By Jessica Almy

In the weeks that follow Labor Day, Cape Cod residents sigh with relief as their sandy peninsula finally quiets down from the tourist season and the visiting "wash-ashores" head home.

But as one kind of non-native leaves, another arrives. Unlike the summer tourists, though, these new arrivals have no choice in the matter: They're transported weekly in Massachusetts state-owned trucks and unceremoniously dumped into the cool night air in stumpy forests of scrub pine and scrub oak.

These visitors won't be staying long, either. They're ring-necked pheasants, native to Asia and raised on farms where they're kept in flocks of a thousand or more. These birds lack the basic skills needed to survive in this foreign habitat, but the wildlife managers who buy them at $8 apiece and truck them to the Cape Cod National Seashore care less about them surviving the winter than about them evading coyotes and foxes till morning. Morning is when the hunters arrive with their shotguns and their dogs, ready to take an easy shot at a tame bird for a few pretty tail feathers. Many of the birds die within hours of their arrival.

The six-week pheasant hunting season opens in mid-October, and aside from the usual moral concerns of killing farm-raised game, the new season also ushers in a couple of fresh controversies along the National Seashore: MassWildlife officials are debating whether to continue to release the birds the night before, and risk predation from other wildlife, or release them on the morning the hunters arrive. Meanwhile, a federal judge cleared the way for last fall's hunt after rejecting an injunction filed by several animal-protection groups, even as Department of the Interior officials debate about how quickly to phase out the controversial pheasant-stocking program altogether.

The current controversies play out on different levels: While state wildlife officials are mostly concerned with pheasant numbers and the ethics of shooting birds who have literally just gotten off the truck, the feds are being forced by animal-protection groups like The HSUS to focus on the bigger picture of whether the stocking program itself violates National Park Service policies and causes environmental damage.

The ethical issue of "fair chase" is important to hunters, and pheasant hunting definitely challenges the standard. As Rob Deblinger, deputy director of MassWildlife said, "We need to balance the numbers of pheasants who are put out there that predators take versus the ones that hunters take, and at the same time not have it be so unethical that the bird is just sitting there, and the hunter walks up and shoots it."

This program, not much different than a canned hunt, is funded by the federal Pittman-Roberts Act and by Massachusetts sporting licenses. This means that anyone who buys "hunting equipment," even the hiker or horseback rider who buys a blaze orange vest, is helping to stock defenseless birds for hunters. No special license is required for pheasant hunting, so MassWildlife receives no direct revenue from the program. But the agency continues to promote pheasant hunting because it's an easy shot for beginners who may become lifelong hunters. For years, The Humane Society of the United States and other animal protection organizations have tried to work with the National Seashore to eliminate the program, which reportedly dates back to the 1940s. The HSUS has submitted formal comments on an environmental assessment of the program, had meetings with key staff members, coordinated letter-writing drives, given presentations to the Seashore's Advisory Commission, and testified at public meetings.

Having exhausted all other options, The HSUS, the Fund for Animals, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), and several Cape Cod residents sued the Department of the Interior last fall to stop the pheasant stocking program.

The lawsuit alleged that stocking non-native animals on a National Park Service (NPS) unit like the Cape Cod National Seashore violates the policies of the NPS; it also alleged that the Seashore did not follow the proper process in evaluating the environmental harm caused by the program. The HSUS believes that hunters and their dogs trample fragile vegetation on the Seashore, frighten native wildlife, change their behavior, and put other visitors at risk of being shot. In addition, The HSUS is concerned that stocking farm-raised pheasants who have been fed a medicated diet could introduce antibiotic-resistant microorganisms to the National Seashore.

While awaiting a court to hear that case, the three animal-protection organizations filed for an injunction to stop last fall's hunt. Federal Judge Patti Saris rejected the injunction on October 17, 2002, but earlier in a surprise move the night before Saris was scheduled to hear the case for an injunction, the Department of the Interior announced it would phase out the pheasant stocking and hunting program. However, in an equally surprising move, the department announced that during this phase-out period it will not follow its own nationwide program and policies, and will declare this program exempt from binding NPS policies that forbid the introduction of non-native species.

No deadline has been set for the phase-out. Without a definitive schedule for the phase-out, the pheasant stocking and hunting program could continue indefinitely. The HSUS plans to move ahead with its lawsuit to ensure that the stocking program ends, whether by the hands of the Interior Department or through legal remedies.

Jessica Almy is Wildlife Advocate for The HSUS Cape Wildlife Center in West Barnstable, Massachusetts.