April 30, 2013
|
By Kathleen Gray
Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau
LANSING — Despite testimony from dozens of people
opposed to a proposed hunting season for gray wolves in the Upper
Peninsula, the state House Natural Resources committee voted 8-0 to
allow the Natural Resources Commission to designate game species and
allow a hunt of that species.
The bill, which has already passed the Senate and now moves to the full House, would circumvent the 250,000 signatures turned in to the Secretary of State to ban a wolf hunt. That petition drive sought to overturn a law passed last year allowing the hunt, but the new bill supercedes that law.
“We have every right to vote on wildlife issues in Michigan,” said Judy Brock, of Northville, who collected more than 3,000 signatures.
But state Rep. John Kivela, D-Marquette, said he has a responsibility to his constituents who live in fear that their pets or livestock will be maimed or killed by the wolves. The population in the western Upper Peninsula has grown from 6 in 1973 to 658 now.
“We have a very significant problem,” he said. “We now have 53 pets that have been killed or attacked.”
The bill will probably receive a final vote this week, just a week before the Secretary of State was expected to certify the petition signatures.
source
The bill, which has already passed the Senate and now moves to the full House, would circumvent the 250,000 signatures turned in to the Secretary of State to ban a wolf hunt. That petition drive sought to overturn a law passed last year allowing the hunt, but the new bill supercedes that law.
“We have every right to vote on wildlife issues in Michigan,” said Judy Brock, of Northville, who collected more than 3,000 signatures.
But state Rep. John Kivela, D-Marquette, said he has a responsibility to his constituents who live in fear that their pets or livestock will be maimed or killed by the wolves. The population in the western Upper Peninsula has grown from 6 in 1973 to 658 now.
“We have a very significant problem,” he said. “We now have 53 pets that have been killed or attacked.”
The bill will probably receive a final vote this week, just a week before the Secretary of State was expected to certify the petition signatures.
source
No comments:
Post a Comment