AR-News: (US) HI: Hunting bill is opposed by animal rights coalition

[cathy goeggel]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--


  http://starbulletin.com/2004/02/09/news/index7.html (the same story
appeared in today's Honolulu Advertiser)
  By B.J. Reyes
  Associated Press
  Federal authorities would be allowed to conduct aerial hunts of feral
pigs, goats, sheep, deer and cattle on state and private lands under an
environmental protection bill advancing in the state Legislature.

  The state, in partnership with private landowners, conducts such
helicopter hunts about six to 12 times a year, state Land & Natural
Resources Director Peter Young said.

  But under Hawaii law, federal officials who work with the state on animal
control measures are only allowed to participate in aerial shoots when the
wild animals are encroaching on federal lands.

  "Since we are working in more partnerships with the federal government,
through the National Park Service and other federal agencies, we just want
to get the cooperative assistance from them," Young said.

  The proposal was passed last week by the House Water, Land Use and
Hawaiian Affairs Committee. A Senate version of the bill has not been
scheduled for a hearing.

  The advocacy group Animal Rights Hawaii opposes the measure.

  "We know that Hawaii's fragile environment faces many perils, most of them
resulting from human occupation," group president Cathy Goeggel told the
committee. "We urge you to deny this carte blanche requested for the federal
agencies to do anything they want to animals who have committed no crime and
did not ask to be brought here."

  Young said the aerial shoots are a means of protecting pristine
environments, where "if we allow the mammals to continue to be there, they
could get degraded."

  Typically, hunters would be allowed in environmentally sensitive areas to
help control the animal population, but sometimes those areas are isolated,
heavily forested or hazardous, requiring the aerial hunts.

  The Nature Conservancy, in testimony supporting the bill, noted that
watershed conservation areas are growing rapidly and that increased animal
control methods are needed.