Read the Response Letter

Delta Waterfowl joined three dozen conservation partners in signing a letter expressing opposition to a petition that, in effect, calls for elimination of the ability to transport legally harvested wild game across any state or international border.

The petition, submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by the anti-hunting Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council, specifically seeks a ban on trade in wild mammals and birds.

“This is yet another attempt by the CBD and NRDC to move toward the elimination of hunting as we know it — around the world and here in North America,” said Delta Waterfowl’s senior director of government affairs, Cyrus Baird. “This attempt is particularly vile in that it attempts to capitalize on the COVID-19 pandemic to misrepresent hunters like you and me and the hunting industry as a whole.”

Since its founding 110 years ago, Delta Waterfowl has recognized that regulated, recreational hunting is a key driver and the majority funding source for wildlife conservation efforts of all kinds, for both game and non-game species. It is a big part of the reason Delta Waterfowl is proud to carry the title “The Duck Hunters Organization.”

“We’re joining opposition to this petition because it blatantly ignores the vital conservation work that hunting supports in both the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, and the biodiversity and economic success stories written by legal, regulated sport hunting around the world,” said Baird.

Another portion of the petition calls for prohibition of interstate transportation of legally harvested wild game in the United States, which ultimately would prohibit nonresident hunting of any kind.

“It’s worded in such a way that an unaware individual might consider it important to preventing ‘future pandemics.’ That’s simply ridiculous!” said Baird.

You can read the entire letter signed by 36 North American-based conservation organizations here.

– Bill Miller