California Wolfwatchers! Please join Project Coyote and Wolfwatchers Southeast Regional Director Janet Hoben at the next California Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting which will be centered on wildlife killing contests. We encourage you to speak up for wildlife and against these contests. Although coyotes are normally the primary target, other wildlife could also be at risk. Thanks to wolf OR-7, we are in the verge of welcoming wolves back into California and in fact one of these contests took place during the time that he was in California and close by. Please speak up for coyotes, wolves, and ALL wildlife. We encourage you to come to the meeting and bring your children. Their voices need to be heard as well! What: California Fish and Game Commission Meeting When: Wednesday, August 6th, 8:30 am Where: DoubleTree by Hilton Golf Resort, 14455 Penasquitos Drive., San Diego, CA If you are unable to attend the Commission meeting, please submit comments favoring the wildlife killing contest ban (see talking points below). Contact: California Fish and Game Commission P.O. Box 944209 Sacramento, CA 94244-2090 [email protected] Remember to include your full name and contact information to ensure that your commments are counted in the official record. Please cc your letters to California Department of Fish & Wildlife Director, Charlton H. Bonham at [email protected] and to Project Coyote at [email protected] as we are tracking letters sent. Talking Points: Ban Wildlife-Killing Contests: Wildlife-killing contests are ethically indefensible; participants kill wildlife to win prizes. Such contests (also called tournaments, derbies, and drives) are ecologically reckless, not only harming individual animals, but also altering predator-prey dynamics, disrupting the social dynamics of predator species, and increasing threats to public safety. They have no beneficial management purpose but simply promote gratuitous violence against wildlife. 1. Wildlife-killing contests are conducted for profit, entertainment, prizes and, simply, for the fun of killing. This is not about sport or fair-chase; animals are often baited and lured with distress calls of wounded young, placing wildlife at an even greater and unfair disadvantage. 2. No evidence exists showing that indiscriminate killing contests control problem animals or serve any beneficial management function. For example, coyote populations that are not exploited (that is hunted, trapped, or controlled by other means) form stable extended family social structures that naturally limit populations through defense of territory and the suppression of breeding by subordinate female members of the family group. Indiscriminate killing of coyotes disrupts this social stability resulting in increased reproduction and pup survival. 3. Predators have been shown to provide ecosystem services that benefit humans, including the control of rodents and rabbits which compete with domestic livestock for forage and which are associated with diseases such as plague, hantavirus, tularemia and Lyme disease. 4. Wildlife-killing contests perpetuate a culture of violence and send the message to children that life has little value and that an entire species of animals is disposable. 5. Wildlife-killing contests put non-target wildlife, companion animals, and people at risk. Gray wolves, now protected under the California Endangered Species Act, are also at risk as they recolonize their historic range.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 11:37:41 +0000
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