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State News Release |
| Greens Welcome Success of Petition to Save Doves. |
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Green Party of Michigan June 9, 2005 For More Information Contact: The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) welcomes the recent certification by the State Board of Canvassers of the petition to restore Michigan's 99-year ban on hunting the mourning dove -- a bird recognized by the state legislature as the Michigan Bird of Peace. The law that ended that ban is now suspended, and there will be no more shooting of doves in the state until after the people have a chance to vote on the measure in November 2006. The Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban filed over 275,000 petition signatures in March -- almost twice as many as were needed to qualify the referendum for the ballot. Hunt-backers, who had influenced elected officials to get the ban ended, decided not to challenge the petition. GPMI is the only political party in the state to support the ban, and has done so publicly for a year and a half after voting in November of 2003 to oppose House Bill 5029, which had cleared the lower chamber after some quiet high-level maneuvering. Politicians vs. the People The party's public statement on HB5029 cited the traditional regard for the dove as the symbol of peace. Ironically, the House had adopted a resolution five years earlier (Resolution 244 of 1998, passed March 25 of that year) officially recognizing the mourning dove as the state symbol of peace. Polls taken at the time the House was voting to kill the ban on dove-hunting -- and since -- have consistently shown that the people of Michigan oppose dove-hunting by wide margins. But legislative leaders of both major parties, pushed by big-money donors, passed HB5029 over the objections of their constituents. And Governor Jennifer Granholm broke a campaign promise by signing the bill into law. "As happens all too often, our elected leaders -- in the legislature and the Governor's mansion -- have failed to represent the people on this issue," notes GPMI vice chair and 2002 gubernatorial candidate Douglas Campbell. But the people have spoken -- and loudly, he adds. The overwhelming response to the referendum petition drive shows how many Michigan citizens have been energized and activated by this issue. Hunting for an Excuse? Some backers of dove-shooting have tried to excuse the hunt by declaring that doves are not an endangered species. But Campbell points out that this is taking the issue the wrong way around. "Hunters can at times fill in part of the natural cycle of predators and prey. But there is no need to hunt doves to control their population." In their statement on the bill, Greens acknowledged that hunting is "an important activity to many Michigan residents", and has contributed to the preservation of habitat for some wild animals. But the party does not believe hunting doves, "the traditionally- and legally- recognized bird of peace[,] is a vital part of anyone's way of life or subsistence." And, as the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban says on its Web site: This is not just an issue of science and populations, but an issue of social values. The question is not can we hunt mourning doves, but should we hunt mourning doves. We could hunt bluejays, robins, cardinals, and many other birds without endangering their populations, but we have decided as a society that shooting those songbirds for sport is inappropriate. Michigan's social values had protected mourning doves for 99 years, and the state's voters will now have a chance to decide what is most appropriate. Lead Astray And doves would not necessarily be the only wildlife hurt by dove-hunting in Michigan. Former Charlevoix County Drain Commissioner Jo Anne Beemon recently stopped in to see a veterinarian friend, and lying on the operating table was a great eagle -- probably one which the two of them and friends had been trying to lure to inland waterways to escape the mercury in the Great Lakes. "This eagle had been hit by a car while feeding on roadkill," Beemon recounts. "But the vet knew the eagle had more problems than a broken wing from the collision. He had ingested lead from carrion of a deer or upland bird or other small game that had been shot and not retrieved -- making him sick and slow." Using lead shot in duck-hunting was banned after too many ducks, swans, and other bottom-feeders ingested the lead and sickened or died, Beemon pointed out. But shooting at doves will spray lead shot into the environment . . . and into injured doves. And any unretrieved game will become a meal -- and a horrible death -- for eagles, hawks, and other predators and animals that eat carrion and ingest the lead, she added. This kind of pollution of the remnants of the wild environment also puts at risk the viability of hunting and fishing, Beemon asserts. "It is not anti-hunting activists who endanger hunting -- it's loss of habitat and species." Greens Ready to Take the Next Step When the petition drive kicked off last September, grassroots organizers were faced with the challenge of collecting at least 158,879 valid signatures from registered Michigan voters within six months. By the time they turned in their petitions in March, they had nearly doubled that -- with the help of thousands of volunteers . . . some of whom, including GPMI elections co-ordinator John La Pietra of Marshall, gathered hundreds of signatures themselves. Under the state constitution, once the referendum petitions were filed and certified, the law that gave the go-ahead for last fall's dove hunt was suspended. There will be no hunts in 2005 or 2006 -- none until after the people have a chance to vote on the measure at the next statewide general election in November 2006. Dove-shooting backers could have tried to challenge the petition signatures, hoping to disqualify enough of them to invalidate the petition. But they apparently decided that dove supporters had signed up too many people to make a challenge worth their while. "Instead," cautions La Pietra, "they may be focusing on raising big money to pay for some extremely nasty and misleading TV ads, as was done in Ohio to kill a similar referendum there." The canvassers will next consider what wording to put on the November 2006 ballot for voters to consider. Since the petition called for the repeal of the new law that allowed dove-hunting, the ballot language should be phrased so that votes are "yes" to support that law (and allow shooting of doves) or "no" to oppose the law (and ban dove-shooting). When the official language comes out, GPMI will help the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban make sure the people understand it, La Pietra promises. For more information on the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban, including facts about mourning doves and a list of groups endorsing the petition, visit: http://www.stopshootingdoves.org/ Another good source of information about dove issues in Michigan -- and links to even more information -- is the Songbird Protection Coalition: http://www.savethedoves.org For more information about the Green Party of Michigan, including past Green statements on the issue of dove-hunting, please visit the GPMI Web site: http://www.migreens.org _______________ GPMI Statement Opposing HB5029 and Dove-Hunting November 21, 2003 The Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) opposes House Bill 5029, and any other measure to promote hunting of the mourning dove -- recognized throughout the state as Michigan's official bird of peace, in accordance with House Resolution 244 of 1998 (adopted March 25, 1998). GPMI recognizes that hunting is an important activity to many Michigan residents. However, we reject the idea that hunting of the traditionally- and legally-recognized bird of peace is a vital part of anyone's way of life or subsistence. Accordingly, GPMI calls on all members of the
Michigan Senate to reject HB5029 and any other dove-hunting measure, and
we urge all Michigan citizens with a respect for peace to contact their
State Senators and tell them to oppose dove-hunting.
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