Drizzt
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Bunny hunt bugs animal-rights advocates
01/09/03
BILL MONROE
Mom, kids, the family beagle -- who could object?
Other than, say, Thumper.
Try Oregon's animal-rights community.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ran low on its luck this week with an otherwise popular women's program that promotes fishing and hunting as safe, family-friendly sports and features events such as a mother-child hunting day Saturday in a state wildlife area north of Corvallis.
State officials assumed no one would mind a modest hunt for a species not known for reproductive difficulties.
But they didn't reckon on the urban image of bunny rabbits, a symbol of Easter and all that is cuddly.
Protesters took aim Monday, and by Tuesday morning, the event was postponed, pending a full meeting of the wildlife commission Friday.
A dozen protesters outside the agency's Portland headquarters Wednesday said rabbit hunting is not something children need to learn. They cheered the postponement but want the hunt canceled.
Ann Snyder, a Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman, characterized the protest as a sign of an increasing chasm between the state's rural roots and its growing urban population.
"There are merging cultural differences," Snyder said. "The state is urbanizing, and not as much is known about hunting."
In urban areas, rabbits are pets or a fixture in a child's classroom. In rural Oregon, rabbits are not only fair game, they have helped form hunting foundations for many youths.
"It also speaks to our concept of what is a pet, what's wild? All those arguments are there under the surface. Rabbits in particular," Snyder said. "Some people wear them, some eat them, some have them as pets."
"I wouldn't protest an individual hunter," said protest organizer Matt Rossell of the Portland office of In Defense of Animals, "but promoting the hunting of rabbits as a family fun event is crossing the line."
Rossell, the California-based organization's Northwest outreach coordinator, called the event a "canned hunt on a refuge."
Protesters will state their case to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission at 1 p.m. Friday during the commission's regularly scheduled monthly meeting.
This was the agency's second attempt to expose women to rabbit hunting.
In 2002, a adult-only rabbit hunting class was canceled after only five women and one man registered.
Nevertheless, all six were taken on a daylong hunt by the Marys Peak Hound Club, sparking this year's more popular offer to include children.
"It's a beagle seminar and rabbit hunt combined," said Jerry Ray of the hound club. "We're not just going out there and shoot rabbits, puff up our chests about being great hunters and leave. And it's a lot easier than climbing up a mountain on an elk hunt. It encourages mothers and kids to get involved in raising and training beagles and in the activity of hunting at the same time."
When asked if he would testify Friday, Ray said, "I don't know what to say. How can you defend yourself when you haven't done a single thing wrong?"
Women and children make up 58,000 of Oregon's licensed hunters, Snyder said.
"The folks opposed to this must think they're all males," she said.
She said the hunt was postponed because of safety concerns for protesters unaccustomed to being in a hunting area and because the participants "didn't sign up for disruptions and protests."
Snyder said one of her staff received a death threat from an unidentified protester. Oregon State Police were notified.
The event was organized to teach 19 pre-registered parents and eight children about raising and using beagles to hunt on the E. E. Wilson Wildlife Management Area north of Corvallis.
It cost registrants $50 per adult and one child, and $10 for an additional child to cover costs and food for the daylong event, one of several organized annually under the 10-year-old "Becoming an Outdoor Woman" program. All eight children, ages 12-18, have passed a state-required hunter's safety course and exam.
Dave Budeau, who manages the department's wildlife area on a former World War II Army training camp, said the area is laced with miles of easily walked asphalt roads and a checkerboard of blackberry thickets. Dogs, usually beagles originally bred to hunt small game, work through the thickets to force rabbits into the open, where the hunters can shoot them.
"There are plenty of rabbits out here," Budeau said. "It's the second-most popular hunt we have after pheasants. Dads come out here with their kids all the time."
Mary Huey, a Beaverton grandmother and former teacher, who rescues pet rabbits and heard about the hunt, thinks it's wrong to put firearms into the hands of youngsters.
"There are better things they can learn about than how to go out and kill," she said.
But Suzanne Trott of Hillsboro, who registered for Saturday's hunt along with her 15-year-old son and deer-hunting companion, James, said she was disappointed at delaying the chance to see beagles work in the field and share the day with her son.
"They protested a rabbit hunt?" she said. "That's a pretty sad thing."
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oreg...ard.xsl?/base/front_page/1042117871257490.xml
01/09/03
BILL MONROE
Mom, kids, the family beagle -- who could object?
Other than, say, Thumper.
Try Oregon's animal-rights community.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ran low on its luck this week with an otherwise popular women's program that promotes fishing and hunting as safe, family-friendly sports and features events such as a mother-child hunting day Saturday in a state wildlife area north of Corvallis.
State officials assumed no one would mind a modest hunt for a species not known for reproductive difficulties.
But they didn't reckon on the urban image of bunny rabbits, a symbol of Easter and all that is cuddly.
Protesters took aim Monday, and by Tuesday morning, the event was postponed, pending a full meeting of the wildlife commission Friday.
A dozen protesters outside the agency's Portland headquarters Wednesday said rabbit hunting is not something children need to learn. They cheered the postponement but want the hunt canceled.
Ann Snyder, a Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman, characterized the protest as a sign of an increasing chasm between the state's rural roots and its growing urban population.
"There are merging cultural differences," Snyder said. "The state is urbanizing, and not as much is known about hunting."
In urban areas, rabbits are pets or a fixture in a child's classroom. In rural Oregon, rabbits are not only fair game, they have helped form hunting foundations for many youths.
"It also speaks to our concept of what is a pet, what's wild? All those arguments are there under the surface. Rabbits in particular," Snyder said. "Some people wear them, some eat them, some have them as pets."
"I wouldn't protest an individual hunter," said protest organizer Matt Rossell of the Portland office of In Defense of Animals, "but promoting the hunting of rabbits as a family fun event is crossing the line."
Rossell, the California-based organization's Northwest outreach coordinator, called the event a "canned hunt on a refuge."
Protesters will state their case to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission at 1 p.m. Friday during the commission's regularly scheduled monthly meeting.
This was the agency's second attempt to expose women to rabbit hunting.
In 2002, a adult-only rabbit hunting class was canceled after only five women and one man registered.
Nevertheless, all six were taken on a daylong hunt by the Marys Peak Hound Club, sparking this year's more popular offer to include children.
"It's a beagle seminar and rabbit hunt combined," said Jerry Ray of the hound club. "We're not just going out there and shoot rabbits, puff up our chests about being great hunters and leave. And it's a lot easier than climbing up a mountain on an elk hunt. It encourages mothers and kids to get involved in raising and training beagles and in the activity of hunting at the same time."
When asked if he would testify Friday, Ray said, "I don't know what to say. How can you defend yourself when you haven't done a single thing wrong?"
Women and children make up 58,000 of Oregon's licensed hunters, Snyder said.
"The folks opposed to this must think they're all males," she said.
She said the hunt was postponed because of safety concerns for protesters unaccustomed to being in a hunting area and because the participants "didn't sign up for disruptions and protests."
Snyder said one of her staff received a death threat from an unidentified protester. Oregon State Police were notified.
The event was organized to teach 19 pre-registered parents and eight children about raising and using beagles to hunt on the E. E. Wilson Wildlife Management Area north of Corvallis.
It cost registrants $50 per adult and one child, and $10 for an additional child to cover costs and food for the daylong event, one of several organized annually under the 10-year-old "Becoming an Outdoor Woman" program. All eight children, ages 12-18, have passed a state-required hunter's safety course and exam.
Dave Budeau, who manages the department's wildlife area on a former World War II Army training camp, said the area is laced with miles of easily walked asphalt roads and a checkerboard of blackberry thickets. Dogs, usually beagles originally bred to hunt small game, work through the thickets to force rabbits into the open, where the hunters can shoot them.
"There are plenty of rabbits out here," Budeau said. "It's the second-most popular hunt we have after pheasants. Dads come out here with their kids all the time."
Mary Huey, a Beaverton grandmother and former teacher, who rescues pet rabbits and heard about the hunt, thinks it's wrong to put firearms into the hands of youngsters.
"There are better things they can learn about than how to go out and kill," she said.
But Suzanne Trott of Hillsboro, who registered for Saturday's hunt along with her 15-year-old son and deer-hunting companion, James, said she was disappointed at delaying the chance to see beagles work in the field and share the day with her son.
"They protested a rabbit hunt?" she said. "That's a pretty sad thing."
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oreg...ard.xsl?/base/front_page/1042117871257490.xml
califorinios' assessment!