April 20, 2011
Federal Judge Protects Hunting on Public Lands
Sportsmen won a major courtroom battle when Federal Judge James S. Gwin in Columbus, Ohio denied a lawsuit seeking to close hunting on fifty refuges within the National Wildlife Refuge System. The lawsuit was filed in 2003 by the Fund for Animals, which later merged with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA)—an organization strongly supported by foxhunters—and other sporting organizations intervened on behalf of sportsmen. Judge Gwin’s ruling counters the attempt by HSUS to use the National Environmental Policy Act to justify the closing of hunting on the refuges. The judge relied heavily on language in the 1997 Refuge Improvement Act, championed by the USSA, which mandated that hunting and fishing be “facilitated” on the refuges. In his ruling, the judge noted that the plaintiffs “are not entitled to an inviolate sanctuary for their preferred uses….Congress has determined that, to the extent possible, hunters, fishers, observers, photographers, and educators must share the refuges.” It is not yet known if HSUS will appeal the ruling. Click for more details. Posted April 21, 2011
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Stubbs Painting Could Fetch $33 Million at Auction
You have until July 5 to save up if you want to bid on Christie’s offering of a George Stubbs portrait of Gimcrack on Newmarket Heath with trainer, stable lad, and jockey. The large painting, which measures more than six feet by three feet, is described by Christie’s senior director John Stainton as “one of the finest sporting pictures ever painted.” Gimcrack was one of the most famous racehorses of the eighteenth century. Valued today at thirty-three million dollars, the painting was last sold in 1951 for less than twenty-one thousand dollars. Posted April 20, 2011
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