I am in Washington for the the SCI efforts on elephants. Let me give you a report thus far.

THE GOOD NEWS:

1- There are a lot of people here . My guess is 250. According to SCI, this is far more than have ever attended the lobby days.

2- Zimbabwe had a LARGE group of people attend including ,Louis Mueller (spelling) the head of the ZPHGA and perhaps a half a dozen people from National Parks. It was most impressive. Zim is taking the matter very seriously.

3- We learned that just yesterday the Zimbabwe group met with USFWS AND provided the USFWS with a lot of scientific information. It appeared that the USFWS was happy to receive such information and are actively reviewing it.

4- SCI has clearly done a hell of a lot of work on this matter. It was good to see.

5- I had dinner with some lawyers who have reviewed SCI court filings. They were impressed. This action has a very short time frame.

6- There was a big gun from USFWS who spoke. While it was interesting, a fair amount of what he said was total bovine excrement.

7- The Q&A session with the USFWS gentlemen was quite entertaining for the audience and I am certain not much fun for the USFWS representative.

Scott O'Grady, the pilot who was shot down in Eastern Europe years ago was the first to ask questions. This had to be more than a little embarrassing for the USFWS as they had to admit many things that were not good for them. The bottom line is that Mr. O'Grady got out all of the points that most of us would make. The USFWS guy seemed to be a little surprised and had to admit he didn't know certain information.

8- Perhaps the most entertaining matter was a person who got up to ask questions who just had a shipment seized because the airline lost the paperwork. He has been through bureaucratic hell since then. He gave the USFWS rep his card and case number. It may actually get resolved.

9- SCI has a letter on this matter which has been signed by various members of the Sportsman's Caucus. This letter is asking other members to help overturn the ban. This is being circulated on Capitol Hill today.

THE BAD:

1- TZ sent 2 people. One was Michael Angelides. I am not sure about the other.

2- TZ did not provide any useful information or any information at all that I was told about.

3- It appears to me that SCI did not do a good job of capitalizing on the members who personally knew certain Congressional members. This seems pretty basic to me.

4- Based upon the initial info I received, I thought the meetings were ending at noon. This was wrong. My first meeting is at 12/30. I have a conference call at 1:30 and a meeting in Orlando at 7:30. Accordingly, I am missing all meetings.

My impressions are that SCI has done a good job. I am personally of the opinion that it is more likely than not that the Zim ban will be reversed . Many feel the same way.

TZ I am not so optimistic about.

All in all, I was impressed and have a much better feeling about the matter than I did even yesterday.

I apologize for the typos. It is hard to edit from my I pad.

Thanks for the report, Larry. I'm very glad to see Zim took this matter seriously.

quote:

6- There was a big gun from USFWS there who spoke. While it was interesting, a fair amount of what he said was total bovine excrement.7- The Q&A session with the USFWS gentlemen was quite entertaining for the audience and I am certain not much fun for the USFWS representative.

Thank you Larry.

It is always good to hear promising news. And I hope things work out for us.

Thank you sir

When I get back, I will post some of the info received, especially the Sportsman's Caucus letter.

Much thanks, Larry, for your tireless efforts on all our behalf.

Dutch

Thank you Larry. If you could comment on what changes Zim is likely to make on the ground regarding poaching and park hunting, I would be grateful. I know it would just be your "gut feeling."

Thanks again.

I am not aware of the specifics on the information provided. My impression was the the information related to size of the herd, the numbers of elephants legally taken and the anti-poaching efforts of the safari operators and National Parks.

Good report!

Zim and TZ have to be looked at totally seperate. Zim with a little adjustment in a positive direction on management...should be good to go.

TZ...has major problems. And while it does no good to ban sport-hunted ivory and the ban should be reversed...TZ does need some incentive to clean up it act.

Encouraging news, thanks Larry.

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
Good report!

Zim and TZ have to be looked at totally seperate. Zim with a little adjustment in a positive direction on management...should be good to go.

TZ...has major problems. And while it does no good to ban sport-hunted ivory and the ban should be reversed...TZ does need some incentive to clean up it act.

I agree completely . It was interesting to use the direct wording out of the presidential order on trafficking as support for hunting. Clearly , TZ has some fairly serious criminal activity.

THANK LARRY FOR ATTENDING AND YOUR REPORT!

Larry

I want to personally thank you and the other guys for your dedication. You have spent your own time, your own money, to represent us all.
Regardless of how this turns out, you have manned the front lines admirably and selflessly and I applaud you for your commitment

Thank you

Rory

Thank you all.

I am told by one person that their first 2 meetings were good. The third was just treading water.

Larry, Zim should take it seriously! Just losing your business alone would have to cost them a million dollars a year! :-) Plus, what am I supposed to do for hunting DVDs?

Thank you very much Larry.

Well done Larry.

Thank you,

Thanks for the report Larry and well done to all who attended. Good work Louis!!

Thanks Larry and all others who attended.

Larry.....a Heartfelt THANK YOU from all of us who could not attend. You continue to carry the torch!

Thanks for that Larry- I am also happy that the clients trophies seized as a result of paper work been lost by the airlines is looking like it will be solved! It is not the first time we have heard about this and I worry that it will not be the last! Cheers Buzz

Thank you Larry and all the other hunters that have put in the effort and sacrifice to attend the lobby day.

Encouraging update for sure and thanks to all for their efforts including SCI.

Larry,

Thanks so much for taking the time to keep us in the loop. Fingers crossed.

Mark

Larry

Great to hear a report from the battle ground.

Many Thanks to all who made the effort!

Through a friend of mine , we have found someone who can personally knows the head person on the committee who oversees the USFWS . I am going to work on that even if I have to go back to DC.

Good news
Thank you Larry

CF

Just an update. Have had six meetings so far one to go (Cornyn, Cruz, Brady, Poe, Weber, Olsen). All seemed to be sympathetic and not surprised this would come from USFWS. Poe asked to have his name added to the "dear colleague" letter today. My guess is that most will sign on to the letter. One more meeting (Culberson) in 15 minutes. More later, but all in all the audience has been very receptive to the message. They really do "get it" in terms of understanding the impact the suspension will have on elephants.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Through a friend of mine , we have found someone who can personally knows the head person on the committee who oversees the USFWS . I am going to work on that even if I have to go back to DC.

Good stuff Larry

Well done Larry, Mike, and all!

Let me add that there were several AR members present in addition to myself. While I most certainly do not know everyone there, the following individuals were there:

Mike Jines
Jeff Sevor
Mike Burke
Ken Buch
Rich Capozza

There may well have been others .

My heartfelt thanks to all of you.

Thank you very much for the report.


.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Let me add that there were several AR members present in addition to myself. While I most certainly do not know everyone there, the following individuals were there:

Mike Jines
Jeff Sevor
Mike Burke
Ken Buch
Rich Capozza

There may well have been others .

Thanks to all you guys who represented and anyone else that were there.

It was quite a sacrifice you all made and thanks a ton for representing the hunting fraternity so well.

Hopefully this can be overturned soon.

Best Regards!

I'll add my thanks as well!

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Let me add that there were several AR members present in addition to myself. While I most certainly do not know everyone there, the following individuals were there:

Mike Jines
Jeff Sevor
Mike Burke
Ken Buch
Rich Capozza

There may well have been others .

An outstanding group! each of you have my most sincere respect

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Let me add that there were several AR members present in addition to myself. While I most certainly do not know everyone there, the following individuals were there:

Mike Jines
Jeff Sevor
Mike Burke
Ken Buch
Rich Capozza

There may well have been others .

Good job guys !!!!

Might have to join SCI given that they are leading this fight.

Mike

Thank you Mike and Larry for taking the lead on this. Anything you do will be greatly appreciated by all of us.

Great job guys!