News

State Senate OKs Bill
Granholm Expected to Veto

Published April 1, 2004. By Chris Christoff. Detroit Free Press.
State Senate OKs dove hunting

Hunters won an apparent short-lived victory Wednesday as the Senate voted to allow the hunting of mourning doves, a songbird protected in Michigan for 99 years. Gov. Jennifer Granholm said she will veto the bill because it would not put the controversial dove hunting issue to a public vote, a spokesperson said.

It appears the House and Senate would not have the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. The bill, which passed without debate, ended years of efforts by hunting advocates to make Michigan the 40th state to allow dove hunting.

The vote was 22-15, with only two Republicans voting against the bill. Five Democrats voted for it, including Sen. Samuel Buzz Thomas III of Detroit, who opposed dove hunting in the past. Thomas, a nonhunter, said mourning doves are not the white bird of peace associated with Christmas, but rather a legitimate game bird. "I don't think there's anything wrong with providing sportsmen with opportunities to hunt or fish as part of Michigan's tradition," Thomas said.

Despite a pending veto, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Susan Tabor, R-Delta Township, was elated by the Senate vote. "The beautiful thing is, the folks that don't want to hunt these birds don't have to," Tabor said. "But now, we'll be able to hunt them, provided the governor signs the bill."

The House had already approved the bill, and was expected today to concur with minor changes made in the Senate before sending it to Granholm. The bill would allow the state Natural Resources Commission to set rules for a mourning dove season.

A veto would sour hunters' opinion of Granholm, said Sam Washington, executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs. The MUCC was part of a large coalition of hunting advocates that lobbied intensely for the dove hunt bill. "If she vetoes it, I don't know that anything will convince sportsmen that she is willing to work for and with them," Washington said.

Proponents testified that the United States has about 400 million doves, including at least 4 million that migrate south from Michigan each fall. They are found primarily in the southern half of the Lower Peninsula.

Eileen Liska, spokeswoman for the Michigan Humane Society, which opposes dove hunting, said the Senate showed the political clout of such pro-hunting groups as the National Rifle Association. A February poll by EPIC/MRA of Lansing found that half of Michiganders are opposed to dove hunting, 30 percent support it and 20 percent are undecided. "What happened today was that a financially powerful special interest group that represents a small minority of hunters were able to impose their will on the state," Liska said. She added, "Thankfully, the governor realizes the will of the people has been circumvented."

Jean Gramlich, an Audubon Society member from Birmingham, was at the Capitol on Wednesday with a group from the Sierra Club when she heard about the Senate vote. "It's ridiculous," Gramlich said. "Mourning doves don't damage the environment. Do you shoot something just because it's there?"

Tabor said doves are challenging targets, but plentiful so that even disabled people can hunt from wheelchairs in fields. "It's fun and they're delicious," she said. "I have great recipes."

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