<http://www.planputnam.org>
The Stanley Kramer film "Bless the Beasts & Children
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068286/>" tells the story of a group of
misfit kids at a summer camp and their journey to free captured plains
buffalo penned up so that hunters can come and pay good money to shoot
them. The buffalo cannot run away or escape and they've been well fed so
they've become fat and lazy and dependent upon humans for survival.
What's the expression? "Like shooting fish in a barrel."
Here in the United States and even right here in the Harlem Valley,
people have set up ranches stocked with native and exotic wildlife, some
of it rare, some threatened. Zoos and animal farms that can no longer
keep their rhino's and gazelles, find a ready market there. Here too
people come and pay good money for a chance to shoot an animal that is
not going to run away and save themselves the expense and trouble of
traveling to a foreign land and hunting the way real hunters do: by
stalking their prey.
That's what canned hunting is. And it's a horrid thing. The worst kind
of murder.
Yet, Assemblyman Greg Ball supports this type of hunting, claiming on
the floor of the Assembly that if the New York bans the use of exotic,
non-native animals from canned hunts
<http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A2612> held within the state that
the next step is that the state will ban the shooting of white -tailed
deer, then the state will take away everyone's guns and finally we'll
all have chips in our backs. (see the video clip here
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku3spN0qcpo>). He also claims he
represents 'thousands of hunters in his district' whom, one might
assume, has given him their blessing to fight for this abominable
practice in their name.
He calls it "the slippery slope bill to make hunters into outlaws." He
also offers to wrestle any member of the legislature who does not
believe he loves animals. He didn't say if he would wrestle naked in
jello, but if he does, I'll buy a ticket just for the guffaws.
Personally, the way I look at it, if you want to shoot an ibex
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibex> or a rhinoceros, go to Africa.
JmG
Introduced by M. of A. GLICK, P. RIVERA, LAVELLE, BENEDETTO, McDONOUGH,
MILLMAN, BING, PAULIN, MAYERSOHN, GREENE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M.
of A. COOK, DINOWITZ, GALEF, MAISEL, McENENY, PHEFFER, SWEENEY, TITUS
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conserva-
tion
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the
prohibition on canned shoots
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
1 Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 11-1904 of the
2 environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 208 of the laws of
3 1999, is amended to read as follows:
4 a. The taking on such premises by any person {who pays a fee to take}
5 OF a live non-native big game mammal by any of the following means:
6 (1) the shooting or spearing of a non-native big game mammal that is
7 tied or hobbled;
8 (2) the shooting or spearing of a non-native big game mammal that is
9 staked or attached to any object;
10 (3) the shooting or spearing of a non-native big game mammal that is
11 confined in a box, pen, cage or similar container {of ten or less
12 contiguous acres} OR IN A FENCED OR OTHER AREA from which there is no
13 means for such mammal to escape;
14 (4) the deliberate release of a non-native big game mammal that is
15 confined in a box, pen, cage or similar container {of ten or less
16 contiguous acres} OR IN A FENCED OR OTHER AREA FROM WHICH THERE IS NO
17 MEANS FOR SUCH MAMMAL TO ESCAPE in the presence of any person who is, or
18 will be, shooting or spearing such non-native big game mammal.
19 S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
20 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
{ } is old law to be omitted.
LBD00661-01-7
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"Your hard work and dedication to the county is impressive. Thank you
for taking on this leadership role in our community."/ Jeremy Giordano/
Two generations of decentralized growth have drastically increased the
Region's urban land---by 60% in 30 years despite only a 13% increase in
population while draining people and jobs out of the Region's cities.
This development pattern threatens both large areas of open land and
critical environmental resources at the Region's outer edge as well as
the vitality of our cities and mature suburbs. - /Regional Plan
Association/
"...the number one fiscal tool a municipality could implement to keep
taxes down was to protect open space." /- Robert McKeon, chair of the
Red Hook Agriculture and Open Space Advisory Committee/
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attacks on government and public officials."
/New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 US 254, 270 (1964)/
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