Media Coverage - It’s All About the Doves — Vote No on Proposal 3
Published October 13, 2006. Op-Ed by Julie Baker. Escanaba Daily News
Editor’s note: The following guest column is from Julie Baker, director of the Committee to Keep Doves Protected in Lansing.
Dove shooting proponents are desperate with their position and clear lack of public support for target shooting the state’s official Bird of Peace, the mourning dove. So much so, that some have even resorted to attacking those who simply want to keep doves protected. In his Oct. 6 Daily Press column titled “Battle over dove hunt proposal is heating up,” to his discredit outdoor writer Tim Kobasic tried to substitute fear for reason.
The Committee to Keep Doves Protected is made up of more than 1,000 endorsing entities and respects Michigan’s hunting heritage.
Major newspapers across Michigan endorse our position, and according to our opponents’ own poll — which is consistent with all other legitimate polls conducted in Michigan — “about 60 percent of the public and more than 50 percent of hunters are opposed to continuing Michigan’s dove season (Flint Journal, March 2, 2006).”
Mourning doves are enjoyed as an important part of a multi-billion dollar bird watching and feeding industry in Michigan and through millions of donated dollars of support to the Non-game Trust Fund. There are already 40 game bird species to hunt in Michigan, so there’s no reason to add doves to the list of game.
Make no mistake. While some might try to lead you into believing that doves would “only” be shot a long way from Escanaba, in six southern counties this assertion is untrue. The change in public policy that proponents are pushing allows the shooting of mourning doves in every part of the state. On Nov. 7, Michigan citizens will be voting yes or no on the shooting of doves in your area — starting next year.
While some also assert that the citizens of Michigan aren’t “smart” enough to have a fair say or the constitutional right to vote on this issue, wildlife is held in trust for the people of the state of Michigan and the majority voice does matter.
Traditional non-game or protected birds like the mourning dove should remain a protected species since they are not overpopulated, are not harmful to people, property or crops, and one only needs to look in their backyard to see that a dove’s small breast — if shot properly — is not a viable human food source.
But presenting mythical fears to replace factual reason is not a new tactic for those who oppose protecting doves. They have demonstrated over and over again that they don’t respect Michigan citizens and they don’t respect Michigan laws.
First, only registered Michigan voters could sign and circulate petitions. And while Kobasic would like to imply otherwise, this citizen referendum was completely qualified for the ballot through more than 5,000 grassroots volunteers statewide who gathered signatures during the coldest months of the year.
Second, Citizens for Wildlife Conservation (CWC) — which Kobasic admits consists of a majority of out-of-state groups — resorted to illegal gambling to fund its over 3 million dollar campaign through a lottery sweepstakes that was shut down by the attorney general’s office in August. The funds gathered over several months of selling illegal tickets were not returned to most contributors who bought the tickets. Instead, those illegally begotten dollars can now be used illegally to influence voters on Proposal 3.
And third, member organizations of the CWC relentlessly terrorized the Detroit Zoo and others for allowing the committee to lawfully rent the Wildlife Interpretive Gallery for a fund-raising gala. Yet in the same breath you’ll hear them try to proclaim that somehow those who want to protect doves don’t really care about doves and are opposed all “animal use” issues such as zoos, pet ownership, all hunting, or even life-saving medical research.
These ridiculous claims are, of course, just over-the-top assertions that do not represent or come from the Committee to Keep Doves Protected. The factual truth of Proposal 3 is: It’s all about the doves and nothing else. Our committee seeks to change no policy and we didn’t pick this fight. We simply hope to keep doves protected as they have been since 1905 and allow the people of the state of Michigan to vote no on Proposal 3 to continue Michigan’s 100-year tradition of protecting mourning doves as backyard songbirds.
