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Victories


	©iStockphoto
	Fallow deer are no longer captive hunt targets in Oregon.

The HSUS has had tremendous success in stopping egregious forms of hunting in many states. From captive hunts, where animals are shot up against a fence at close range by the people they had grown to trust, to pigeon shoots, where the birds are released in front of hunters as live targets, The HSUS works diligently to see wildlife abuses abolished. These practices are fundamentally at odds with a humane and caring society.

Through federal and state legislation, legal action, education and grassroots advocacy, The HSUS's Wildlife Abuse Campaign seeks to make this world a more humane one.

Support for the protection of wildlife is growing in the courts, in communities and among the public. Here are some of our recent successes.

The Ind. Natural Resources Commission unanimously agreed to a partial ban on selling coyotes to wildlife penning operations, where they are used as live bait and torn apart by packs of dogs.
Following public outrage and an HSUS press release urging the Tenn. Wildlife Resources Agency to restrict captive hunting in the state, the agency recommended minimum size requirements and species restrictions.
The HSUS's offers of major poaching rewards generated extensive print and television coverage. A Florida crocodile case brought a felony animal cruelty charge and poaching charges.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, which immediately stopped all polar bear trophy imports into the United States from Canada.
The Vt. Board of Fish and Wildlife passed a rule prohibiting new captive hunting operations in the state and strongly restricting current operations. The rule now must pass the legislative committee on administrative rules. The HSUS has been actively working on the development of the rule for nearly 3 years.
The Ore. Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously adopted a rule to prohibit the export of captive-raised deer and elk to other states for captive hunts.
The Ill. governor vetoed spending for one of the biggest state-sponsored pheasant stocking programs in the country during the next fiscal year. The rejected budget covered stocking 60,000-90,000 birds annually and maintaining state-owned game farms.
Alerted by the Wildlife Abuse Campaign to a prairie dog contest kill scheduled to occur in Medicine Bow, Wyo., the Bureau of Land Management halted the contest because the organizers had not applied for a special use permit to kill the animals on public land.
Ruling on a suit filed by The Fund for Animals, a U.S. District Court judge found that the Fish and Wildlife Service had violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it opened or expanded sport hunting on 37 National Wildlife Refuges.
The HSUS worked with the Covington Board of Supervisors in Pennsylvania to halt a live pigeon shoot in the eleventh hour, preventing approximately 15,000 birds from being killed.
After The HSUS's Animal Protection Litigation section submitted a briefing, The Ore. Supreme Court upheld the State Fish and Wildlife Commission's authority to prevent captive hunting of captive, non-indigenous deer.
The HSUS worked tirelessly to ensure the passage of a 2006 Michigan ballot initiative to restore protection to mourning doves that had been protected in the state for 100 years.
The HSUS consistently encouraged N.J. to halt its trophy hunt of black bears, which the state did in 2006 in favor of humane alternatives.
The first Internet hunting business was created in Texas, and thanks to quick action by the state legislature, the practice was outlawed on June 20, 2005. Since the creation of this pay-per-view slaughter, The HSUS has worked to outlaw Internet hunting in 34 states.

Updated Nov. 25, 2008

See the Video

Wildlife Finds Refuge in the Courts

Cruel Pigeon Shoot Stopped in 11th Hour

The Humane Society of the United States Praises Governor Corzine and DEP Commissioner Jackson for Decision to End State Black Bear Hunt

Michigan Voters Overwhelmingly Say "No" to Dove Hunting

Oregon Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Canned Hunting