FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, July 10, 1997
CONTACT:
Heidi Prescott, (301) 585-2591, Heidi@fund.org
Holly Jensen, (352) 495-9171
TAMPA, FLA. -- Today, at the Tampa Airport Hilton, Metrocenter, 2225 North Lois Avenue, members of The Fund for Animals, Florida Voices for Animals, Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, and many other groups rallied outside the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission meeting. The bird advocates urged the Commissioners to reject a proposal that could allow hunting in Florida's 118 "bird sanctuaries."
The Commission is being pestered by a handful of sport hunters who want to shoot mourning doves in parts of the 144-square-mile bird sanctuary in southern Dade County, and has proposed amending the rules that govern all 118 sanctuaries. The plan has drawn ire from Floridians, including an editorial in The Miami Herald that stated, "By most people's definition sanctuaries' are safe havens, places where birds and wildlife are protected. But in the Orwellian speech of the day, missiles are peacekeepers,' and sanctuaries' . . . are occasional hunting preserves."
Says Heidi Prescott, National Director of The Fund for Animals, "If there's one place an animal should be safe from a hunter's gun, it's in a designated sanctuary. Because sanctuaries are only designated in urban areas, this reckless proposal would put people at risk as well as wildlife."
The Commission is expected to vote on the proposal on Friday.
