Dove hunting should be banned
Each year hunters kill more than 2 million mourning doves and nearly 70,000 white-winged doves in California. A substantial number of birds are also crippled from gunshot wounds. Although 11 states have banned dove hunting, the practice is still legal here.
Hunters lure doves to fields that are artificially planted with safflower and sunflowers, then gather each fall to shoot the birds. Doves are erratic fliers (which makes them difficult to hit with a kill shot) and are too small to provide much of a meal. According to a number of studies, hunters fail to retrieve over one-third of the doves they shoot. As a result, many doves are left wounded and suffer long, painful deaths.
The massive amounts of lead shot used to shoot doves can negatively impact the environment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service banned the use of lead shot for waterfowl in 1991 due to the risks it posed to species, such as bald eagles, California condors and golden eagles. Lead shot is still permitted for dove hunting. As a result, predatory birds who feed on doves carrying lead in their body tissues can be poisoned.
California has become a killing field where millions of doves are gunned down. This senseless, inhumane sport should be banned.
BRIAN VINCENT
Program coordinator
Animal Protection Institute
Sacramento, CA
