ALERT: Please help ban dove-hunting in Rhode Island

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The full text of this alert is also available at:

 

http://www.geocities.com/srikanthk.rm/ri_doves1.html

 

BACKGROUND:

 

Senator Robert Kells has introduced a bill - SB 91 that would ban dove hunting

in Rhode Island. Hunters

are trying to get this bill killed even before it reaches the committee. They

succeeded in defeating a similar

bill last year. Let's not allow that to happen again. Your phone calls and

e-mails are desperately necessary

for the doves. Please act NOW!

 

ACTION (very urgent!):

 

Please write to the Rhode Island governor, senators and representatives asking

them to support a ban - your letter could be

crucial for the lives of several hundred thousand doves (sample letter at the

bottom):

 

rigov,sen-algiere,sen-alves,\

sen-badeau,

sen-bates,sen-blais,sen-breene\

i.us,sen-caprio,

sen-celona,sen-jcicilline,sen-tcoderre@rilin\

..state.ri.us,sen-connors,

sen-cote,sen-damiani,sen-daponte\

..ri.us,sen-donelan,

sen-enos,sen-felag,sen-fogarty\

i.us,sen-gallo,

sen-garabedian,sen-gibbs,sen-goodwin\

tate.ri.us,sen-graziano,

sen-hunter,sen-igliozzi,sen-irons\

e.ri.us,sen-issa,

sen-izzo,sen-kells,sen-kelly.\

us,sen-lenihan,

sen-mcburney,sen-mccaffrey,sen-mcdonald@rili\

n.state.ri.us,

sen-jmontalbano,sen-paivaweed,sen-parella@ri\

lin.state.ri.us,sen-erry,

sen-polisena,sen-raptakis,sen-revens\

tate.ri.us,sen-roberts,

sen-roney,sen-ruggerio,sen-sheehan\

te.ri.us,sen-sosnowski,

sen-tassoni,sen-walaska,sen-walsh\

e.ri.us,sen-walton,

rep-abdullahodiase,rep-aiken,rep-ajello@rili\

n.state.ri.us,rep-almeida,

rep-amaral,rep-manderson,rep-sanderson@rilin\

..state.ri.us,rep-anguilla,

rep-barr,rep-benson,rep-bierman.\

ri.us,rep-brien,

rep-burlingame,rep-callahan,rep-cambio@rilin\

..state.ri.us,rep-caprio,

rep-carroll,rep-carter,rep-cerra\

..ri.us,rep-dcicilline,

rep-ecoderre,rep-coelho,rep-coogan\

te.ri.us,rep-corvese,

rep-costantino,rep-crowley,dennigan,\

rep-desimone,

rep-faria,rep-flaherty,rep-fleury\

e.ri.us,rep-fox,

rep-Gallison,rep-garvey,rep-george\

te.ri.us,rep-giannini,

rep-ginaitt,rep-gorham,rep-harwood\

te.ri.us,rep-henseler,

rep-hetherington,rep-hogan,rep-iwuc\

ate.ri.us,rep-jacquard,

rep-kennedy,rep-kilmartin,rep-knickle (AT) rilin (DOT) \

state.ri.us,rep-lally,

rep-lanzi,rep-clevesque,rep-lewiss\

te.ri.us,rep-lima,

rep-long,rep-lowe,rep-maher\

s,rep-Malik,

rep-martineau,rep-mccauley,rep-mcnamara@rili\

n.state.ri.us,rep-menard,

rep-montanaro,rep-moran,rep-moura\

e.ri.us,rep-mumford,

rep-munschy,rep-whmurphy,rep-murphy\

ate.ri.us,rep-naughton,

rep-palangio,rep-palumbo,rep-picard\

ate.ri.us,rep-pires,

rep-pisaturo,rep-quick,rep-rabideau\

ate.ri.us,rep-reilly,

rep-rose,rep-sanbento,rep-savage\

..ri.us,rep-schadone,

rep-scott,rep-shanley,rep-shavers\

e.ri.us,rep-sherlock,

rep-simonian,rep-slater,rep-smith\

e.ri.us,rep-story,

rep-sullivan,rep-tejada,rep-thompson\

tate.ri.us,rep-trillo,

rep-vieira,rep-voccola,rep-wasylyk\

te.ri.us,rep-watson,

rep-williams,rep-williamson,rep-williamson@r\

ilin.state.ri.us

 

 

SAMPLE LETTER

(** Please sign and add your RI address, if you have one **)

 

Please ban dove hunting in Rhode Island

 

Dear Governor / Senator / Representative,

 

It is a cruel irony that the mourning dove, which is recognized as a symbol of

peace all over the world has been

allowed to hunt. I urge you to support legislation that is currently being

introduced (SB 91) to ban dove hunting.

 

Doves are of special significance to Christians. The Bible says that the Holy

Spirit came down on Jesus in the form of a

dove: " And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightaway out of the water:

and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him,

and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And

lo a voice from heaven, saying, " This is

my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Matthew 3:16-17; See also Mark

1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:32-34).

 

Also, it has been mentioned that the dove returned to the Noah's ark carrying

the olive branch. Charbonneau-Lassay writes

that the ark stands for the church, Noah represents the Christian, and the dove

symbolizes Christ bringing peace (the olive

branch) to Christians.

 

I think, that in itself, should be a very good reason to protect doves. However,

I would also like to point out several other

strong and extremely compelling reasons to ban dove-hunting:

 

1. Statistics show that 20 to 30 % of the doves shot by hunters get

wounded and are left to die painful, excruciating deaths.

 

2. Doves damage neither property nor crops. In fact, they help farmers

by eating weed seeds on the ground.

 

3. Doves are primarily used for target practice which can easily be

done using clay targets.

 

4. Federally protected birds such as the American kestrel and the

sharp-shinned hawk are often mistaken for doves and will undoubtedly be

shot if a dove hunting season opens.

 

5. Dove hunting will contribute to the discharge of lead shot in the

environment. Toxic lead shot poses a risk to wildlife, especially to

waterfowl, who ingest the pellets while feeding.

 

6. Doves are recognized as a symbol of peace all over the world and

this makes it all the more inappropriate to take away their lives.

 

I look forward to hearing from you that peace, as also the symbol of peace, will

not be hunted away in Rhode Island.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

 

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