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U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance to defend hunting on National Wildlife Refuges (3/13/2003)

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance today moved to intervene to fight the anti-hunters' suit to ban hunting on the National Wildlife Refuge System.

At issue is a lawsuit filed today by an anti-hunting organization, The Fund for Animals and twenty individuals, which challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's opening of hunting on 39 National Wildlife Refuges since 1997. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance maintains that the suit is arbitrary and capricious in that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted well within its authority when opening the hunting programs.

The Alliance's intervention is critical to ensure that hunters' interests are directly represented before the court.

"The suit is another example of the grandstanding for which the anti-hunters have become famous," said Walter P. Pidgeon, president of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance. "They filed their case the day prior to the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the National Wildlife Refuge System being held at Pelican Island, Florida."
What is more, Pidgeon said, the suit flies in the face of the Congress' intent as made clear by the 1997 National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act. The law firmly established hunting as a priority use of the nearly 100 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System.

"Hunting has taken place on the National Wildlife Refuges since the earliest days of the system," said Pidgeon. "Anti-hunting interests are merely turning to the courts because they have been patently unsuccessful in convincing Congress to change the law."

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