Posted by William Neikirk at 4:50 p.m. CDT

The bill that the Senate passed Thursday night to protect your pension also might protect wildlife around the world. At least, that's what the Humane Society of the United States tells us.

It seems that Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) included an amendment in the bill to crack down on a tax loophole exploited by so-called "trophy hunters." According to the society, trophy hunters have used a tax break for taxidermy to deduct the cost of their hunting excursions around the globe. The new provision will save taxpayers $43 million over the next decade, the society said.

The society said it conducted a two-year investigation and found that trophy hunters were shooting rare animals and donating their mounted "prizes" to phony museums in order to claim a tax deduction. Often a museum was little more than a living room. In one case, the society found 800 trophy mounts "gathering dust in an old railroad car."

Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, won approval of an amendment that sharply limited the tax deduction, so that trophy hunters couldn't write off the expense of a hunting trip, but only what it would cost to buy the trophy animal on the market.

"It was time for self-enriching hunters to become the hunted," said the senator.

There is no indication that Vice President Cheney ever took such a deduction.