The Humane Society of the United States, the most extreme anti-hunting group in the country, has a new ally—the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus (CAPC).
To be chaired by Reps. Jim Moran (D-VA) and Elton Gallegly (R-CA), CAPC purports to raise awareness of animal welfare issues in Congress and attempt to build coalitions in support of “common sense, humane animal welfare laws.”
Stated priorities for the 111th Congress include legislation banning the slaughter of horses, stronger regulations on Internet sales of puppies, and legislation requiring
accurate labels on all fur products.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) expressed predictable glee.
"The newly constituted Congressional Animal Protection Caucus will help better align our federal policies with public opinion,” said Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of HSUS, “and we are excited to work closely with its leaders and with the entire Congress to combat cruelty and abuse.”
Does the group’s agenda extend to threatening hunting and wildlife management? Darren La Sorte, NRA-ILA’s Manager of Hunting Policy said, “The formation of this congressional caucus by the radically anti-hunting HSUS should be a wake-up call for the nation’s hunters and dog owners. While HSUS always attempts to hide its true agenda—to prohibit all hunting in the country—the NRA and its members will not be fooled. We will work to ensure that our country’s centuries-old sporting heritage and the idea that wildlife management should be dictated by science, not emotion, prevail in Congress and throughout the rest of the country.”
HSUS routinely claims to oppose “only the most egregious” forms of hunting, but in their view, everything is egregious. Some of their more visible attacks on hunting include: a call to ban all lead ammunition nationwide; bans on dove hunting and black bear hunting; bans on Sunday hunting; and bans on youth mentored hunting programs. They oppose aerial predator control in Alaska by portraying it as “sport hunting” when it is truly a measure taken by state wildlife agents to assist residents who live in remote areas and depend on moose and caribou for subsistence. Recently, HSUS opposed critically needed culling of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, a step the National Park Service studied for more than 10 years before allowing. And HSUS has joined with other animal rights’ groups in keeping gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains on the Endangered Species List, despite overwhelming evidence that wolves are no longer endangered at all. Residents and game and fish personnel in three states (Montana, Wyoming and Idaho) are clamoring for the right to manage their wolf populations themselves.
There are many other examples, perhaps none so telling as the quote Wayne Pacelle gave the Associated Press in 1991: “If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would.”
