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A message from Animal Defense League of Arizona:

Our state’s wildlife needs your help! Arizona Game and Fish is considering extreme proposals to allow night hunting of mountain lions and coyotes and permitting Arizona-style fox hunts with hounds. Other proposals include killing small animals with ‘hand-held projectiles’, and killing mountain lions with shot pellets.

The Animal Defense League of Arizona has submitted comments to Arizona Game and Fish stating that all of these proposals are extreme and should be rejected. ADLA will be at the Commission meeting on Friday and Saturday, and hope you will join us in person, at a regional office or by viewing the webcast.

The Arizona Republic ran an excellent editorial denouncing the radical proposals.

What You Can Do:

Attend the AZ Game and Fish Commission meeting on Friday, Dec. 2, at 5000 W. Carefree Hwy in Phoenix. The Commission will be discussing the proposed rule making and will take public comments. Read the agenda here.

Important agenda items

Mexican gray wolves: Friday at 10:30 a.m., there will be a presentation on the Department’s involvement in Mexican wolf reintroduction in Arizona and New Mexico. The Commission may vote to reaffirm existing policy guidance and/or to provide new or additional policy guidance to the Department on any or all aspects of Mexican wolf conservation, including reintroduction and range-wide recovery. Last year during this topic, the Commission voted to publicly support legislation stripping Mexican wolves of their Endangered Species Act Protections. For more information click here.

Night hunting: On Friday the Commission will also consider plans to allow night hunting and other extreme proposals. It is important that the Commission hears public opposition to these proposals. We don’t know what time this will be heard. If you’re interested in attending, please email adla@adlaz@org with your contact information and we’ll keep you updated.

If you cannot attend Friday’s meeting, there will be an additional opportunity to speak at the meeting on Saturday. In the morning the Commission will consider implementing proposals to hunting rules. Public comments will be taken later in the meeting.

If you cannot get to Phoenix you can still attend by video teleconference. Members of the public may attend the meeting in person or view the meeting from any one of the Department’s six regional offices via video teleconference or webcast viewing on the Game and Fish website. If you attend in person or at a regional office you may submit a speaker card to speak to the Commission.

If you are unable to attend the meeting in Phoenix or a regional office, please email your comments to AZ Game and Fish Commission Chair, Robert Woodhouse, prior to the meeting.

Also please sign the petition to reject the night hunt proposal. We will present the final number of signatures at the Commission meeting.

Thanks for your help!