Well I emailed them back when I felt more like I sided with them. But after more learning I tend to agree with Chief. But I got an email back today and this is what they had to say for whatever it's worth:
Steven,
Thank you very much for your support. The story was a very distorted piece
of editing from a reporter that did not read our press release and was
obviously against hunting. (See Tampa Tribune article below). What's even
more frustrating is Dr. James Earl Kennamer spoke to the reporter at length
the night before the release so he did understand it was a symbolic release
to celebrate this restoration success story. But he chose to file a story
that was biased and inaccurate.
We've been doing wild turkey releases at Thanksgiving for many years now as
a way to focus on the good things hunters and wildlife professionals have
done for wild turkey restoration. Prior to Thanksgiving, the media is
looking for a story about wild turkeys. We've provided them with that
through these wild turkey releases as well as an opportunity to get our
message out about hunters and wildlife restoration. And, 99 percent of the
time, we've received positive stories in newspapers and TV about the work of
our members and partners. There will always be reporters who will twist our
message because they don't like hunting. However, we can't let that stop us
from continuing to try to get the word out. The hunting community has long
said we shouldn't just preach to the choir, and I plan to continue telling
the nonhunting public about the millions of dollars hunters have spent for
wildlife conservation.
Your words of support had a healing quality and I appreciate your efforts!
Best Regards,
Tammy Sapp
Senior Vice President/Communications
National Wild Turkey Federation
803-637-3106
http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGB100MPOUE.html
TV Reporter Wields Hatchet Against Turkey Federation
By FRANK SARGEANT
Published: Nov 19, 2006
In a story he called "The Great Turkey Rescue That Wasn't," CBS
national news reporter Steve Hartman did a hatchet job on the National
Wild Turkey Federation on Friday's evening news, based on an event that
brought the reporter to Tampa last week.
Hartman, like many other reporters, was invited to a symbolic turkey
release at Two Rivers Ranch near Thonotosassa to celebrate the
restoration of the wild turkey across America, mostly funded by
hunters.
Hartman got the same press release everyone else did-in fact, he showed
it on the air. But apparently Hartman didn't have time to read any
farther than the headline - he got the idea that wild turkeys were to
be released into some sort of preserve where they could live happily
ever after, and came primed to do that story - a "turkeys reprieved at
Thanksgiving" tale of the sort that is so popular with TV stations at
this time of year.
In fact, limited hunting is allowed on Two Rivers, and that didn't sit
right with Hartman.
He totally ignored the thrust of the event, which was to point out that
wild turkey numbers nationwide have come back from fewer than 30,000 to
more than 7 million thanks to transplants, as illustrated in the Two
Rivers release.
The restocking programs have been paid for almost entirely by hunting
license fees, excise taxes on hunting gear, and donations from the
National Wild Turkey Federation, a hunting/conservation organization.
Instead, Hartman homed in on the fact that the turkeys were trapped and
kept overnight in release boxes, then released into areas where some of
them might eventually wind up being taken by hunters.
Of course, Hartman did not get the fact that hunting has been allowed
on this particular ranch for more than 40 years, and that it has
perhaps the most dense turkey population in the state despite the
controlled hunts.
Hartman said that the turkeys had been "abducted" and also that they
had been "kidnapped," and that he "felt bad for the turkeys."
Fortunately, 13 of the trapped turkeys were released without incident,
and most are probably back sitting on their roosts along Blackwater
Creek this morning.
All except one, that is. That would be the gobbler that ran into the
fence.
For reasons known only to Hartman, when a big gobbler was released, he
laid down his camera and began to sprint after the bird. The turkey
wasn't about to be caught by a guy from New York with a doughnut around
his middle, of course, but in running away from Hartman it ran full
tilt into a barbed wire fence.
Feathers and blood flew. The turkey made it through the fence and
wobbled off toward a nearby cypress head, drooping one wing and
limping. That gobbler probably wound up as coyote food shortly after
sundown - nature does not provide much slack for the infirm.
For some reason, the footage from that part of the "Great Turkey
Release That Wasn't" didn't make the air.
Like many, I have admired the often funny, whimsical or touching
stories generated by Steve Hartman in his travels around the nation.
But this time he wandered far off the track and insulted both the NWTF
and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, without the
likes of which there would be no wild turkeys anywhere in the nation
these days, and missed an opportunity to share a story that should have
been told to the national audience of CBS.
Tammy Sapp
Senior Vice President/Communications
National Wild Turkey Federation
803-637-3106
