With 2021 seeming to pick up where 2020 left off , it ’ s been hard to imagine what could come next in life or legislative affairs . The animal-rights movement hasn ’ t missed a beat with the pandemic , and have thrown everything they have , including COVID and the kitchen sink , at legislatures in every state . COVID has even given them ( more ) emotional justification for legislation . Anti-hunters have tried to leverage the virus to end the import of African taxidermy and trapping , as you ’ ll see in this issue .
COVID aside , the animal-rights crowd continues their usual assault on hunting , either with direct prohibitions or through backdoor and economic attacks . In this issue , we focus on a fight the Sportsmen ’ s Alliance has long been embroiled : sporting dogs . The anti-hunters ’ tactics morph and their focus changes slightly from year to year , but the overall goal remains the same : to end or undermine the use of sporting dogs as tools afield . They want to end the use of animals in any form , not just the use of those we eat or wear for clothes . If they can ’ t do it outright , such as hound hunting bans , they
FROM THE PRESIDENT
resort to ambiguously worded legislation with arbitrary thresholds to define the undefinable . Their tactics undermine sound breeding and training practices that have resulted in the finest hunting bloodlines and work afield in history . The result of their proposed legislation would make the breeding , training and selling of hunting dogs prohibitively expensive , if not impossible , by legal means .
This is often a difficult thing for the Average Joe , even hunter , to understand ; who would stand against legislation stopping puppy mills and other abuses ? But as you ’ ll see in our feature , a tool misused by some is still a legitimate tool of use for others .
In the end , animal-rights ’ legislation would destroy hundreds of years of bloodlines developed by countless dedicated breeders and trainers . They would cancel an American heritage dating to the Founding Fathers ; foxhound lines developed by George Washington or international cooperation between retriever , pointer , spaniel and other breeders for two hundred years . And they ’ re trying to do just that under the guise of cracking down on abusive , largescale commercial breeders known as “ puppy mills .”
It ’ s something the Sportsmen ’ s Alliance won ’ t stand idly by and watch happen . We have and always will fight for the hunter , angler , trapper … and your dog !
Evan Heusinkveld President and CEO
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