Outdoor Adventure USA

Dan Richards, the new Commission president, has been battling an intense campaign for his resignation that has been led by animal-rights groups, State Sen. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and 40 state Assembly members, led by Ben Hueso, D-San Diego. Richards killed a mountain lion on a legal hunt in Idaho and then sent the photo showing him smiling and bear-hugging the cougar to Western Outdoor News, a hunting and fishing weekly. It’s illegal to hunt and kill a mountain lion in California.

Though he was in Idaho when he shot the cougar, the photo of Richards with his lion went viral on the Web when the Humane Society of the United States called attention to it. Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the HSUS, called for Richards’ resignation. Huffman joined in and the battle lines were drawn, pitting animal-rights activists against hunting and fishing groups in a cultural war that has been carried to its extreme by social and other media. Hueso gathered signatures from 39 other Assembly members asking Richards to resign, but Hueso said this week he has put off introducing a resolution to force Richards out.

Richards continues to stand by his statement of “zero chance” that he’ll resign, and there he was Wednesday, running the Commission business as president, much to the delight of the sporting community and much to the dismay of animal-rights and preservation groups.

BorregoWrangler wrote:...for legal hunt in Idaho.


This guy did nothing wrong, inappropriate, unethical, or illegal. Those with an agenda (anti-hunters) are trying to make something out of nothing.