News

A Special Message from Wayne Pacelle

Dear Friend:

Today, September 1, could have been the start of a new mourning dove shooting season in Michigan -- because the legislature passed a bill in 2004 to reverse the state's century-long ban on dove shooting. It could have been the beginning of a two-month long season in which a single target shooter could kill and "bag" as many as 15 doves every day. A season that could have ended with tens of thousands of gentle mourning doves shot and needlessly killed -- not to mention all of those birds who would have been left wounded to suffer and die.

But in 2005 and 2006 there will be no dove shooting season in Michigan. That's because your support has helped qualify the mourning dove referendum for the statewide ballot, temporarily nullifying the act of the legislature and allowing Michigan voters (not a handful of lawmakers beholden to the NRA) to decide in November 2006 whether it's good public policy to protect doves or to shoot them for recreation.

Today is a day of celebration. Mourning doves will not be killed in September or October of this year, or in September or October of next year, thanks to your efforts. You should be proud of your accomplishments, and the birds you have helped to save. But our work is far from over. We need to work to permanently restore Michigan's longstanding tradition of dove protection.

Our job now is to reach Michigan's voters with our "VOTE NO ON THE MOURNING DOVE REFERENDUM" message between now and November of next year. Our opponents who want to shoot the gentle and inoffensive mourning dove for target practice are already aggressively organizing to defeat us, and they plan to raise at least $3 million! We need to fight back to counter their misinformation and propaganda, and we need your help.

Please give as generously as you can to the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban, and do everything you can between now and next November to make sure Michigan's doves are safe not just in 2005, not just in 2006, but permanently.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States

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