By KPR
Frankfort, KY – The Kentucky Coalition for Sandhill Cranes is asking Governor Steve Beshear to intercede in an effort to stop the Department of Fish and Wildlife from adopting a hunting season for the migratory birds. KCFSC spokesman Ben Yandell says 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."
But Fish and Wildlife spokesman Mark Marracini says the proposal would place a seasonal kill-limit of four hundred birds, less than one percent of the total 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 says his group is NOT an anti-hunting group, but that members don't see any pressing need to start targeting a species of bird that hasn't been hunted in Kentucky for nearly a century.