Obama Administration sides with friends of animals... and imposes a death sentence on an African game species.
THE SCIMITAR-HORNED ORYX is extinct in its native Africa, yet breeding the animals, and hunting them, in the United States has brought the species back from the brink. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, under the Bush administration, admitted that success in 2005 when granting an exemption from the Endangered Species Act for the animal.
“The Service recognizes the important contribution captive breeding has made to the continued survival of these species, which have been removed from (in the case of the oryx) or greatly reduced in numbers in the wild,” USFWS stated in the rule covering the exemption. “Many game ranches within the United States have been breeding and maintaining these species on their properties and, as a result of strong management practices, have offered hunting of these species as a way to manage the size and health of their herds.”
But a lawsuit filed by Friends of Animals and other anti-hunting groups following the ruling caused the USFWS to reconsider and, subsequently, change the ruling.
Ironically, the scimitar-horned oryx might now be doomed to extinction by the very anti-hunting groups that claim they want to protect the species—and by an Obama administration agency making a ruling for politics rather than the good of the species.
Such sweeping rulemaking by federal agencies under the Obama administration is nothing new. In fact, recent comments by President Barack Obama show exactly where he’s coming from when it comes to relying on congressional action to get his programs implemented.
“You know, it turns out that our founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like sometimes,” Obama said in a recent “Today Show” interview with Matt Lauer.
Yet Obama and his subordinates at various agencies have brought about plenty of change that would not have been possible had they gone through typical congressional channels.
An excellent example is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) ruling last year requiring gun dealers in several states bordering America’s southern border to keep a registry of long-gun purchasers—a move that would never have a chance in Congress. That rule requires about 8,500 gun dealers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas to report sales of two or more semi-automatic centerfire rifles with detachable magazines to the same person within a five-day period.
As the Obama administration continues to bypass Congress to push its “hope and change” on the American people, it seems the president becomes more emboldened with each new decree. One can only wonder what might be next.
Fortunately, we can put an end to that—and all of Obama’s anti-gun plans for a second term—by working hard now to get out the vote this November. Don’t wait until October to get started. Get informed, get engaged and get out there and work to save your freedom.
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