WASHINGTON - Today the Safari Club International (SCI), an organization dedicated to promoting trophy hunting rare exotic animals, will open its annual convention at the Reno Hilton in Reno, Nevada.
But according to The HSUS, all of the pep talks, including one by former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, who has been criticized by environmental groups for hunting rare argali sheep in Mongolia, will not be able to hide the most important fact about hunting today: Hunting is endangered.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), 13 million Americans hunted in 2001, a decline from 14 million in 1991. This continues the steady decline in hunting that demographers have been tracking since the mid-1970s and that shows no signs of slowing in the 21st century.
Just last month, FWS released new figures that showed the number of Americans who held hunting licenses in 2003 fell to 14.7 million, down from 16 million in 1984. The number of license holders is higher than the number of hunters because hunters who hold licenses in more than one state are counted more than once.
Norm Phelps, a program coordinator for The HSUS, said, "These latest numbers from the federal government simply confirm a trend that has been apparent for three decades. Hunting is a dying activity. The Safari Club can whoop and holler all they want, but what they're really holding in Reno is a wake. Despite all the brave talk you're going to hear out there, hunting is fast becoming extinct – and they know it."
Heidi Prescott, The HSUS's senior vice president for campaigns, noted that, "As the number of hunters continues to decline, the hunting industry is increasingly turning to canned hunts to keep the profits rolling in. The Safari Club International is an important part of this trend, and they accept in their record books animals killed in canned hunts, something that not even the Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young trophy hunting clubs do."
Euphemistically called "game ranches" or "hunting preserves," canned hunts stock captive animals, who are often hand reared, for hunters to stalk and shoot within fenced enclosures. "Shooting tame, captive animals requires about as much skill and courage as shooting cars on a parking lot, said Prescott.
The states that have the largest number of known canned hunts are Texas, with 62 facilities, and Michigan, with 24. A comprehensive report on canned hunting is available at www.stopcannedhunts.org.
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with more than 8.5 million members and constituents. The non-profit organization is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research and farm animals and sustainable agriculture. The HSUS protects all animals through legislation, litigation, investigation, education, advocacy and fieldwork. The group is based in Washington, DC and has numerous field representatives across the country. On the web at www.hsus.org.
