Your Voice Needed to Protect California's Wildlife

[Guest guest]

Letters needed in California...

 

If you have questions, please write

 

Barbara SchmitzAnimal Protection InstituteP.O. Box 22505Sacramento, CA 95822Phone: (916) 447-3085 ext. 208www.api4animals.org

 

 

Your Voice Needed to Protect California’s WildlifeThe issue: The “nuisance” wildlife control industry is growing exponentially in California. Currently, there are reportedly “tens of thousands” of nuisance wildlife trappers in California whose work largely involves removing wildlife from in and around people’s homes. To date, the industry has been entirely unregulated. Terrible practices such as drowning the animals (or injecting skunks with acetone) are commonly used as “dispatch methods.” What’s happened: Wildlife advocates have been working closely with the California Department of Fish and Game over the past year to develop a reform package to set up licensing, training, and exam requirements to ensure that nuisance wildlife trappers are proficient, use humane methods, and that the California Department of Fish and Game would provide meaningful oversight of their activities. However, due in part to heavy lobbying by the California Trappers Association and other trapping proponents, the progressive regulatory package that had been developed ­ and agreed to by wildlife and conservation groups as well as the state nuisance wildlife control operators association ­ was gutted. (See sample letter for more specifics on the potential impacts of the Department’s proposal. To view the Department’s proposal, see: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fg_comm/2004/proposedregs04.htm) What's Needed: Your voice is needed to convince the Commission to reject the Department’s proposed regulatory package. Please submit written comments to the Commission by August 17 (to ensure that your letter is tabulated in the final packet that goes to the Commission prior to the August 27 meeting). There will also be two upcoming hearings on the issue; for more information, please visit the Fish & Game Commission website at www.dfg.ca.gov/fg_comm/, or phone 916-653-4899, or email fgc. Please also visit API’s website at www.api4animals.org for more specifics on hearing dates and background information on the proposals.

Send written comments to:California Fish & Game Commission1416 Ninth Street, Rm. 1320Sacramento, CA 95814916-653-5040 faxfgcNote: Emailed comments must include your full name and address to be included in the official record. Form letters may not be counted so please use your own words to personalize your letter.

Please cc your letters to: Please also email or send a copy of your letter to:Mr. Ryan Broddrick, Director API/ Attention: Jill KiesowCalifornia Department of Fish & Game PO Box 225051416 Ninth Street Sacramento, CA 95822Sacramento, CA 95814 infoThank you for acting on behalf of California’s wildlife! For more information, please contact Camilla Fox, API Director of Wildlife Programs, at chfox or 916-447-3085 x215.

*********************************

Sample Letter (Please personalize your letter and use your own words as the Commission does not give equal weight to “look-alike” letters)California Fish & Game Commission1416 Ninth Street, Rm. 1320Sacramento, CA 95814Re: Title 14, Code of Regulations, Trapping & Hunting of Furbearing and Nongame MammalsDear Commissioners:I strongly urge you to oppose the Department of Fish and Game’s proposed regulatory package that seeks to expand trapping and hunting in the state and exempt certain species deemed a "nuisance" from Department oversight. These proposals represent an unbalanced and scientifically unsound approach to wildlife management as well as a blatant capitulation to the “pest” trapping industry at the expense of the public interest in humane standards. The Department’s proposal reverses many of the progressive regulatory amendments it supported only four months ago. Instead the proposed regulatory changes would set up a free-for-all and completely undermine efforts to effectively regulate the “nuisance” wildlife control industry or improve its practices in the field by removing trapping license requirements for those who trap skunks, raccoons, opossums, and other backyard urban wildlife species for profit. Moreover, at the request of the California Trappers Association, the Department has also proposed to almost double the bobcat trapping season and establish a trapping and hunting season for the red fox. Trappers and hunters would be allowed to kill unlimited numbers of red foxes in an area that overlaps with the range of the San Joaquin kit fox, raising potential for take of endangered species.Thus, please oppose the Department’s regulatory package when it comes before you. Instead, please support alternative proposals that would safeguard protections for backyard wildlife, ensure proper Department oversight over wildlife damage control operators, and establish humane regulations for the care and handling of animals impacted by the wildlife control operator trade.Thank you for your consideration.Sincerely,Signature: ________________________________Printed name: ______________________________Address: cc: Mr. Ryan Broddrick, Director, California Department of Fish & Game