USSA Working to Strip Anti-Hunting Language from Public Policy

Lowey puts anti-hunting rhetoric in federal report

Language has been added to a U.S. House Committee report that will wipe out funding for international conservation programs that facilitate hunting.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey, chair of the House Foreign Appropriations Subcommittee, has climbed onto her anti-hunting soapbox to make a statement in U.S. public policy that hunting is not favored by Congress. In the committee report for the House-passed State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, Lowey’s staff added the following statement at the behest of the Humane Society of the United States:

“The Committee is concerned about reports that USAID directly and indirectly supports recreational, sport and trophy hunting in its assistance programs in Africa. The Committee directs USAID to provide no funds to programs that support or promote recreational, sport, or trophy hunting as a conservation tool.”

The USSA and other sportsmen organizations are working with key federal lawmakers to remove the anti-conservation language. Although it is not in the bill to become law, it is a specific recommendation by a committee that holds the purse strings for agencies that implement government programs.

“Lawmakers use committee reports to issue edicts to federal agencies recommending preferred courses of action relative to specific issues,” said Bill Horn, USSA director of federal affairs. “Agencies don’t often buck the committee suggestions.”

Successful international conservation programs use hunting as a management tool. They emulate the United States, which has effectively used hunting as a conservation tool for over a century. These programs, especially in Africa, engage local communities and are very effective: poaching is reduced, wildlife populations prosper, and natural resources like water are conserved.
“The misguided House report language stymies effective programs and will hurt conservation efforts,” adds Horn.

The USSA and other organizations have stopped several recent federal anti-hunting efforts. It beat back an overt bill rider to ban bear hunting on federal land, and recently defeated an amendment that would have prohibited Americans from hunting polar bears in Canada.

Source: U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance