Bear hunting in California is on the verge of elimination! I posted this earlier this week when it broke, but now we need to act. California hunters need you to speak up and act on this! S.B. 252 is a direct attack on hunting and proper game management. It is based on emotion and not fact. It was introduced by California Democratic State Senator Scott Wiener on January 25, 2021.
What can you do? First, read the bill and you will see how it attacks hunting and doesn’t show any scientific backing. Then go here and sign the petition. It’s a start. Then contact your legislators and speak your mind. Speak with facts, be clear and concise, and don’t get emotional. Then spread the word!
Here are a few things that irritate me about this. First, no science behind it. Two, HSUS is involved and has been trying to ban bear hunting for over a decade. Ten years ago they tried something similar as they wanted to halt bear hunting then, too. They will not stop, so we must not stop! Three, why does the verbiage of the Fish and Game Code still refers to mountain lions as a game animal when there has been a ban for over 30 years?
(a) Game mammals are: deer (genus Odocoileus), elk (genus Cervus), prong-horned antelope (genus Antilocapra), wild pigs, including feral pigs and European wild boars (genus Sus), black and brown or cinnamon bears (genus Euarctos), mountain lions (genus Felis), jackrabbits and varying hares (genus Lepus), cottontails, brush rabbits, pigmy rabbits (genus Sylvilagus), and tree squirrels (genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus).
California voters who are anti-hunter’s don’t actually see them as game animals, so why not remove that language? An educated guess is because the biologists and wildlife experts truly know they ARE game animals and that we should be managing their populations through hunting and collecting license and tag fees from hunters instead of paying people to kill nuisance cats. Speaking of collecting fees, S.B. 252 would stop millions of dollars being collected from hunters who apply for bear tags. The state would need to find another source of that income.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
California voters first did away with mountain lion hunting in 1990 with Proposition 117. Now we have to call on groups to kill problem cats. Then they got rid of hunting bears with dogs in 2012 (see S.B. 1221). Next up was banning the hunting of bobcats in 2019 with the passage of A.B. 1254 . In case you were not aware, Senator Weiner voted in favor of the ban on hunting bobcats. Now he and the HSUS want to ban bear hunting altogether. Trust me when I say this, it will NOT stop there. They will continue to chip away until there is no more legal hunting allowed. They will go after hunting by eliminating access to every animal they can. What will be next? Feral pigs, deer, sheep or elk?
Again, read the bill and then sign the petition. Contact your legislators and speak your mind rationally. Speak with facts, be clear and concise. Continue to share it with everyone you can and get the word out!
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