Dear Friend:

              Today, September 1, could have been the start of a new mourning dove shooting season in Michigan -- because the legislature passed a bill in 2004 to reverse the state’s century-long ban on dove shooting. It could have been the beginning of a two-month long season in which a single target shooter could kill and “bag” as many as 15 doves every day. A season that could have ended with tens of thousands of gentle mourning doves shot and needlessly killed -- not to mention all of those birds who would have been left wounded to suffer and die.  

              But in 2005 and 2006 there will be no dove shooting season in Michigan. That’s because your support has helped qualify the mourning dove referendum for the statewide ballot, temporarily nullifying the act of the legislature and allowing Michigan voters (not a handful of lawmakers beholden to the NRA) to decide in November 2006 whether it’s good public policy to protect doves or to shoot them for recreation.
 

               Today is a day of celebration. Mourning doves will not be killed in September or October of this year, or in September or October of next year, thanks to your efforts. You should be proud of your accomplishments, and the birds you have helped to save. But our work is far from over. We need to work to permanently restore Michigan’s longstanding tradition of dove protection.

               Our job now is to reach Michigan's voters with our "VOTE NO ON THE MOURNING DOVE REFERENDUM" message between now and November of next year. Our opponents who want to shoot the gentle and inoffensive mourning dove for target practice are already aggressively organizing to defeat us, and they plan to raise at least $3 million! We need to fight back to counter their misinformation and propaganda, and we need your help.  

               Please give as generously as you can to the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban, and do everything you can between now and next November to make sure Michigan’s doves are safe not just in 2005, not just in 2006, but permanently.

               Sincerely,

               Wayne Pacelle
               President & CEO
               The Humane Society of the United States

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Please Help Keep the Campaign Going...

To Help Save Michigan's Doves, send donations to:

The Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban (checks payable to)
PO Box 81183
Lansing, MI 48908
Donate by credit card using PayPal  here (please include your mailing address) http://stopshootingdoves.org/donate.html

September 1st Press Release
 

SEPT. 1 MOURNING DOVE SHOOT BLOCKED

Michigan Voters Can Restore Dove Shooting Ban Permanently by Voting “No” on Referendum in November 2006

September 1 marks the suspension of mourning dove shooting season in Michigan, thanks to the Board of State Canvassers’ June 2, 2005 approval and certification of the more than 275,000 petition signatures presented by the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban to place the referendum on the November 2006 ballot. 

“The suspension of the mourning dove shoot in 2005 and 2006 can be made permanent by Michigan citizens voting ‘no’ on the mourning dove referendum in November 2006,” said Julie Baker, Director of the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban.  “Thanks to the support of thousands of Michigan voters, there will be no mourning dove shooting season in Michigan in 2005 and 2006, saving hundreds of thousands of mourning doves that would have been needlessly shot and killed.

“Shooting mourning doves doesn't make sense, especially since they pose no danger to people or property, are not a viable food source, and are not overpopulated,” continued Baker.
 

<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--> A statewide EPIC-MRA poll released August 12 demonstrated overwhelming opposition to mourning dove shooting in Michigan when it found that if the November 2006 election were held today, 60 percent of Michigan voters would vote “NO” on the mourning dove referendum to prevent the shooting of mourning doves, while only 32 percent would vote “yes” to allow it.

Official state certification of the Committee's petition signatures stops the shooting of mourning doves until the November 2006 election as stipulated by Article II, Section 9 of the Michigan Constitution, which states that, “No law as to which the power of referendum properly has been invoked shall be effective thereafter unless approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon at the next general election.”

The Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban seeks to restore Michigan’s 100-year ban on the shooting of mourning doves by urging Michigan voters to vote ‘no’ on the mourning dove referendum in November 2006. 
 

The Committee submitted 73% more signatures than the 159,000 required by law for certification, illustrating the overwhelming support for the referendum campaign by the voters of Michigan.  Committee members include the Michigan Audubon Society, theh Detroit Audubon Society, the Michigan Humane Society and the Humane Society of the United States.

THANK YOU MICHIGAN FOR YOUR DEDICATION AND EFFORTS TO SAVE YOUR DOVES!!
 

For more information and updates, please visit http://www.StopShootingDoves.org
 

Paid for with regulated funds by the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban, PO Box 81183, Lansing, MI 48908