Bilingual hunter education teachers sought
By Matt Weiser - mweiser@sacbee.com
Last Updated 8:56 am PDT Tuesday, April 15, 2008

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State wildlife officials are looking for bilingual instructors to teach hunter education programs.

The Department of Fish & Game requires new hunters to take a safety education class to obtain a hunting license, and started a bilingual education program in 2006.

The program has proved so successful that more bilingual instructors are needed to meet the growing demand posed by California's diverse population. The department is particularly anxious to recruit hunting educators fluent in Spanish, Russian and Hmong.

"The whole idea is to pass the tradition of hunting on to a wider group of people," said Mary Salas Fricke, spokeswoman for the department. "People learn the sport of hunting in their own culture and language much easier."

Instructors provide training in safe gun handling, field ethics and wildlife laws. Since hunter education started in 1970, hunting-related injuries in California dropped from an average of 163 per year to 22, and fatalities decreased from 31 to two per year on average. About 30,000 people complete the 10-hour course annually.

For more information, call (916) 653-1235 or visit http://www.dfg.ca.gov/huntered/index.aspx.

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