Sportsmen
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:
Philadelphia Inquirer photographer
Vicki Valiero’s image of bowhunter
Rex Perysian astride a dead pig just about
told the story on February 2 of her visit to a
canned hunt in Cheboygan, Michigan, on
assignment with staff writer Alfred
Lubrano––but if the picture wasn’t graphic
enough, there were Perysian’s words: “I’ll
grab it like I grab my women,” he told his
pals. Then Perysian dropped the animal’s
head and bellowed into the woods, boasting
that the kill had sexually aroused him.”
The article went on to detail, first-hand, the
exercise in sadism that brought Perysian and
pals to that climax.
Michael Nunn, manager of the
Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge,
in Oregon, on January 31 advised Friends of
Animals that he would recommend that the
refuge “back off” from a proposed aerial
coyote shoot, and instead do two years of
data collection before deciding on any
course of action. Refuge staff blamed coyotes
for a low rate of young pronghorn survival,
but outside biological expertise identified
other more likely causes, including
overgrazing. FoA attacked the coyotekilling
plan in newspaper ads that reportedly
sparked more than 1,200 letters of protest.
The New Mexico Department of
Game and Fish must produce an environmental
assessment, before proceeding with
the planned cull-hunting of nine elderly
bulls, in compliance with the National
Environmental Policy Act, federal judge
Martha Vasquez ruled on January 26 in
Santa Fe, New Mexico. In effect, the
killing is indefintely postponed. The DGF
had auctioned the privilege of shooting the
bison for about $21,000.
The Maryland Department of
Natural Resources on January 24 withdrew
a proposal to start a bear hunting
season. Alerted by the Fund for Animals,
176 Maryland residents testified against it at
public hearings; hunting groups rallied only
128 speakers. There are only about 200
bears in Maryland, but Natural Resources
secretary John Griffin said he might bring
the proposal back next year.
California voters will decide on
March 26 whether to repeal the state ban
on mountain lion hunting––and the ballot
language doesn’t make the issue very clear:
“The act authorizes the legislature to manage
mountain lions to protect the people and
resources of California. Repeals mountain
lions’ status as specially protected mammal.
Fiscal impact: realocates annually up to
$250,000 from habitat conservation fund
from 1996-97 through 1998-99, $100,000
thereafter for mountain lion management
plan. Potential annual state costs of
$250,000 for mountain lion public safety,
information programs.”
To place an initiative banning
bear-hunting and hunting with dogs
on the November 1996 Washington
state ballot, the Washington
Wildlife Alliance must collect
225,000 signatures on supporting
petitions before July. To help, call
206-633-3435; fax 206-633-3488.
The Pennsylvania senate on
February 6 rejected a bill to ban pigeon
shoots, 36-10. While one such bill actually
won more votes than were cast against it a
year ago in the Pennsylvania House, this
was the first time an anti-pigeon shooting
bill got into the senate calendar.
Among the bills before the
Alaska legislature this spring are S B – 7 7,
to mandate predator control whenever a prey
herd declines, regardless of the situation,
without debate; SB-262, to require that for
every acre closed to hunting or a particular
hunting method, regardless of why, five
times as much land must be opened to hunting;
S B – 2 3 0, which says “traditional”
access to land cannot be restricted, even to
control the damage done by snowmobiles,
helicopters, and other equipment favored by
poachers; S B – 2 4 7, to require the state
Department of Fish and Game to spend
funds only on predator control, barring any
spending on wildlife viewing or nongame
species; SB-81, to place a $200 bounty on
wolves and strip them of any protected statust;
and H B – 3 1 3, reducing the non-resident
fee for a wolf tag from $175 to $10.
United Animal Nations and The
Fund for Animals on January 24 posted a
$1,500 reward for information leading to
the arrest and conviction of whoever shot
three snow monkeys on January 21 at the
South Texas Primate Observatory. While
local law enforcement were able to identify
suspects, in absence of an eyewitness they
were not able to establish which of them
pulled triggers. The shootings came almost
a year after Texas Parks and Wildlife officials
had hinted that there could be an open
season on any snow monkeys who strayed
outside the sanctuary––and were reminded
that even if the monkeys did stray, they
were still private property, not wildlife.
The sanctuary is now in the process of relocating
to a larger site with more secure fencing,
but the transition won’t be complete for
some months.
A 13-year-old friend killed Clint
Morgan, 11, on December 28 in Braithwaite,
Louisiana, as they and another 13-
year-old practiced hunting skills under
supervision of their fathers, a sheriff’s
deputy and a former deputy. One day later
in Madison Parish, Louisiana, an 11-yearold,
hunting with his father, fatally shot fellow
hunter Houston Roberts. All of the
children had passed hunting safety classes.
A 200-page investigation report
on a Wisconsin prisoner’s account of having
been made to drive deer toward
h u n t e r s in the woods at the Oakhill
Correctional Institution on November 24
concluded that 14 inmates in all were
coerced into driving deer for Oakhill guard
Sergeant Perry Noyce and his supervisor,
Don Martin.
