TRUMP ADMIN: “The paintings submitted for this year’s federal duck stamp contest feature familiar images of wildlife art… But a closer look at the contest entries reveals other, less expected details. In scene after scene, wooden duck calls—which hunters use to lure in the birds—drift along the water or rest in the reeds. In several others, empty plastic shotgun shells litter the shallows and the shore.
This unusual abundance of hunting paraphernalia is the result of the Trump administration’s recent rewrite of the rules for the annual competition sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)… In May, the FWS changed the competition’s rules to make its permanent theme ‘celebrating our waterfowl hunting heritage.’ And it added a requirement that all submitted artworks ‘must also include appropriate waterfowl hunting-related accessories or elements.'”
-Andy McGlashen, “Duck Stamp Artists Turn to Spent Shotgun Shells to Meet New Pro-Hunting Mandate,” audubon.org, Oct. 6, 2020