News

Women Wrap Up Crusade to Save Doves

Published February 27, 2005. By Jennifer Mitchell. The News-Herald.

Women wrap up crusade to save the doves

An effort to keep the state songbird, the mourning dove, in trees and off the dinner table is about to wrap up.

While the Michigan Dove Hunters post recipes on their site for the bird, animal activist organizations around the state are working feverishly to get the signatures of as many registered voters as possible. Opponents are trying to get the signatures of 225,000 registered voters by March 15 to allow residents to vote to ban a newly signed law allowing hunting of the doves.

Locally, Riverview residents Kim Skidmore and Kristine Jordan, along with fellow members of WAG Animal Rescue of Downriver, are making their way across the metropolitan area to gather signatures.

While the Michigan Dove Hunters post recipes on their site for the bird, animal activist organizations around the state are working feverishly to get the signatures of as many registered voters as possible.

While the Michigan Dove Hunters post recipes on their site for the bird, animal activist organizations around the state are working feverishly to get the signatures of as many registered voters as possible. Opponents are trying to get the signatures of 225,000 registered voters by March 15 to allow residents to vote to ban a newly signed law allowing hunting of the doves.

From Detroit to Wyandotte, Jordan has carried the petition from post offices to street fairs. Some places she leaves with signatures and others she leaves as quickly as she can. Jordan said she was asked to leave Wyandotte's Heritage Days in September by police. "They said that it was a private festival and no soliciting was allowed," Jordan said. She said she tried to argue that Bishop Park was public property, but eventually gave up and left. She also said she was asked to leave a warming tent at the January Winter Blast at Campus Martius in Detroit by a security guard and eight police officers.

Both women say their efforts stem from a love of animals and they want to see things done fairly - that is what makes it worth the effort. "This should be voted on by the citizens of Michigan," Skidmore said.

Despite campaign promises to the contrary, and a poll showing 51 percent of state residents in opposition, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill in July 2004 to allow dove hunting in Michigan.

The 2004 hunting season ran Sept. 10 through Oct. 30 in six counties west of U.S. 23 and south of I-94 - Berrien, Branch, Cass, Hillsdale, St. Joseph and Lenawee. Those six counties are scheduled to have dove hunts for the next two years.

Groups such as the Michigan United Conservation Clubs and sportsmen such as state Sen. Bruce Patterson (R-Canton Twp.) supported the measure. The MUCC said that hunting has little bearing on the overall population of mourning doves.

However, opponents argue that doves, which mate for life, are hunted during their nesting season and if one parent is killed, the remaining adult is most commonly unable to raise its young, leaving squabs (babies) in the nest to die of starvation.

Both Skidmore and Jordan hope voters will decide whether hunters can bag the birds.

Their signature campaign, part of the statewide Restore the Dove Shooting Ban effort to get the issue on the November 2006 general election ballot, began in September.

Julie Baker, of the Songbird Coalition and the driving force behind www.savethedoves.com, said she and other organizers of the Lansing-based ban restoration committee need about 225,000 signatures by the March deadline. As of Thursday, they were still about 60,000 registered voters off the mark.

The efforts of Skidmore, Jordan and other WAG members already have garnered between 1,200 and 1,400 signatures.

"They have worked so hard," Baker said.

To find out more about WAG's petition, call 1-734-676-6938 or visit Baker's Web site.

Welcome | News
| Action Alert | Your Representation
| Roll Call Vote
| Facts | What Can I Do? | Contact | Your Comments

Copyright ©2005 - Songbird Protection Coalition
Questions or Comments about this site?  Email Us
Page Updated: 03/02/05