News

Deadline Approaches for Petition

Published February 16, 2005. By April Lehmbeck. C&G Community Newspapers.
Deadline approaches for petition

SOUTHFIELD - As the deadline approaches to collect enough signatures for a ballot proposal to ban mourning dove hunting, the Michigan Humane Society is confident that it'll meet its goal with perseverance in the home stretch.

The Michigan Humane Society, which has headquarters in Southfield, is one of the groups on the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban. The committee needs to collect more than 158,000 signatures by next month to get the issue on the November 2006 ballot.

As of early this month, they had collected more than 130,000 signatures.

"It's going to take a lot of hard work," said Kim Korona of the Michigan Humane Society. "I want people to understand that we'll meet the goal, but it's going to take a lot of hard work."People collecting signatures needed to continue the drive at the pace they had been working at for the past weeks, she said.

They want doves protected as they have been for several decades, before the ban was lifted to allow the first mourning dove hunting season in the fall of 2004. "Mourning doves are gentle, backyard songbirds beloved by citizens throughout our state," said Julie Baker, campaign director for the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban.

Korona called it ironic that this is the state's "bird of peace," and now it's being hunted.

Michigan isn't the only state that allows seasonal hunting of mourning doves. According to a report for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources by Brian Frawley, Michigan is the 41st state to offer a season for mourning dove hunting.

Frawley conducted a survey of hunters to find out how many participated in the first season. There are limits set in Michigan for hunting the doves, including obtaining a small game license and a stamp specifically for mourning dove hunting. The season ran for less than two months in 2004 and was only open in six counties in the southern part of the state. Hunters are restricted to 15 birds a day, according to Frawley's report.

Nancy Gunnigle, a spokesperson for the Michigan Humane Society, said that most of the state's residents are opposed to hunting these birds.

While that may be true, there are still some that must want it legal because more than 3,000 hunters participated in the mourning dove hunting season, which resulted in more than 28,000 doves harvested, according to Frawley's report.The survey was sent to a random group of hunters that had a dove stamp and estimates were generated from those results."Mourning doves have been hunted for many years throughout the United States, and theycontinue to be one of the most abundant birds in North America," Frawley stated in his report.

Stamping out efforts to make hunting the birds legal has been an issue for the Michigan Humane Society for a couple of decades. "We have a long history with this issue," Gunnigle said.

According to a Michigan Humane Society press release, more than 225,000 mourning doves will be killed each year without a ban.Korona said mourning doves are not a nuisance, not over populated and are too small to be an abundant food source. "It maybe just a sport," she said.

Petitions can be signed at any of the three Michigan Humane Society offices in the area or the administrative office in Southfield. The locations are 7401 Chrysler Drive in Detroit, 3600 W. Auburn Road in Rochester Hills, 37255 Marquette in Westland and 26711 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 175 in Southfield.

For more information, call (866) MHUMANE.

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