The Humane Society of the United States Calls Plan to Restart, then Phase Out Pheasant Stocking Operation Outrageous
The National Park Service (NPS) recently released a completed sport hunting plan for the Cape Cod National Seashore. The plan retains most of the current sport hunting programs, but re-instates a pheasant stocking program that has not occurred since 2002, only to phase it out over a period of 14 to 17 years. The program was halted by a federal court order after The Fund for Animals filed suit challenging the program.
Pheasants are a non-native species raised in captivity and stocked solely for sport hunting. Stocked pheasants do not have the instinct to flee from hunters or predators. If not killed immediately by waiting hunters, the birds are picked off by predators, succumb to harsh weather conditions, or even starve.
"For the next 17 years, the doomed farm-reared pheasants will be scratching next to their feeders and we'll be scratching our heads," said Stephanie Hagopian, Massachusetts state director of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). "Sport hunters are already accustomed to not receiving this senseless service--there's no reason to start a cruel, wasteful program just to phase it out. It's like fixing your car before driving it to the junk yard."
Facts:
· Prior to a decision by the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts halting pheasant stocking in 2003, the NPS and Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife released hundreds of pheasants on the Seashore during a six-week fall sport hunting season.
· The pheasants, native to China, are raised on intensive bird farms, where they are frequently outfitted with "blinders" and subjected to debeaking.
· In the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the NPS rules out establishing a habitat management program for pheasants precisely because the stocking of these animals is inconsistent with NPS policy against the introduction of exotic species.
Timeline:
· August 3, 2007: The NPS announces the completion of the Final EIS with a preferred alternative including a modified sport hunting program. Within the next 30 days, the Service will formally choose and announce which sport hunting management alternative will be implemented.
· June 19, 2006: The HSUS joined by the Massachusetts Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), the Animal Protection Institute, and the Animal Welfare Institute submit comments to the NPS on their Draft EIS: Cape Cod National Seashore Hunting Program encouraging a permanent prohibition of pheasant stocking and questioning the role of sport hunting in managing the Seashore.
· April 2006: The NPS issues a Draft EIS of the Cape Cod National Seashore Hunting Program with three alternatives: (1) retain all aspects of the current Seashore sport hunting management, (2) modify sport hunting program with a new spring turkey season and pheasant stocking phase out, or (3) eliminate sport hunting on the Seashore.
· September 26, 2003: Judge Patti B. Saris, U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, found that the NPS violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by not conducting an environmental assessment of all Seashore sport hunting programs and halted pheasant stocking on the Seashore until the NPS complied with NEPA.
· September 20, 2002: The Fund for Animals (an organization that has since combined operations with The HSUS), MSPCA, and several Cape Cod residents filed suit challenging the NPS' alarming practice of releasing captive-reared, exotic pheasants onto Seashore land for sport hunting despite the agency's own policies which prohibit the intentional release of exotic wildlife.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization – backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at humanesociety.org .
