[CRNMC] Biodiversity Loss is Critical - Stop USDA Contract Killing of Local Wildlife

Thu Jul 9 21:46:32 PDT 2015

/*CALLING ALL COMMUNITY RIGHTS NETWORK PEOPLE on the coast *//- //We 
need as many people as possible to attend, and/or submit a statement to, 
the joint BOS-City Council meeting in Fort Bragg's Town Hall on Tues, 
July 21, at 1:30 pm./

If we do not protect the Rights of Nature, all of the work being done 
for Community Rights will be useless. If you are not familiar with the 
details surrounding the contract with USDA "Wildlife Services," now in 
its 10th year, I have attached several documents that together, outline 
the issue.

We absolutely cannot allow these killings to continue, as we are losing 
biodiversity everywhere and a rate that is truly frightening. The 
California Fish & Game Commission filed a ruling in December 2014 that 
bans wildlife killing for"Prizes and Inducements." I feel this ruling 
should be considered here since our county Ag Commissioner, Chuck Morse 
(known in the contract as the "Cooperator) is authorized to use taxpayer 
funds to pay USDA personnel $140,000 annually for the blatantly inhumane 
extermination of our wildlife, while the Earth is in the throws of it's 
Sixth Mass Extinction.

/Here are some excerpts from some of the attached documentation:/
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*/Project Coyote/ is a North America coalition of wildlife educators, 
scientists, predator friendly ranchers, and community leaders promoting 
coexistence between people and wildlife, and compassionate conservation
through education, science and advocacy. 
<http://projectcoyote.org/newsreleases/news_ca_fish_game_commission_votes_to_ban_prizes_inducements.html>
*

/*Each year, Wildlife Services indiscriminately traps and kills millions of animals, 
approximately 80,000 in California - on behalf of commercial 
agriculture. In 2013 alone, Wildlife Services killed 4 million wild 
animals. Since 2000, Wildlife Services has spent approximately 1 billion 
taxpayer dollars to kill 1 million 
coyotesand other predators nationwide, despite peer-reviewed research 
that shows reckless slaughter of native predators causes broad 
ecological destruction.*/

Last year, in response to a letter from the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors 

opted not to renew its contract with Wildlife Services. Nearly 15 years ago, Marin County replaced its Wildlife 

Services contract with a nonlethal predator control program that brought a 62 percent decrease in predation at 

one-third of the cost.

“As ranchers who know that livestock and wildlife can coexist, we feel it’s important to do what we can to help 

end this unnecessary war on wildlife,” said Keli Hendricks, predator friendly rancher from Petaluma and advisory 

board member of Project Coyote. “It angers us when these contests are promoted as a way to help ranchers 

protect their livestock. The reality is, there is no noble purpose behind a killing contest.”

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/Here is what NRDC says about this program.../

Predator Control: 
<http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/wolves/predatorcontrol.asp>The core purpose of Wildlife Services’ predator control activities is 
*to prevent commercial livestock losses from **
***

*predation by wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, and other wild carnivores*. Working directly with commercial 

operators and state and local governments, 
*Wildlife Services uses a combination of lethal control methods, like **
**trapping, aerial gunning, poisoning, and denning (killing young in their dens), and some non-lethal control 
**
**methods.****But driven by narrow agricultural interests, these predator control activities often ignore the greater 

public need for a healthy environment, fiscal responsibility, and safe public lands, raising some serious questions 

about how the program is being administered.*

Should the focus be on killing predators?
The *USDA's own statistics 
<http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewTaxonomy.do?taxonomyID=29>* show that most livestock losses come from weather, disease, illness, and birthing 

problems, not predation. 
*Wildlife Services continues to "preventatively" kill more than 
**100,000 native
carnivores each year 
<http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/prog_data/2009_prog_data/data_index_2009.shtml>**, even when the effectiveness of such killing is unproven or, worse, counterproductive.
*----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Work and Financial Plan between Mendocino County and USDA Animal & 
Plant Health Inspection Service - Wildlife Services (APHIS-WS) 
<http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/bos/meetings/MG31185/AS31227/AS31230/AS31233/AI31412/DO31475/1.PDF>*

*OBJECTIVES/GOALS*
Wildlife Services' overall goal is to maintain a /*biologically-sound 
Integrated Wildlife Damage Management */(IWDM) program to assist 
property owners, businesses, private citizens, and government agencies 
in resolving wildlife damage problems and/*conduct control activities*/.

*/The scope of this program is limited only by the financial resources 
allocated by the cooperator and APHIS-WS/*.///*Although successful 
elimination of any specific threat is not guaranteed, all reasonable 
efforts will be made to resolve or mitigate human-wildlife conflicts 
within financial and regulatory constraints.*/

"*Control activities*" are described as follows:
Safely & professionally utilize approved wildlife damage management 
tools/equipments*including firearms, advanced optics, assorted snaring 
devices, trailing hounds, ATVs, leg-hold traps, cage-type and other 
specialized traps, deterrent methods/devices (including pyrotechnics, 
EPA approved toxicants**(including euthanasia drugs,) night vision 
equipment and electronic calling devices*.
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So please let your voice be heard.

Tammy

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