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The Fish & Game Council: Agents of Death The Council is an 11-member board that is statutorily mandated to provide:
... a system of protection, propagation, increase, control and conservation of freshwater fish, game birds, game animals, and fur-bearing animals in this State, and for their use and development for public recreation and food supply, the council is hereby authorized and empowered to determine under that circumstances… freshwater fish, game birds, game animals and fur-bearing animals… may be pursued, taken (or) killed… so as to maintain an adequate and proper supply thereof…” NJSA 13:1B-30
As mandated by NJSA 13:1B-24, the 11 members of the Council must be:
> 6 hunters recommended by the NJ Federation of Sportsmen; > 3 farmers recommended by the agriculture community; > the chair of the Endangered and Non-Game Species committee, and; > a person knowledgeable in land use management and soil conservation.
At this time, ten of the eleven are hunters; and NONE OPPOSE HUNTING.
The Game Code: The Killer’s Manual Although touted as management, organized hunting is thinly veiled recreation. As previously cited, the Council’s mandate to create recreational hunting is clear. While F&W makes public statements to the contrary, their own records and reports show how blatantly recreational all their hunting is.
The Game Code is the official document in which all of the hunting and trapping seasons are set. Annually, the Council votes on amendments to the Game Code.
These changes range from allowing new species to be hunted, to changing the number of animals whom a hunter is allowed to kill per day.
Each year the Council adds more amendments that create more killing. The following is just a sampling from Fish and Wildlife’s comments on the 2000-2001 Game Code, published in the NJ Register:
COYOTE hunting was added to the Game Code in 1996. F&W was very clear in their reasoning for initiating this hunt by stating that “the proposed hunting season will allow for increased recreational use of the coyote resource by New Jersey sportsmen and women.” [NJ Register, 8/19/96]
Interestingly, F&W eagerly pursued opening up a hunting season on coyotes, a species known to prey on deer, despite their claims that deer are overpopulated in New Jersey.
BLACK BEARS are at the center of F&W’s sights. Despite the fact that they were hunted to the point of near extinction under F&W’s “management,” F&W has been attempting in recent years to reinstate a black bear hunt. In their 1997 bear hunt proposal, F&W stated that they were attempting to “Re-establish a hunting season for black bear to provide recreational opportunity for the sporting public…” F&W claimed in 2000 that the purpose of a bear hunt was reducing human/bear conflicts, but finally called it what it is: a “sport” hunt. [NJ Register, 9/5/00]. A hunt took place in 2003 despite overwhelming public opposition. The planned 2004 hunt never happened due to the intervention of the DEP Commissioner. But the bears are still listed as a game species and need statutory protection for the future.
PHEASANTS, not native to New Jersey, were introduced into our state by F&W. Today, 50,000 pheasants are bred annually at F&W’s breeding farm. These birds spend most of their lives in small cages only to be thrown onto fields and killed the next day by hunters seeking “sport.” F&W states, “The current (pheasant breeding) program is strictly ‘put and take’ to supplement wild population in order to provide recreational pheasant hunting…” [NJ Register 8/4/97]
Attitude Adjustment Needed Former F&W Director Robert McDowell wrote the following in the State of the N.J. Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife:
"The Division will continue to explore ways to increase recreational opportunity for deer, wild turkey, waterfowl, upland game and furbearers, as well as to expand youth hunting programs.”
This quote sums up F&W’s attitude toward wildlife. Instead of protecting and cherishing wildlife, F&W looks at wildlife as nothing more than moving targets. The arguments that they put out to the public are merely a smokescreen aimed at hiding the real issue and attempting to make their killing more palatable.
Are You Outraged? When New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance wrote to Robert McDowell, expressing our opposition to the coyote hunting season, he replied:
“There have been substantial efforts in the past by national animal rights/welfare groups to challenge the authority of the Council. They were unsuccessful. You, of course, always have the option to contact legislative representatives on this and any issue you feel requires redress."
This is exactly the course of action we need to take if we are to protect wildlife from Fish and Wildlife. Legislators in our state need to hear from those who are against cruelty to animals, and who demand an end to the rampant killing initiated by the Division of Fish and Wildlife and the Fish and Game Council.
When enough people take a stand for the animals who are hunted and trapped, the killing and suffering will stop. Contact your legislators immediately and demand an end to the state-sanctioned slaughter of wildlife and a change in the makeup of the Fish & Game Council. Please visit our page on legislation to learn what actions you can take. |
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