Finally, someone has the intestinal fortitude to expose the animal rights groups for what they really are. Kathleen Marquardt has written a book called "Animal Scam". It is a must read for all hunters, trappers and ranchers. To order the book, call (406) 442-5700. Following are a few excerpts from "Animal Scam".

• "First they go after the biomedical researchers, then the hunters and trappers, then the livestock farmers and ranchers. Eventually they will affect everyone. If we don't stand up to them now, there will be no one left to stand up for us later."

• "Well-meaning contributors who think that their animal rights donations are used for animals are either misinformed or naive about where the money goes. According to a 1990 survey of thirty-three top animal advocacy groups, over 90 percent of the money raised annually by these groups was spent sending out requests to raise more money. Almost nothing was spent directly

for the benefit of animals."

• "Nevada Congressman Jim Bilbray was awarded a medal of honor by PeTA in 1993 and worked hard to defeat legislation that created stiff new federal penalties for animal rights-related break-ins, bombings, and other conspiracies. With the help of Putting People First, that bill passed over Bilbray's opposition."

• "Animal lovers who send money to PeTA may inadvertently be funding lies, terrorism, and a lavish life-style for the group's leaders. They are certainly not helping animals."

• "Regarding overgrazing, animal rightists are hypocritical. When deer, buffalo, or any other wild animal increase in numbers so as to devour all the vegetation and damage the land, animal rightists ignore the environmental abuse. But when cattle graze in a manner that benefits the grasslands, they protest."

• "Just as deer and cattle need grass, so grass needs deer or cattle. By trampling, ungulates [hoofed foragers, like cows] accelerate decomposition of vegetation, thus recycling vital nutrients. Through defecation, they spread seeds and fertilizer." Chase adds that ending grazing altogether leads to desertification-loss of grassland-which is the very result that the antibeefers claim they want to prevent.

• As a result of the prohibition of sealskin imports into the United States and European Community, the international market collapsed, causing dire economic hardship to the maritime people of the High North. Consequently, the harp seal population exploded from 1.5 million to over 4 million, depleting the stocks of capelin and other prey of cod to such an extent that cod stocks suffered, and in 1992 Canada placed a moratorium on cod fishing.

• In Europe, however, animal rights groups have banned trapping in Germany and other countries. The result has been a population explosion among furbearers. Starvation, road-kills, cannibalism, mange, and rabies are now rampant throughout that continent. In 1990, ten people were bitten by rabid foxes in downtown Berlin alone. In France, five thousand people have to be treated for rabies exposure each year due to uncontrolled foxes.

• Between 1986 and 1991, the number of active trappers fell from 500,000 to 100,000. Only 85,000 trappers are still actively working.

• Coyotes and foxes are killing increasing numbers of livestock and pets from California to New York.

• The choice is not between trappers killing animals or animals living long lives. Rather, it is between animals dying humanely or dying a slow, brutal death from other animals, starvation, or disease. If it weren't for humans wearing furs, many species of furbearing animals

would become extinct.

• As Louisiana wildlife biologist Greg Linscombe put it: "If you're really concerned [about the environment], buy a fur coat."

• Because the less people know about animal rights from their own experience, the more likely they are to believe animal rights propaganda

• Animal rightists claim that hunters in the United States are a threat to endangered species. This is ludicrous. No species has ever been endangered by legal sport hunting.

• All told, hunters pay over $619 million for government wildlife and habitat conservation each year. Where is the animal rightists' contribution?

• ...hunters...provide 45 percent of the funding to manage wildlife species that are not hunted. Where is the animal rightists' contribution?

• In contrast, animal rights groups do nothing for wildlife habitat conservation. On the contrary, they interfere in wildlife management, obstruct veterinary research, and oppose the captive breeding of endangered species.

• When forced to deal with the reality of problems caused by wildlife overpopulation, animal rightist propose ludicrous solutions that could never work, such as fencing and oral contraceptives.

• Animal rights advocates suggest controlling prey populations by reintroducing large predators, such as wolves, mountain lions, or black bears, near population centers. But such predators maul or kill children and adults as well.