LITTLE ROCK — Last week's news conference by the Arkansas Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus at the state Capitol was interesting, but I wondered what prompted it.
Casey Condra, the caucus' coordinator, said the Arkansas Legislature formed it to promote policies that protect and benefit both Arkansas sportsmen and the state's hunting and fishing industries. Condra, a DeWitt native, served on Sen. Blanche Lincoln's staff from 2001-2004. She said that Lincoln proposed the idea to the state Legislature, and state Sen. Ruth Whitaker of Cedarville organized the caucus, which now includes 122 legislators.
"Other states have these caucuses, too," Condra said. "Antihunting groups and animal rights groups have shifted their focus from Congress and are now targeting state legislatures.The Sportsmen's Caucus is a way to counter their efforts."
Animal rights and antihunting groups such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) spend considerable money and effort lobbying state legislatures to prohibit dove hunting in Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa, bear hunting in Maine and New Jersey, or fur trapping and cougar huntingin California. Whenever state game and fish agencies propose controlled hunting as a way to relieve nuisance deer problems in places like Heber Springs or Eureka Springs, members of these groups are the vanguard of resistance.
Sometimes their influence is subtler. Take for example, Senate Bill 777, the ill-conceived animal cruelty bill that the Arkansas Legislature defeated last spring. One provision of that bill would have given police powers to PETA, HSUS or any other "society incorporated for the prevention of cruelty to animals." These nonprofessional enforcement "agents" would have had no supervisory chain of command, no governing authority and no accountability. Nor did the bill provide a path of redress for the victims of civil rights violations that were inevitable when you give policepowers to people with only 20 hours of training. George Orwell couldn't have penned a more undemocratic concept.
How might this have affected hunting? SB777 established a definition of animal cruelty for dogs, cats and horses. Advocates for the bill described them as "companion animals," which is how PETA describes them on its Web site.
It also would have made it unlawful to puncture, cut or otherwise wound such animals by a "thermal agent." This could define a bullet discharged from a firearm, which results from a thermal catalyst and punctures its target. The bill also would have made it unlawful to injure or cause trauma to this class of animals in the presence of a minor.
With a legal definition of felony cruelty and a protected class of animals, it would havebeen possible for the Legislature or a court to later add other animals to this list, such as animals that are traditionally trapped. These could be red fox, gray fox and raccoon.
If, under that scenario, a furrier runs a trapline with his minor son or daughter and dispatches the trapped animal in the presence of the minor, guess what? Under SB777, he would have committed a felony for which a PETA or HSUS agent could arrest and prosecute him.
Testifying before Congress on Feb. 12, 2002, James Jarboe, domestic terrorism section chief for the counterterrorism division of the FBI, said that the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is a terrorist group "whose purpose is to bring about social and political change through the use of force and violence."
PETA and HSUS are loosely associated with ALF. PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk has publicly endorsed ALF's activities and its methods, and HSUS founder Wayne Pacelle has said that his goal is to abolish hunting through the legislative and judicial processes. Some of their members engage in ALF attacks, some of which PETA has described in its official magazine, Animal Times. PETA also has donated money for ALF activities and for legal defense of ALF terrorists. A list of specific donations appeared in an article by Stefan Friedman published in the New York Post on March 7, 2002.
These are the people working to deprive hunters and fishermen in Arkansas. Perhaps the point of the Legislative Sportsmen's Caucus news conference was to demonstrate that its members don't have to face them alone.
Sports, Pages 34 on 10/28/2007