Tell the USFWS not to expand hunting and fishing in wildlife refuges
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Friends of Animals (FOA)
July 2016

ACTION

Did you know that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is proposing to expand hunting and fishing opportunities at 13 national wildlife refuges across the United States?

We need your help to make sure this doesn’t happen. Where is it safe for wildlife to live and breathe if not in a refuge?

The sickening proposal includes migratory bird, upland game, big game hunting and sport fishing.

The USFWS is seeking comments from the public. You may submit comments, which are due by Aug. 15, by one of the following methods:

• Electronically: Go to Federal eRulemaking Portal = leave your comment by clicking on “Comment Now!”
• By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail or hand delivery:
  Public Comments Processing
  Attn: FWS-HQ-NWRS-2016-0007
  Division of Policy, Performance, and Management Programs
  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: BPHC
  Falls Church, VA 22041-3803

INFORMATION

It’s bad enough that hunting is already permitted on 336 of the 560 national wildlife refuges in the United States and that fishing is already allowed on 275 wildlife refuges even though a measly 4 percent of Americans hunt, according to the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. In contrast, 71.8 million people, or 23 percent of U.S. residents participated in wildlife watching in 2011—which means observing, feeding and/or photographing birds and other wildlife, not slaughtering them.

We need the non-hunting majority, who spent $54.9 billion on their wildlife-watching trips, equipment, and other items in 2011, more than what hunters contributed to the economy, to make its voice heard and oppose any expansion of hunting in our wildlife refuges so we can continue to connect with nature in places that aren’t war zones .

We agree with USFWS Director Dan Ashe when he says that America is becoming ever more urban and its citizens increasingly divorced from nature. But his suggestion that to foster connections between people and the natural world we need to increase opportunities to shoot it dead is completely insane.

If you live in the following states, this proposal will affect you directly, so please speak out now: Colorado, South Dakota, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas.

Here are the gory details:

The Service proposes opening the following refuge to hunting for the first time:

Colorado

• Baca National Wildlife Refuge: Open migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting and big game hunting. The refuge is currently closed to public use activities.

The Service proposes opening the following refuge to sport fishing for the first time:

South Dakota

• Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge: Open sport fishing. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting and big game hunting.

The Service also proposes expanding hunting and sport fishing on the following refuges:

Colorado

• Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge: Expand migratory game bird hunting and big game hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting and upland game hunting.
• Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge: Expand migratory game bird hunting and big game hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting and upland game hunting.
  Indiana

Indiana

• Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge and Management Area: Expand migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting and sport fishing. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting and sport fishing.

Louisiana

• Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge: Expand big game hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting and sport fishing.
• Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge: Expand migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting and big game hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting and sport fishing.

Michigan

• Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge: Expand migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting and big game hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting and big game hunting.

New York

• Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge: Expand migratory game bird hunting and big game hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting, big game hunting and sport fishing.

Oklahoma

•  Washita National Wildlife Refuge: Expand big game hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting and sport fishing.

South Carolina

• Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge: Expand migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting and big game hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting and sport fishing.

Texas

• Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge: Expand migratory game bird hunting. The refuge is already open to migratory game bird hunting and sport fishing.
• Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge: Expand big game hunting. The refuge is already open to upland game hunting.

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Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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