AR-News: (US-PA) FUND FOR ANIMALS CONDEMNS HOUSE COMMITTEE FOR PASSING FRIVOLOUS RIGHT-TO-HUNT AMENDMENT

[Tracey McIntire]

For Immediate Release

FUND FOR ANIMALS CONDEMNS HOUSE COMMITTEE FOR PASSING FRIVOLOUS 
RIGHT-TO-HUNT AMENDMENT

HARRISBURG, PA (February 9, 2004)  The Fund for Animals, a national 
animal protection organization with 9,000 members and active supporters 
in Pennsylvania, is urging representatives to oppose H.B. 1512, a joint 
resolution proposing to amend the state constitution to grant residents 
of Pennsylvania the right to hunt. H.B. 1512 was just released from 
Appropriations Committee.

The constitution is a sacred document which shouldnt be used as a 
graffiti wall for political rhetoric, said Heidi Prescott, National 
Director of The Fund for Animals. To establish constitutional 
protections for recreational pursuits such as hunting is not only 
inappropriate, but redundant. Nearly a million people already hunt in 
Pennsylvania without having that right enshrined in the constitution.

Prescott points out that the bill may in fact open the Pennsylvania Game 
Commission to lawsuits from hunters who do not think any restriction on 
hunting is reasonablewanting larger bag limits, longer season dates, 
and additional species to shoot. And if one special interest group is 
allowed to use the state constitution for its purposes, the floodgates 
will be opened for other groups to follow, said Prescott. Whats next? 
An amendment allowing the right to play golf or go shopping?

Only a handful of states have right-to-hunt amendments in their 
constitutions, while most states have rejected such measures. 
Legislators in most stateseven major hunting stateshave had the 
common sense to defeat bills granting constitutional status to sport 
hunting, said Prescott. The citizens of Pennsylvania do not need to 
add a silly provision protecting a recreational hobby.