Stop the Sportsman’s Heritage Act of 2012 by contacting your senators NOW! Yesterday the United States House of Representatives passed “The Sportsman’s Heritage Act of 2012” also known as H.R. 4089.
A few of things you should know about this bill:
- It will weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act by allowing polar bear trophy hunters to import sport-hunted bears from Canada
- It will open up millions of acres of sensitive public lands to hunting
- It will further delay the inevitable switchover by hunters from using toxic lead shot to non-toxic ammunition
As of May 2008 the U.S has listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In Canada and Russia, polar bears are listed as a species of special concern.
So this act allows polar bear trophy hunters to bring their bear heads and hides back into the U.S. encouraging more hunters to kill more bears. Worse than that, it will open up huge swaths of protected wilderness areas to public hunting, and facilitate sport hunting in national parks. And the icing on the cake? This bill, already passed by the House of Representatives, would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from stopping the use of lead shot, which poisons millions of wild animals every year, including the endangered California Condor!
You can read the entire article from the Humane Society of the United States here and more importantly, TAKE ACTION by contacting your U.S. Senators and telling them that you are appalled by this bill and you want them to vote against it.
Please Tweet this and share it on your Facebook pages and pass it on to all your friends. Don’t let the NRA and a few trophy hunters spoil the American wilderness that belongs to all of us.
Comments on this entry are closed.
It seems like it is one step forward then ten steps backwards when it comes to protecting wildlife. This act makes me sick.
I couldn’t agree more with what Mia wrote. It’s disheartening, especially when you consider just how small a minority this legislation serves. Time to roll up the sleeves again …
Take some time and read the bill…..you are completly mis-representing the bill. Funny how Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, and other major waterfowl agencies are backing this bill……..READ THE BILL BEFORE YOU MANIPULATE READERS!!!!
@BJ I have read the bill! That’s why I put a link to the bill right in the post so everyone could read it. It is not strange whatsoever that hunting clubs like Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl support a huge increase in hunting on public land, that’s what they are all about. Is it so difficult to understand that the majority of people that use public land aren’t out in the wilderness to listen to guns going off but rather to enjoy the peace and quite?
You might want to check on the newest figures from the USFWS in their latest National Survey which states that:
“13.7 million people hunted in 2011. They spent $34.0 billion on trips, equipment, licenses, and other items, an average of $2,484 per hunter.
More than 71 million people engaged in wildlife watching in 2011, spending $55.0 billion on their activities.”
In other words, there are at least five times more wildlife watchers than hunters in this country spending over 1 1/2 times what hunters are spending on their pastime. I think it’s time the wildlife watchers have some say as to how public land can be used, don’t you?