HSUS Continues Anti-Hunting Agenda, Seeks To Ban Traditional Ammunition
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) along with 16 other organizations and individuals have filed a formal petition requesting that the Department of the Interior (DOI) to ban the use of traditional ammunition. This petition, if adopted by DOI, would ban traditional ammo on hundreds of millions of acres where you can hunt on public lands. SCI needs you to help protect our hunting heritage. Call the Department of the Interior today at (202) 208-3100 and tell them to reject this petition.
See this letter signed by over 30 organizations, representing tens of millions of hunters and target shooters who also object to this HSUS petition. Your willingness to help us fight HSUS is vital at this time. You can also send an email about this petition to feedback@ios.doi.gov.
Before addressing the petition, remember that the HSUS is an avowed anti-hunting organization (as are a number of the co-petitioners) and their mission is to shut down all hunting. HSUS CEO, Wayne Pacelle has said “We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States. We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California. Then we will take it state by state.” This petition is merely an extension of their radical agenda.
The petitioners suspiciously suggest that hunting is acceptable as long as hunters use alternative ammunition. But hunters are not so naive as to believe their lies. We need to recognize the threats on our hunting heritage and fight the attacks against the scientific management under the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.
Do not let this opportunity pass us by – you need to take action. You need to inform your hunting partners that HSUS’s petition needs to be rejected and give them this letter (link), and this phone number: 202-208-3100 so they can join us in calling for this petition to be rejected.
One of the seven tenets of the model is that the best science available will be used as a basis for informed decision making in wildlife management rather than by opinion or conjecture, or as in this case, false inference. The body of scientific literature on the use of traditional ammunition does not support the petitioners’ underlying conclusion that the past and continued use of traditional ammunition has resulted in negative wildlife population level effects. The 50-page petition is littered with pseudo-scientific statements that attempt, but fail, to link potential lead toxicity, from any number of possible sources, to federal statutory obligations to protect wildlife. In addition, this false line of reasoning is also true of the petitioners’ claim regarding the threat to public health. There has never been a single documented case in the United States of a hunter having elevated blood lead levels, let alone blood lead poisoning, caused by consuming game harvested with traditional ammunition.
We ask all SCI members and hunters nationwide to contact Secretary Sally Jewell today by calling (202) 208-3100 and ask her to listen to the science and reject this petition.
The HSUS petition is merely a ruse to get the anti-hunting agenda further adopted by the “foot in the door” for the anti-hunting petitioners. If such a ban was instituted, it is a near certainty that additional petitions for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands and other federal holdings (e.g., National Forests) would follow. Additional bans, regarding traditional ammunition, will be sought for recreational target shooting on a broad suite of federal land holdings. This is a traditional and historic use allowed on millions of acres of public lands. Alternative ammunition is more expensive for hunters – and there are not alternatives available for about half the hunting calibers. Therefore it currently is not a viable solution and does nothing but further alienate hunters from the sport that they love. The cost to target shooters alone, who consume far more ammunition in pursuit of their sport, would be prohibitively expensive. This petition would effectively close public lands to shooters.
There are no adverse wildlife population impacts or public health concerns on NPS and FWS lands that require such an unwarranted, national intervention as this petition seeks. It is quite simply an attempt to drive hunters, and subsequently recreational target shooters, off of Federal public lands. It is unnecessary, it has no basis in sound science, and it should be rejected by the Department of the Interior.
SCI urges hunters nationwide to contact Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell to oppose this petition and preserve our hunting heritage.
Email: feedback@ios.doi.gov
Telephone: 202.208.3100
Mailing Address: Secretary Sally Jewell
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240
First For Hunters 