01

The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is the world's most successful system of policies and laws to restore and safeguard fish and wildlife and their habitats through sound science and active management. The Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies formally endorsed the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation at its 100-year anniversary meeting in September 2002 in Big Sky, Montana.

02

With its origins in Roman civil law, the PTD is an essential element of North American wildlife law. The Doctrine establishes a trustee relationship of government to hold & manage wildlife, fish, and waterways for the benefit of the resources and the public. Fundamental to the concept is the notion that natural resources are deemed universally important in the lives of people, and that the public should have an opportunity to access these resources for purposes that traditionally include fishing, hunting, and trapping.

03

The Animal Rights movement seeks to give animals “legal personhood,” allowing animals to sue in a court of law on behalf of their interests. The movement believes that animals are not ours to use for food, clothing, entertainment, or experimentation. However, in the United States, animals are classified as property in accordance with the law; often differing between personal property and as a public trust resource.

04

Americans’ rights to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife have long been an American heritage prior to the European colonization of North America. Although the right to hunt is not in the Constitution of the United States of America, the Tenth Amendment states “[t]he powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved by it for the States, or the people.” Meaning that the right to constitutionalize hunting, fishing, and the take of wildlife has been bestowed to the individual states.