Audubon muzzled criticism of hunting
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1994:
SAN FRANCISCO, California––Desperately Seeking Sanctuary, an
hour-long National Audubon Society expose of abuses to the U.S. National
Wildlife Refuge system, aired March 6 on the Turner Broadcasting
Network––but only after senior Audubon officials cut criticism of hunting, trap-
ping, and fishing, investigative freelance Mark Dowie revealed the same day in
the San Francisco Examiner. Dowie is remembered for his 1977 revelation that
the Ford Motor Company had ruled against spending an extra $11 per car to keep
Pintos from exploding in rear-end collisions.
“In the original script and early rough cuts,” Dowie charged, “hunting,
trapping, and fishing were given equal time and treated with as much indignation
as drilling, logging, and military bombing runs. The script had special appeal
for (narrator) Mariel Hemingway, who spent much of her youth tearfully plead-
ing with her father not to hunt big game.” Her father, Gregory Hemingway, a
trophy hunter, pigeon-shooting champion, and convicted transvestite, was son
of author Ernest Hemingway––who became obsessed with hunting after his
mother forced him to wear dresses until he started school.