Letters to the Editor and Others
Help Restructure the New Jersey Fish & Game Council
Wildlife Watch Inc.
Helping People, Environment, and Wildlife
PO BOX
562, NEW PALTZ, NY 12561
Voice:(845) 256-1400; Fax:(845) 622-7999
e-mail:
wildwatch@earthlink.net
Contact:
Joe Miele, Vice President 201-368-8271
Senator Joseph F. Vitale
87 Main St.
Woodbridge, NJ 07095
June 17, 2003
Dear Senator Vitale:
Wildlife Watch Inc. is an animal protection group that educates the public about the mismanagement of wildlife by state and federal wildlife agencies; their destruction of wildlife and ecosystems resulting from the management of wildlife for sport hunting. We are contacting you to once again sponsor S.2603, the bill that would dramatically change the composition of the NJ Fish and Game Council.
In the decades that the Council has been entrusted with the authority to manage wildlife populations, it has worked only to pacify the desires of the hunting community. All this comes at the expense of the wildlife and those who work for their protection. Instead of representing the people of the state, the Council represents only the hunters, who number fewer than two percent of New Jersey’s population. S.2603 would reorganize the composition of the Council into a more balanced body that takes more than just the hunting perspective into consideration.
Currently, the Council consists of eleven members, ten of which are hunters. To correct this glaring bias, S.2603 will add seven Council members who are "…members of the public with experience in environmental protection or other fields relevant to animal welfare and with a background in the conservation of fish and game,". What will result is a more well-balanced Council that will more accurately represent the views of New Jersey’s citizens.
The Fish and Game Council is a body that neither accurately represents the wishes of the majority of New Jersey residents nor makes decisions that are in the best interests of our wildlife. The changes in the Council called for by S. 2603 are a positive step toward the implementation of sound wildlife management decisions for the first time in the history of the state. The voices in opposition to this legislation are loud, but they are very few. This bill has great support by those who care about our wildlife, so please support S. 2603.
Sincerely,
Joe Miele
New Jersey Field Office
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