ACTION ALERT: ALL HANDS ON DECK!

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The Conservation Federation of Missouri asks that you call and email Senators Blunt and Hawley along with your US Representative, on a critical and time-sensitive conservation matter.

Right now. It’s too late for letters.

Monday (March 11) will be a crossroads for Missouri’s feral hog problem.  Oddly, the focus of the problem has moved many miles east, to Washington DC.  As early as Monday afternoon, the US Forest service is expected to act on a suggestion that they prohibit hunting feral hogs on USFS public lands in Missouri.

Experience has shown that recreational hog hunting impedes eradication efforts two ways: 1) interferes in the one tool that really works: habituating an entire sounder to a trap that will catch them all at once, and 2) provides incentive to release hogs – a common practice for those who profit from hog hunting, and a key factor in reducing the effectiveness of taxpayer funded feral hog eradication programs.

The Forest Service was expected to follow the lead of other state and federal landholders such as the Missouri Department of Conservation by adopting such a ban.  But a small group of hog hunting supporters have lobbied our Congressional Delegation to pressure the USFS to let hog hunting continue on Forest Service lands.

They are not the least bit representative of the Missouri hunting community.  The Conservation Federation of Missouri, the largest organization representing Missouri hunters and anglers, is on record as fully supporting the ban on public land hog hunting.

Read what Gary Wheeler, an avid outdoorsman and CEO of the Missouri Soybean Association has to say about it:https://themissouritimes.com/57992/opinion-feral-hogs-have-to-go/

Your Missouri US Senators and US Rep need to hear from you immediately:

Senator Roy Blunt:  (202) 224-5721  https://www.blunt.senate.gov/contact/contact-nator roy

Senator Josh Hawley: (202) 224-6154 https://www.hawley.senate.gov/contact-senator-hawley
Your Rep’s contact information is available here: https://www.senate.mo.gov/LegisLookup/

TALKING POINTS

  • Feral hogs are a non-native invasive and destructive pest that threatens both agricultural interests and wildlife habitat.
  • Recreational hunting of feral hogs makes taxpayer funded eradication efforts more expensive and less effective.
  • A US Forest Service ban on hog hunting on their public lands in Missouri is critical to the success of wild hog eradication.  All stakeholders except one tiny group agree this is critical public policy.
We also encourage you to sign up at our Legislative Action Center on the CFM web site at http://ConFedMO.org/LAC.  It’s free, and is a great tool for keeping up with current legislation and contacting your legislators.

Regards,

Conservation Federation of Missouri Legislative Policy Committee

 

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