Seeking legal weapons

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1998:

Save The Doves, after gathering
100,000 petition signatures failed to
persuade Ohio legislators to restore a
state ban on dove hunting, repealed in
1995, has until June 5 to gather another
140,000 signatures to put the matter
directly to the voters. Coordinator
Ritchie Laymon welcomes help at 1-
800-868-DOVE, or POB 21834, Columbus,
OH 43221. Save The Doves’
chief backer is reportedly the Humane
Society of the U.S., said to have contributed
$70,000 over the past three
years. Leading the opposition is the
Wildlife Legislative Fund of America,
which entered the fight with assets of $2
million––but WLFA vice president Rick
Story boasted in March that his group
has already raised about $1 million of
the $2.5 million it expects to need to
“own the airwaves” before the voting.

The California Anti-Trapping
Initative, officially sponsored by
Animal Protection Institute e x e c u t i v e
director Alan Berger and HSUS a t t o rney
Aaron Medlock, on March 30
became the first initiative certified to
appear on the November 1998 state ballot.
The petition would ban commercial
fur trapping, leghold traps, and poisoning
wildlife with sodium fluoracetate
and sodium cyanide––but would allow
so-called nuisance trappers to continue
to use leghold traps.
Pushing a bill to ban canned
hunts, S-2442B, now before the New
York state legislature, celebrity trading
card company owner John Richard, of
Queens, has endorsements from P a u l
McCartney, Mary Tyler Moore, Alex
Baldwin, Kim Basinger, and B r a d
P i t t, he told ANIMAL PEOPLE o n
April 14––and he wants yours, too,
whether or not you’re from New York.
Letters of support, preferably on organizational
letterhead, addressed “To
whom it may concern,” may be faxed to
Richard at 718-229-7632.
A Minnesota legislative conference
committee agreed on April 8
that the language of a proposed
“hunter’s rights” amendment to the state
constitution, going to the voters in
November, shall be: “Hunting, fishing
and the taking of game and fish are a
valued part of our heritage that shall be
forever preserved for the people and
shall be managed by law and regulation
for the public good.” Alabama adopted
a similar amendment by referendum in
November 1996.
Activists whose referendum
b a n n e d baiting and hounding of bears
and pumas in 1994, and who defeated
an attempted repeal in 1996, have
formed Humane Oregon, a political
action committee, at POB 40372,
Portland, OR 97240.