Priscilla Feral

Researchers in other states have found that hunts do not eliminate the bears who wildlife agencies have deemed so-called “nuisance bears.”

Some African elephants are just a step away from extinction. That’s what a new report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature revealed in March. Connecticut can help ensure the future of elephants, giraffes, rhinos, leopards and lions by passing SB925, legislation that bans the importation, possession, sale or transportation of the trophies of African’s Big 5.

Hunters will be incentivized to kill wildlife and hunting will be expanded in the state under a revised version of a bill approved by the General Assembly’s Environment Committee that was aimed at establishing a black bear hunt in Connecticut.

Single-use plastic and Styrofoam containers wreak havoc on the environment and imperil marine animals and wildlife.  More than five trillion particles of plastic clog our world’s oceans, according to the PLOS One report.  And Americans are doing their share to contribute to the problem, tossing out more than 33 million tons of plastic – including 175 million straws each day.  On behalf of Friends of Animals, an international non-profit domestic and wildlife advocacy organization, and its 6,000 members in Connecticut, we urge the state lawmakers to support the proposed bills that eliminate and restrict these wasteful plastics.

Connecticut does not have clean hands when it comes to pushing Africa’s Big 5 — elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos and giraffes—closer to extinction. The state is supplying customers to the grave, immoral trophy hunting industry. From 2005-2015, 59 trophy hunting permits were issued to Connecticut residents by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so people could hunt and kill leopards for their trophies. Six additional permits were provided to Connecticut residents to kill African elephants in Botswana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. And from 2005-2016, Connecticut residents killed 39 lions and one giraffe and imported their trophies.

State lawmakers are gearing up to promote a bear hunt in Connecticut, which would be the first in the state since 1840. The legislation for the hunt is being spearheaded by Environment Committee Co-Chair State Sen. Craig Miner who is seeking approval for a bear hunt in his own backyard – Litchfield County.
Stoked by exaggerated bear sightings, supporters are manipulating the public by marketing fear, so hunters, who represent just one percent of the state’s population, can rally support for what really amounts to nothing more than a trophy hunt to slaughter bears for mounts and rugs.