Ecological Wisdom * Social Justice * Grassroots Democracy * Non-Violence
>> Green Party of Michigan <<
http://www.migreens.org
>>> ---------------- <<<
>>> News Release <<<
>>> ---------------- <<<
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
---------------------
June 09, 2005
For More Information Contact:
----------------------------
Sylvia Inwood, Chair/Green Party of Michigan
e-mail: chair@migreens.org
John La Pietra, Elections Co-ordinator/GPMI
e-mail: elections@migreens.org
Greens Welcome Success of Petition to Save Doves
================================================
Only Statewide Party to Endorse Ban on Shooting
Symbol of Peace Will Help Grassroots Campaign
to Restore Protections in Nov. '06 Referendum
The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) welcomes the
recent certification by the State Board of Canvassers
of the petition to restore Michigan's 99-year ban on
hunting the mourning dove -- a bird recognized by
the state legislature as the Michigan Bird of Peace.
The law that ended that ban is now suspended,
and there will be no more shooting of doves in the
state until after the people have a chance to vote
on the measure in November 2006.
The Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban
filed over 275,000 petition signatures in March --
almost twice as many as were needed to qualify the
referendum for the ballot. Hunt-backers, who had
influenced elected officials to get the ban ended,
decided not to challenge the petition.
GPMI is the only political party in the state to
support the ban, and has done so publicly for a year
and a half after voting in November of 2003 to oppose
House Bill 5029, which had cleared the lower chamber
after some quiet high-level maneuvering.
Politicians vs. the People
--------------------------
The party's public statement on HB5029 cited the
traditional regard for the dove as the symbol of peace.
Ironically, the House had adopted a resolution five
years earlier (Resolution 244 of 1998, passed March 25
of that year) officially recognizing the mourning dove
as the state symbol of peace.
Polls taken at the time the House was voting to
kill the ban on dove-hunting -- and since -- have
consistently shown that the people of Michigan oppose
dove-hunting by wide margins.
But legislative leaders of both major parties,
pushed by big-money donors, passed HB5029 over the
objections of their constituents. And Governor Jennifer
Granholm broke a campaign promise by signing the bill
into law.
"As happens all too often, our elected leaders --
in the legislature and the Governor's mansion -- have
failed to represent the people on this issue," notes
GPMI vice chair and 2002 gubernatorial candidate Douglas
Campbell.
But the people have spoken -- and loudly, he adds.
The overwhelming response to the referendum petition
drive shows how many Michigan citizens have been
energized and activated by this issue.
Hunting for an Excuse?
----------------------
Some backers of dove-shooting have tried to excuse
the hunt by declaring that doves are not an endangered
species. But Campbell points out that this is taking
the issue the wrong way around.
"Hunters can at times fill in part of the natural
cycle of predators and prey. But there is no need to
hunt doves to control their population."
In their statement on the bill, Greens acknowledged
that hunting is "an important activity to many Michigan
residents", and has contributed to the preservation of
habitat for some wild animals. But the party does not
believe hunting doves, "the traditionally- and legally-
recognized bird of peace[,] is a vital part of anyone's
way of life or subsistence."
And, as the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting
Ban says on its Web site:
This is not just an issue of science and
populations, but an issue of social values.
The question is not can we hunt mourning
doves, but should we hunt mourning doves.
We could hunt bluejays, robins, cardinals,
and many other birds without endangering
their populations, but we have decided as
a society that shooting those songbirds
for sport is inappropriate. Michigan's
social values had protected mourning doves
for 99 years, and the state's voters will
now have a chance to decide what is most
appropriate.
Lead Astray
-----------
And doves would not necessarily be the only wildlife
hurt by dove-hunting in Michigan.
Former Charlevoix County Drain Commissioner Jo Anne
Beemon recently stopped in to see a veterinarian friend,
and lying on the operating table was a great eagle --
probably one which the two of them and friends had been
trying to lure to inland waterways to escape the mercury
in the Great Lakes.
"This eagle had been hit by a car while feeding on
roadkill," Beemon recounts. "But the vet knew the eagle
had more problems than a broken wing from the collision.
He had ingested lead from carrion of a deer or upland
bird or other small game that had been shot and not
retrieved -- making him sick and slow."
Using lead shot in duck-hunting was banned after too
many ducks, swans, and other bottom-feeders ingested the
lead and sickened or died, Beemon pointed out. But shooting
at doves will spray lead shot into the environment . . . and
into injured doves.
And any unretrieved game will become a meal -- and a
horrible death -- for eagles, hawks, and other predators
and animals that eat carrion and ingest the lead, she added.
This kind of pollution of the remnants of the wild
environment also puts at risk the viability of hunting
and fishing, Beemon asserts. "It is not anti-hunting
activists who endanger hunting -- it's loss of habitat
and species."
Greens Ready to Take the Next Step
----------------------------------
When the petition drive kicked off last September,
grassroots organizers were faced with the challenge of
collecting at least 158,879 valid signatures from
registered Michigan voters within six months.
By the time they turned in their petitions in March,
they had nearly doubled that -- with the help of thousands
of volunteers . . . some of whom, including GPMI elections
co-ordinator John La Pietra of Marshall, gathered hundreds
of signatures themselves.
Under the state constitution, once the referendum
petitions were filed and certified, the law that gave
the go-ahead for last fall's dove hunt was suspended.
There will be no hunts in 2005 or 2006 -- none until
after the people have a chance to vote on the measure
at the next statewide general election in November 2006.
Dove-shooting backers could have tried to challenge
the petition signatures, hoping to disqualify enough of
them to invalidate the petition. But they apparently
decided that dove supporters had signed up too many
people to make a challenge worth their while.
"Instead," cautions La Pietra, "they may be focusing
on raising big money to pay for some extremely nasty and
misleading TV ads, as was done in Ohio to kill a similar
referendum there."
The canvassers will next consider what wording to
put on the November 2006 ballot for voters to consider.
Since the petition called for the repeal of the new law
that allowed dove-hunting, the ballot language should
be phrased so that votes are "yes" to support that law
(and allow shooting of doves) or "no" to oppose the law
(and ban dove-shooting).
When the official language comes out, GPMI will
help the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban
make sure the people understand it, La Pietra promises.
- * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * -
For more information on the Committee to Restore the
Dove Shooting Ban, including facts about mourning doves
and a list of groups endorsing the petition, visit:
http://www.stopshootingdoves.org/
Another good source of information about dove issues
in Michigan -- and links to even more information -- is
the Songbird Protection Coalition:
http://www.savethedoves.org
For more information about the Green Party of
Michigan, including past Green statements on the issue
of dove-hunting, please visit the GPMI Web site:
http://www.migreens.org
--------------------------------------------------
GPMI Statement Opposing HB5029 and Dove-Hunting
===============================================
November 21, 2003
The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) opposes House
Bill 5029, and any other measure to promote hunting
of the mourning dove -- recognized throughout the
state as Michigan's official bird of peace, in
accordance with House Resolution 244 of 1998
(adopted March 25, 1998).
GPMI recognizes that hunting is an important
activity to many Michigan residents. However, we
reject the idea that hunting of the traditionally-
and legally-recognized bird of peace is a vital
part of anyone's way of life or subsistence.
Accordingly, GPMI calls on all members of the
Michigan Senate to reject HB5029 and any other
dove-hunting measure, and we urge all Michigan
citizens with a respect for peace to contact
their State Senators and tell them to oppose
dove-hunting.
# # #
Green Party of Michigan * 548 S. Main Street *
* Ann Arbor, MI 48104 * 734-663-3555
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The Green Party of Michigan was formed in 1987 to address
environmental issues in Michigan politics. There are Greens
organized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each
state Green Party sets its own goals and creates its own structure,
but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values:
Ecological Wisdom * Grassroots Democracy
Social Justice * Nonviolence
Community Economics * Decentralization
Feminism * Respect for Diversity
Personal and Global * Future Focus/
Responsibility Sustainability
created/distributed using donated labor
[=============================================]
Other Contacts:
Green Party of Michigan
548 S Main St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-663-3555
info@migreens.org
posted to web 12 June 2005