Sep. 27, 2000 Contact: Stuart Chaifetz 732-899-4202
The NJ Fish and Game Council (Council), along with the NJ Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife, (Fish and Game) have authority over our wild animals, and they use this power to allow the killing of more than 1,000,000 animals each year. For NJ's coyotes, this has meant an annual 17 day state wide hunting season for the past four years. Now, the Council has moved to quadruple the length of the hunting season, and extend it from Sept. 30, to Feb. 19.
"A child can see the hypocrisy in this act," states Stuart Chaifetz, Green Party Congressional Candidate in NJ's 4th District. "On one hand Fish and Game states that hunting deer is necessary because there are no natural predators, then with the other hand they sell the licenses to kill those natural predators."
Coyotes' are extremely effective predators of deer. Robert Eisele, the top coyote hunter in NJ, made the following statement about why he kills coyotes: "Coyotes have been tearing up the deer population down here," Eisele said. "You hardly see any fawns anymore. They don't eradicate them all, but they keep the population in check." (Bergen Record, Feb. 16, 1999)
·The true reason for the coyote hunting season is what Fish and Game wrote in the NJ Register, Aug. 19, 1996: "The proposed hunting season will allow for increased recreational use of the coyote resource by New Jersey Sportsmen and women."
·The salaries of Fish and Game employees are paid for by the sale of hunting licenses. This creates a conflict of interest as the state agency that should be protecting wildlife instead profits from their slaughter.
·The Council is a quasi-legislative state board that has been given the power to decide what animals can be hunted, the lengths of the hunting seasons, and how many animals each hunter may kill. All but one member of the Council is a hunter.
· One of the requirements that Fish and Game has made for hunters is that they use a predator call. One popular predator call for hunting coyotes is "Puppy Distress." This is a device that makes the sound of a wounded puppy. Coyotes seeking to help a puppy will instead be slaughtered.
"My congressional campaign is based on exposing corruption in government, and fighting for the weak and oppressed in our society," states Chaifetz. "I find no greater corruption than a state agency that profits from the slaughter of the wild animals they are supposed to protect, and no greater oppressed than those who are slaughtered for pleasure. I stand against the Fish and Game Council, and will fight to the last to see that it is abolished."