Bill Gates is Anti-Hunting

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corporation is joining the anti-hunting movement by donating $100,000 to Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). While this may seem to many to be an environmentally friendly act, is it really?

Outdoor sportsmen groups like Ducks Unlimited and Quail Unlimited invest huge amounts of money and time in protecting wildlife habitat. Hunting leases purchased by thousands of hunting clubs contribute billions of dollars to private forestry and farming enterprise helping to maintain habitat. Tax revenues from hunting licenses and the various hunting related products generate billions of dollars often used to expand wildlife management areas.

The efforts of the various hunting groups have helped protect and expand millions of acres of forest and wetland around the world. Hunting groups and environmentalist share a common goal, if for different reasons.

The lofty goals of many environmental groups are going awry by their not recognizing the benefits of unlikely allies. For example: Anti-logging groups by pressing legislation to stop forestry management in areas with untenable legislation has forced owners of forest lands to sell acreage to developers. Hunting groups on the other hand help finance timberland owners and lobby instead for more responsible forestry management practices.

Hunting organizations are doing, using their own financial resources, what many environmental groups are trying to do using legislation, rent-a-huggers and government financing. Anti-hunting groups like HSUS feel they are helping wildlife, but loss of natural habitat is the least humane treatment of wildlife.