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Conservation Group Wants Beshear To Help Stop Crane Hunt

By Alan Lytle

Lexington, KY – A group of citizens who don't want to see the state adopt a new sandhill crane hunting season, has sent a letter to Governor Beshear requesting he direct the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources to abandon the effort.

Ben Yandell, with the Kentucky Coalition for Sandhill Cranes, says he's not convinced there's a large groundswell of support, even from sportsmen and women, to target a population of birds that hasn't been hunted in Kentucky for nearly a century. Yandell is also highly critical of the agency's effort to solicit public comment.

"It was very clear early in this process that the decision had been made and what was happening with the folks in the department was that they were going through the motions; this sort of illusion of democracy."

But Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources spokesman Mark Marracini says the agency has put a lot of time and energy into studying the sandhill crane issue.

"It's really an opinion thing. It's really not a biological issue at this point. The science is pretty sound. It basically comes down to people who are in favor of hunting and people who are opposed to it."

Marracini says the proposal would place a seasonal kill-limit of four hundred birds; that's less than one percent of the total sandhill crane population in the Commonwealth. He also points out that the public has been given the entire month of July to weigh in on the issue.

"I mean we received a lot of letters in favor of having a season, and we've received a lot opposed to having it. As a matter of fact, I think the amount of letters in favor of having it were quite a bit more."

Yandell claims the department isn't really interested in what the general public thinks.

"There has been a real lack of a chance for meaningful input from the general public about this and we're convinced that most people have no desire to see sandhill cranes killed in Kentucky."

Marracini says the agency is in the process of evaluating and responding to the comments. Once that's completed the sandhill crane proposal will be sent to the Regulations Review Subcommittee in Frankfort. If approved, the thirty day hunting season would start on December 17th.