY ’ VE TURNED NOT JUST TO A FRIENDLY ADMINISTRATION AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL BUT INCREASINGLY TO REGULATION AT THE STATE FISH AND GAME- COMMISSION LEVEL . A NEW MODEL OF ATTACKS HAS EMERGED , ONE THAT DEMANDS WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT BY “ DEMOCRACY ” AND USING “ EMPATHY .”
NEW THREAT : COMMISSION “ REFORM ”
DUE IN LARGE PART TO OUR SUCCESSES STOPPING ANIMAL EXTREMISTS IN STATE LEGISLATURES , THEY ’ VE TURNED NOT JUST TO A FRIENDLY ADMINISTRATION AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL BUT INCREASINGLY TO REGULATION AT THE STATE FISH AND GAME- COMMISSION LEVEL . A NEW MODEL OF ATTACKS HAS EMERGED , ONE THAT DEMANDS WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT BY “ DEMOCRACY ” AND USING “ EMPATHY .”
A small organization called Wildlife for All leads the charge , but it ’ s just new spin on an old argument – the backers , organizers and board of directors are all the same : Humane Society of the United States , Center for Biological Diversity , Sierra Club and others .
However , the new model is finding traction in some states , most notably Washington where the increasingly anti-hunting fish and wildlife commission has waged war against its own departmental biologists to incorporate the philosophical beliefs of this new model of management . It has become the epicenter of blatant animal-rights political activism with these special interest groups and individual activists usurping the fish and wildlife commission , which controls hunting and fishing seasons , methods , bag limits and tag allocations .
Fighting back in the courts , our only recourse in the state , we sued one such animal-extremist commissioner for breaking state law by holding two appointive state positions that allow her to advance her ideological beliefs . At trial , the judge ruled in our favor , but the attorney general has , unbelievably so , appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court where we ’ ll argue for law and order in a state that has rejected that simple notion .
But Washington ’ s egregious politicization of wildlife management isn ’ t the only place where this is happening . Colorado ’ s governor recently nominated three blatant anti-hunters to their wildlife commission , and we ’ ve pushed back in both Vermont and New Hampshire after multiple attempts to derail commission standards and oversight this year and in years past . This new attack is spreading , finding traction and likely to become a bigger issue that resonates with the mainstream media and public .
14 SPORTSMEN ’ S ALLIANCE 2023 ANNUAL REPORT