Texas Fish & Game January 2019

Page 34

The NATIONAL

SCI Addresses Animal Rights Lawsuit Over Permits

News of TEXAS

pick on a government agency over otherwise minor legal points as an effort to raise more money for themselves,” said Safari Club International President Paul Babaz. “Wildlife does not benefit from this latest legal maneuvering of the antis. “When the antis can’t defeat hunters and hunting, including SCI and its allies, in the greater world, they file lawsuits,” Babaz continued. “The money they are spending on nuisance lawsuits like this one would be much better spent actually helping wildlife around the world. But the anti-hunting groups are not about helping wildlife. They are about helping themselves. “There is a total difference between what SCI does and what the antis do when it comes to lawsuits,” Babaz noted. “When we win a lawsuit, we put

LED BY THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF The United States, several animal rights groups filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Virginia to order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to post elephant and lion trophy permit applications routinely, as well as the agency’s permitting decisions and related findings regarding the sustainability of hunting various species. “The antis are losing ground in the court of public opinion, so they now go to the court of law and

the proceeds toward our mission, which includes wildlife conservation, versus the antis who use the proceeds from their lawsuits to line their own pockets.” “The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to come clean and let the public know how many elephants and lions are killed to decorate rich Americans’ living rooms,” said Tanya Sanerib, the legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s international program, in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “With huge threats facing Africa’s imperiled wildlife, the unlawful secrecy about these bloody imports is totally unacceptable,” she said. This recent lawsuit follows a pending court case filed by

BASS

TARPON

Lake Somerville

Port O’Connor

Fourteen-year-old Cody Pfeffer caught this 7.3-pound bass while fishing on Lake Somerville.

Thirteen-year-old Weston Klutt of Boerne caught this 120-pound tarpon while fishing with R.J. Shelly at Port O’Connor. The tarpon was successfully released.

Visit FishGame.com to upload your own TEXAS HOT SHOTS and Vote for our next Winners 32

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12/11/18 5:32 PM


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