AR-News: AP Story on Dove Hunt Betrayel By Granholm

[Political Animal]

Granholm signs bill to allow hunters to shoot doves
Friday, June 18, 2004 
BY AMY F. BAILEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LANSING -- Hunters will be allowed to shoot mourning
doves in Michigan under a bill signed Friday by Gov.
Jennifer Granholm. 
The Democratic governor signed a bill that changes the
dove's classification from a song bird to a game bird.

The Natural Resources Commission will set the
perimeters for a dove hunting season in July. 
Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said the governor signed
the bill based on a promise made by Natural Resources
Commission Chairman Keith Charters to recommend to the
seven-member commission a three-year trial hunt in six
counties -- Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph, Branch,
Hillsdale and Lenawee. 
At the end of the three years, the commission would
study the effects of the season on mourning dove
populations and use it evaluate future hunts, Charters
said in a letter to Granholm. 
"As chairman, I believe there would be strong support
from the members of the commission to proceed with
this type of approach," Charters said. 
Boyd said: "The governor believes this is a reasonable
compromise to an issues that has been discussed in
Lansing for decades." 
The Humane Society of the United States criticized
Granholm for signing the bill. They said she signed a
campaign pledge to continue the state's nearly
century-long ban on mourning dove hunting. 
"Jennifer Granholm lied to voters, and she has doomed
millions of doves to suffering and pain with a single
stroke of the pen," Wayne Pacelle, chief executive
officer of The Humane Society of the United States,
said in a news release. 
Michigan is the 41st state to allow a mourning dove
hunt. 
At least 4 million mourning doves migrate from
Michigan each year, according to conservative
estimates. The birds -- which look like slender,
streamlined pigeons -- are most prevalent south of a
line stretching from Bay City to Ludington. 
There are an estimated 450 million mourning doves in
North America, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.


		
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