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Mourning Doves Again In Legislators' Sights

Published 12/11/2001 - The Jackson Citizen Patriot
Mourning Doves Again In Legislators' Sights.

Here we go again. A year after the state Senate shot down a proposal to let hunters take aim at mourning doves, the idea is again taking flight in the Legislature. This time, House lawmakers are playing coy with their intentions, as a committee last week passed a bill to let the Natural Resources Commission decide what animals can be hunted.

Make no mistake, this bill is a barely disguised -- and poorly conceived -- effort to target the doves. Since the public has little appetite for seeing the small birds gunned down in droves, now the decision to legalize dove killing would be shifted to a group of unelected bureaucrats. Sure, the bill says the commission must hold public hearings, but if lawmakers wanted Michigan residents' input, they wouldn't ditch their responsibilities here in the first place.

We have no quarrel with hunting as a means of recreation, to provide a source of meat or to thin out overpopulated species. But the mourning dove is a different creature altogether. No one is complaining that doves are a threat to property or livelihood. Nor can anyone expect a sale on dove meat at the local supermarket. The intent behind allowing hunters to take aim at mourning doves can be described in two words: target practice.

Equally troubling is how the legislators who favor dove hunting are attempting to get their way this year. Last year's bill at least made clear that mourning doves were the issue, and the decision rested with the representatives whom we, the voters, sent to Lansing. This year's version aims to move the spotlight -- and the fire that any decision would generate -- away from the Legislature. One of the bill's backers said legislators lack the scientific expertise to decide such an issue. Nonsense. If that were the benchmark, the Legislature wouldn't be qualified to vote on most bills.

The legislation, too, expands the Natural Resources Commission's powers considerably, handing it the power to place any creature on its list of game animals. Mourning doves could be in the commission's sights first. What would be next? This isn't just bad policy; it's badly written legislation.

The Michigan Audubon Society last week called the entire effort a "cunning deception." We agree. The state Senate should defeat this measure decisively, and the question should be put to rest. The public spoke out last year, and there's no reason to revisit dove hunting anytime soon. Trying to legalize it with a back-door approach is cowardly -- even more so than shooting at a small bird.

--The Jackson Citizen Patriot

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