Take Action Today! New York sportsmen should contact their state senator and ask them to vote NO on Senate Bill 711. Let them know that hunting funds conservation and anti-poaching efforts that would be lost if this bill passes. New York members can find their state senator by using the Sportsmen’s Alliance Legislative Action Center.
New York State Sen. Phil Boyle (R-Bay Shore) has pre-filed legislation (S 711) that seeks to ban the importation of any body part of a giraffe. S 711 is a knee-jerk reaction to appease extremist animal-rights groups who have loudly protested the legal harvest of giraffes in Africa.
While the sponsor believes his legislation will curry favor with animal-rights groups and garner positive press, it actually harms the scientific management and survival of giraffes.
According to a Northwest University of South Africa report on hunting, an estimated $156 million dollars from hunting and hunting-associated revenues were collected in South Africa in 2012. These revenues benefit the local communities in many ways, with the most important being huge financial incentives that discourage illegal poaching.
“Like previous legislation that banned the import of African game, S 711 only makes it harder to manage wildlife in host countries, while also destroying the very mechanism that protects giraffes and other heavily poached African game for a worldwide black market,” said Luke Houghton, associate director of state services for Sportsmen’s Alliance.
Well-regulated American hunters must obtain the proper import permits from both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and be legally permitted to hunt those species in the range countries. Also, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service only issues import permits for hunts that occur in countries that maintain sound conservation plans that help improve threatened and endangered wildlife.
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.