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Sportsmen sue to ensure children's hunting opportunity, join case to defend bear hunt in New Jersey (12/4/2003) The Sportsmen's Legal Defense Fund (SLDF), the legal arm of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation, will defend the rights of New Jersey sportsmen, young and old, as it goes to court to protect the state's black bear hunt. On December 4, the SLDF filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, on behalf of young hunters against the state of New Jersey. It is challenging the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Division of Fish and Wildlife's directive to prohibit children younger than 16 years old from hunting black bears. "There is no justification for this decision," said Rob Sexton, U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation vice president for government affairs. "Youth hunters are among the safest of all sportsmen, and thousands of them will be in the woods for deer season anyway." Two hundred seventy-eight young New Jersey hunters have purchased hunting licenses, possess bear tags, have taken hunter education and bear hunting courses and bought equipment and gear to go on the hunt. According to the state's order, they will be denied the opportunity. The SLDF also intervened in a case brought by the New Jersey-based animal rights group Saving Our Resources Today (SORT). The group filed suit December 3 in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, to stop the bear hunt on state park and forest lands. It claims the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry did not seek public comment or conduct environmental assessments before opening its lands to the hunt. "Once again, anti-hunting groups are misusing New Jersey law to try to block this hunt," said Sexton. "They will stop at nothing." A decision by the Superior Court is expected Friday. Animal rights groups have filed a total of four lawsuits to stop New Jersey's black bear hunt, including one in federal court. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation's Sportsmen's Legal Defense Fund (SLDF) is the nation's only litigation force that exclusively represents sportsmen's interests in the courts. It defends wildlife management and sportsmen's rights in local, state and federal courts. The SLDF represents the interests of sportsmen and assists government lawyers who have little or no background in wildlife law. CopyrightÓ U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance- www.ussportsmen.org
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