This is a gun lobby attempt to manipulate the horrible death of a mother to fool voters into legalizing the trophy hunting of mountain lions.
They claim wildlife officials need to manage lions. We agree. The fact is, after this horrible attack, we supported legislation to force the Department of Fish and Game to protect the public. The measure toughened law enforcement officials' power to kill lions on the spot whenever the public is threatened. Gun lobby backers of Proposition 197 opposed it because it preserved the 1990 voter-approved ban on sport hunting mountain lions.
Proponents' arguments are as phony as Proposition 197 is dishonest. The ``special interests'' they refer to, are the voters. Voters stopped sport hunting of lions in 1990, not ``special interests.'' The voters didn't stop state bureaucrats from controlling lions. Senator Tim Leslie, author of 197, and his gun lobby backers, don't want to make it easier to kill lions that threaten the public unless they can kill them for the fun of it.
Don't be fooled.
Making it easier to kill mountain lions that threaten the public or spending nearly $3 million for a management plan for lions doesn't require voter approval. Only the voters can change the 1990 ban on trophy hunting. That's why Proposition 197 is on the ballot. But the gun lobby isn't honest enough to say that. We support managing lions. But they shouldn't be shot just to be stuck on the wall in the den.
It's fraud. Vote no.
PATRICIA FORKAN
Executive Vice President, Humane Society of the
United States
JILL DAMPIER
California Park Rangers Association
BERNADETTE M. ERTL
Chair, Sierra Club California