CA Wild Pig Bill S.B. 856 comes with anti-hunting consequences
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SB-856 Wild Pigs is bad legislation. This bill is marketed as pro-hunting however anti-hunting orgs wrote in a section to take away opportunities for vets, kids, elderly & disabled. This proposed legislation from Senator Dodd (Napa) was copied verbatim from the 2018 wild pig bill which was originally supported in part by anti-hunters who wanted to eliminate hunting opportunity on private property. To date Senator Dodd has refused to amend this bill and the bill now sits on an appropriations committee.
Do we need to bow to the anti-hunting groups who inserted language into this bill just to get a bill passed? Some feel we need the anti-hunting orgs support to play politics with these bills. The end goal of anti-hunting groups is to end-all-hunting in case we've lost sight.
The Bait - $15 validation for unlimited pig take - Sounds great right?
The Hidden - This bill gets CDFW involved in USDA entry permits for livestock and would prevent entry level & disabled individual opportunities on current LEGAL, Permitted, Inspected and Licensed Preserve Hunts. This law will affect Veteran Groups, Disabled Hunters, Entry-Level Hunters and Elderly Hunters across the board. There is simply no reason to mix a WILD PIG BILL with LIVESTOCK operations. What's next, end farming and butchering of livestock? See Oregon O.P. 13 - that proposal would ban all hunting, fishing and animal agriculture.
There are many reasons the entire hunting community needs to oppose this legislation. (1) If approved, this legislation will outlaw significant hunting opportunity that is vital and important to disabled veterans, new hunters, youth, elderly hunters, and hunters who are not ready or physically able to venture out into the wild of public land hunting. Eliminating these hunts sets precedent for future restrictions on waterfowl, upland game and fishing! (2) This legislation will reduce funding to the Big Game Mgmt Account by up to $1M annually. These funds are incredibly important for wildlife and habitat management that benefits ALL species in California (3) This bill requires CDFW to prepare a management plan for wild pigs no later than Jan 2024!! This timeline is not viable or feasible and it completely opposed to the needed and higher priority management plans for deer, black bear, bobcats and wild sheep. (4) SB 856 eliminates the need for a landowner to obtain or report harvest under a depredation permit, effectively removing one of the only data collection opportunities for biologists in the state. Make depredation permit access more efficient, but do not eliminate them.
If the goals of this legislation are a single validation instead of tag sales, and improved access to depredation hunting for landowners, this legislation needs to be gutted and improved - so it must be stopped in it's current form.
Adding your voice sends an email to sponsoring Sen. Bill Dodd and to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Let these decision makers know that SB 856 is bad legislation!
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Hunting Ain't Easy - IG