Governor Cuomo VETOES Anti DEC Mute Swan Proposal
The governor did indeed veto the mute swan proposal. On December 17, 2014; senate bill 06589 and assembly bill 08790a were VETOED and “tabled”.
About the same time this legislation was introduced, the DEC had already agreed to compromise with anti-hunters, however. This does not mean that the DEC will necessarily revoke the voluntary compromise; however, at least it does not bind them by law. It is not uncommon for wildlife agencies to modify conservation plans to be consistent with the input during the public review phase. It is not common, however, for an agency to afford protection to an invasive species. Someone, on either side of the issue, or within the DEC might reconcile this with an analogy which compares stocking brown trout and ring necked pheasant to satisfy the sportsmen. That wouldn't really be equitable comparisons and is not really accurate, but that is beyond the scope of this topic and we are not going to expand on that right now. We suggest, however, that sportsmen make a mental reservation about this, because it is likely to come up in the future. Also very similar, but off topic, is other legislation currently pending in NY at the time of this writing, which will protect another invasive bird, the monk parakeet which is also known as the Quaker parrot. The monk parakeet is currently unprotected and can be taken year round. This legislation would reclassify the monk parakeet as a fully protected bird and as such the DEC would not even be able to set a hunting season for it. This is the direct opposite of the efforts of sportsmen who have been trying to reclassify the mourning dove to a game bird. As in the case of mute swans; the Quaker parrot issue is important on its own merit; however it also has far – reaching effects on precedent and particularly the movement to establish a mourning dove hunting season in the last eight lower states which still do not allow hunting.
It doesn't end there and that is not all! To sum it up; if mourning doves are not classified as game it can be an obstacle to managing non-native doves. The vice versa is also true, if non-native doves are not classified as either game or unprotected wildlife, that may be an obstacle to establishing a mourning dove hunting season. The expanded explanation of why is as follows: Two species of non-native doves are spreading across the USA. Although the impact on native wildlife is unclear, since they are not classified as neither game, nor unprotected wildlife, they are by default “protected birds”. As such, the DEC would require legislative approval to allow hunting of them. Even if the legislature agreed to control non-native doves, since they are larger, but similar in appearance and behavior to mourning doves, an argument by the antis can be made that hunters will misidentify their targets and harvest mourning doves.
If these negative hypothetical scenarios do play out, the antis would hedge their bet that the resolve of the sporting community is insufficient in matters pertaining to small game. Success in influencing ANY DEC policy, however, leverages their total influence on ALL conservation policies, including whitetail deer. Such influence may manifest in non-lethal population control methods and a variety of other non-traditional policies.
For further reading see:
http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/the-common-denominator.html
http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/non-native-doves-reported-in-new-york.html
http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/eurasian-collared-dove-hunting-ndash-endless-opportunity.html
About the same time this legislation was introduced, the DEC had already agreed to compromise with anti-hunters, however. This does not mean that the DEC will necessarily revoke the voluntary compromise; however, at least it does not bind them by law. It is not uncommon for wildlife agencies to modify conservation plans to be consistent with the input during the public review phase. It is not common, however, for an agency to afford protection to an invasive species. Someone, on either side of the issue, or within the DEC might reconcile this with an analogy which compares stocking brown trout and ring necked pheasant to satisfy the sportsmen. That wouldn't really be equitable comparisons and is not really accurate, but that is beyond the scope of this topic and we are not going to expand on that right now. We suggest, however, that sportsmen make a mental reservation about this, because it is likely to come up in the future. Also very similar, but off topic, is other legislation currently pending in NY at the time of this writing, which will protect another invasive bird, the monk parakeet which is also known as the Quaker parrot. The monk parakeet is currently unprotected and can be taken year round. This legislation would reclassify the monk parakeet as a fully protected bird and as such the DEC would not even be able to set a hunting season for it. This is the direct opposite of the efforts of sportsmen who have been trying to reclassify the mourning dove to a game bird. As in the case of mute swans; the Quaker parrot issue is important on its own merit; however it also has far – reaching effects on precedent and particularly the movement to establish a mourning dove hunting season in the last eight lower states which still do not allow hunting.
It doesn't end there and that is not all! To sum it up; if mourning doves are not classified as game it can be an obstacle to managing non-native doves. The vice versa is also true, if non-native doves are not classified as either game or unprotected wildlife, that may be an obstacle to establishing a mourning dove hunting season. The expanded explanation of why is as follows: Two species of non-native doves are spreading across the USA. Although the impact on native wildlife is unclear, since they are not classified as neither game, nor unprotected wildlife, they are by default “protected birds”. As such, the DEC would require legislative approval to allow hunting of them. Even if the legislature agreed to control non-native doves, since they are larger, but similar in appearance and behavior to mourning doves, an argument by the antis can be made that hunters will misidentify their targets and harvest mourning doves.
If these negative hypothetical scenarios do play out, the antis would hedge their bet that the resolve of the sporting community is insufficient in matters pertaining to small game. Success in influencing ANY DEC policy, however, leverages their total influence on ALL conservation policies, including whitetail deer. Such influence may manifest in non-lethal population control methods and a variety of other non-traditional policies.
For further reading see:
http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/the-common-denominator.html
http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/non-native-doves-reported-in-new-york.html
http://nydovehunting.weebly.com/eurasian-collared-dove-hunting-ndash-endless-opportunity.html