ACTION ALERT | SUPPORT HOUSE BILL 5321

BAN STERILIZATION OF GAME SPECIES

KEEP UP THE PRESSURE: CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE NOW TO SUPPORT HB 5321

The City of Rochester Hills has now joined on to fight the passage of House Bill 5321 — a bill that would ban the sterilization of game species in Michigan. If you are concerned for the game species in your area, you need to contact your state representative and tell them that you are in SUPPORT of this bill and do not want a permit issued for the sterilization of white-tailed deer and other game species in your neighborhood.

What started in Ann Arbor, has now caused a ripple effect throughout the state. Municipalities are contemplating deer sterilization, with no proven, positive scientific results, to help manage their urban deer populations. Urban bow hunting programs in places like Meridian Township and cull techniques throughout the country have proven to be the most effective ways to manage an overpopulation of a game species.

Furthermore, these deer being dragged into a toolshed, literally, to be sterilized, are not being tested for CWD or Tb and then are being released to continue to cause the deer-vehicle collisions, ecological damage and damage to landscaping which are the driving reasons for additional deer management in the first place. Something isn’t adding up.

The current Ann Arbor permit is an attempt to satisfy anti-hunting and anti-culling stakeholders. The Humane Society of the United States has been one of the driving forces behind sterilization and fertility control efforts in Ann Arbor and around the country. The public, outside of Ann Arbor, was not consulted on the approval of this “research permit”, yet these deer are the public’s deer, held in public trust by the DNR.

More than two hours of testimony for those in opposition has been given during House committee meetings. Michigan United Conservation Clubs and supporters of this bill are going to continue the fight this week and demand that hunters be heard. We need you to pick up your phone and call your legislators, tell them this bill is something you support and that the sterilization of game species is not an effective tool for management.

Call your State Representative today!