Contact: Ellary TuckerWilliams, Senior Coordinator, Rocky Mountain States
Highlights
Why it Matters: Despite its enticing name, “Wildlife For All,” is the latest initiative to come out of the anti-sportsmen camp and riddled with misinformation and deception. Backed by notable and outspoken anti-hunting organizations, the initiative tries to challenge the indisputable and voluntary role sportspeople play in conservation, the irrefutable success of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the place that state fish and wildlife agencies hold as the entities best equipped to address fish and wildlife management issues within their respective borders using the best available science. Consider this a wake-up call. The opposition is not pulling any punches. They are coming for us.
At a passing glance, the Wildlife For All initiative seems well intended and harmless. Who doesn’t want to conserve all wildlife and ensure ecological sustainability? I don’t know a single sportsman or woman (and I know plenty) who doesn’t place the highest value on the conservation of wildlife and their habitat for future generations. However, the deeper you read, the more insidious the initiative becomes. Despite a strong effort to disguise their truest objective, Wildlife For All’s intent is to systematically disassemble and eliminate hunting, fishing, and trapping.
Supported by notable and outspoken anti-hunting organizations, the initiative tries to challenge the indisputable and voluntary role sportspeople play in conservation, the irrefutable success of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the place that state fish and wildlife agencies hold as the entities best equipped to address fish and wildlife management issues within their respective borders using the best available science. Identified as “Solutions” towards achieving “the ideal state wildlife management framework”, the Wildlife For All Initiative calls for wildlife commissions to be abolished, staff at wildlife agencies to primarily focus on biodiversity conservation, not management of consumptive uses, and to halt all recruitment, retention, and reactivation efforts to increase the number of hunters and anglers, just to highlight a few.
On the coattails of Oregon’s IP 13, which would essentially make Oregon the first no kill animal sanctuary state and the numerous anti-trapping efforts occurring nationwide, it’s not difficult to see that momentum is building in an all-out assault on the outdoor sporting community. Through our legislative and regulatory process paired with citizen initiatives that circumnavigate the democratic process, the anti-sportsmen agenda is making brash and systematic moves undercut our practices, traditions, and the irreplaceable role that sportsmen and women hold in future success of wildlife conservation.
Enough is enough. The time has come for sportspeople of all walks of life and disciplines to come together and stand up for ourselves, our community, and our place in wildlife conservation.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
