150 people
November 5th, 2009 by admin
On Tuesday morning, 150 people crowded into the Martin County Commission Chambers for a public hearing about whether hunting camps should be allowed on agricultural land in the county. (The county commission does not have the authority to regulate hunting, but hunting camps need county approval to offer overnight lodging and food service.)
The debate centers around J&R Outfitters, a hunting camp on SW Fox Brown Road. J&R Outfitters has been open for many years, but recently the county realized that the camp was operating in violation of zoning regulations.
J&R Outfitters provides hunters the opportunity to kill animals not seen in Florida outside of a zoo, such as water buffalo, axis deer and Nilgai antelope. The hunting fees range from $250 to kill an exotic sheep, up to $5,000 to kill a water buffalo.
Before this week’s meeting, debate took place in the editorial pages of The Stuart News. On October 29, Craig Morgan, a doctor from West Virginia, wrote in support of the hunting camp. Dr. Morgan explained that J&R offers a chance to “get animals” that otherwise would require an expensive trip to Africa. In another letter to the paper, Frank Valente, CEO of The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast, argued that the camp, despite its large size, is little more than a canned hunting facility. Valente wrote that the animals “are usually fed at bait stations; they are semi-tame, bred on the property.” The editorial board of the Stuart News took a strong stand against re-zoning the land to allow the hunting camps to continue. The paper concluded, “County commissioners can make a strong statement about commercial hunting by denying the requested zoning change. Moreover, by saying ‘no’ to some of the amenities currently provided by J&R Outfitters, commissioners might discourage operations of this nature in Martin County.”
On Tuesday, the crowd was a mix of hunters, local residents worried about the danger of stray bullets, and animal activists hoping to convince the commissioners to take a principled stand against commercial hunting.
The public hearing lasted four hours. Unfortunately, in the end commissioners voted 4-1 to allow J&R Outfitters and a few smaller hunting camps in the county to continue operating.
You Can Help
A second, final public hearing is scheduled for November 17. If you haven’t already done so, contact the commissioners and urge them to take steps to discourage hunting camps from operating in Martin County.Contact:
Martin County Board of County Commissioners
Online comment form.