THE MOURNING DOVE - STOP THE GAME AGENCIES FROM MAKING THESE GUYS LEGAL TARGETS FOR HUNTERS
By Ronda Engman
Autumn 95/Winter 96
If you feed the birds like I do, your feeder is probably filled with
blue jays, evening grosbeaks, cardinals, and mourning doves, among other
avian species. If you’re a New Yorker, this bucolic scene may soon be
threatened. Assemblyman Jacob Gunther, who represents Sullivan County,
has indicated that he will introduce a bill in December to reclassify
the mourning dove as a game bird. This would effectively allow mourning
doves to be hunted.
In the forty states that allow the hunting of mourning doves, forty
nine million doves are killed annually. You may think that with so many
doves killed and still plenty at your feeder that there must be enough
for New York hunters as well. Think again.
There are five sub-species of mourning dove, three of which reside in
the U.S. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), whose job it is to
protect and maintain healthy populations of migratory birds, does an
annual survey of the numbers of calling (i.e., male) doves throughout
the country. But since this survey is of calling birds and the surveyor
need not see the birds to count them, the survey gives no indication of
the population size of the various subspecies. In other words, the
department whose job it is to maintain healthy populations of doves has
no clue as to the size and health of individual subspecies populations.
Theoretically, a hunter could kill the last member of a subspecies and
the FWS wouldn’t even know it.
If you think of races of Homo sapiens as equivalent to subspecies of
mourning doves, you can see how important it is to the concept of
bio-diversity to maintain healthy sub-species populations.
The largest subspecies of mourning dove resides in the East. It’s not
likely that it will cease to exist if it is hunted in New York, at least
not soon. In fact since the birds are killed as they migrate south, it
would probably mean that hunters in Pennsylvania on south would just
have fewer doves to shoot. And just how many birds does a hunter need to
shoot?
According to David Dolton, FWS’s mourning dove expert, a morning dove
yields only a few ounces of meat. To make a single meal, a hunter would
have to kill four doves. To feed a single meal to a family of four, a
hunter would have to kill sixteen. [Editor’s note: Most hunters do not
eat what they kill.]
How does hunting affect morning doves? The removal of 49 million
birds means more food and nest sites for those that survive – a plus of
sorts. But the removal of 49 million birds – a significant portion of
the gene pool – is a minus for the health of the population. In
addition, experienced breeders – birds that have bred before – tend to
be more successful than first-time breeders. If experienced breeders are
killed, this is a minus for the doves.
How does hunting mourning doves affect other animals? FWS estimates
the crippling loss rate to be 30% of the total number of birds killed.
In other words, 12 million of the 49 million birds killed each year are
not cleanly killed, but wounded, with all the pain and suffering that
goes along with it. Most of these birds die in the brush somewhere. In
some cases, they are eaten by foxes, coyotes, and other animals. This is
a plus for the scavengers. But mourning doves are one of the principal
foods of Cooper’s hawks. The removal of 49 million doves has got to have
a negative effect on them. [Also, lead shot may be used]
Here’s another example of how hunting mourning doves is bad for
birds: I once visited the Madalyn Baldwin Center for Birds of Prey in
Florida. I asked the director why she had so many kestrels. It’s legal
to hunt mourning doves in Florida, she replied. “Kestrels sit on
telephone wires like mourning doves and the hunters shoot them.”
How would the hunting of mourning doves in NYS affect you? There are
more serious effects than the fact that you would probably see fewer
doves at your feeder. Despite the fact that it’s a violation of federal
law to shoot utility wires, hunters do it regularly. According to an
employee of Citizens Telecom, a company that provides telephone service
to millions of New Yorkers, such an episode occurred recently in
Delaware County.
Birdshot is just a bunch of tiny pellets packed into a plastic casing
called a slug. When the gun is fired, the slug opens and the pellets are
propelled out in a tight formation which gets looser and wider the
farther they travel. A single pellet hitting a fiber-optic cable could
blitz thousands of phone calls (including 911 calls), faxes, computer
modem transmissions, and so on. To repair the damage costs big bucks
paid for by that telephone company’s customers. The same is true for
cable television and electric wires. Should your work and your personal
safety be sacrificed for the pleasure of a bunch of sick individuals who
get their kicks from killing “itty-bitty birds,” as one hunter called
them? I don’t think so, and I’m sure you agree.
How can you help? If you live in New York, please write to your state
assemblymember and senator and tell them you are opposed to the hunting
of mourning doves. Write to the top New York State officials at your
telephone, electric and cable television companies and ask them to
oppose any legislation that would reclassify the mourning dove as a game
bird or that would allow it to be hunted. You can get the names and
addresses of these officials by calling the local offices of these
companies. In addition, write letters to your local newspapers and call
your local radio and television stations. Make this problem an issue.
Get your friends, neighbors, and bird clubs involved. Write to your
Assemblymember, Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12248. Ask them
to make sure the bill doesn’t get out of committee.
RONDA ENGMAN IS VICE PRESIDENT OF NYSCA – NEW YORK STATE COALITION
FOR ANIMALS. SHE IS THE COORDINATOR OF C.A.S.H.’S PEACE FOR DOVES
CAMPAIGN. RONDA MAY BE CONTACTED THROUGH THE C.A.S.H. OFFICE OR AT 607
589 4031.
