The Center for Biological Diversity published a full-page ad in today’s Seattle Times calling on people to call Gov. Inslee and demand that he stop the senseless killing of Washington’s endangered wolves.
That makes tomorrow — Monday — a great time for us all to call at once, to send a message.
GOV. INSLEE: 360-902-4111
Please also sign the Center for Biological Diversity’s petition for Gov. Inslee.
The center’s ad reads: “Governor Inslee: STOP the SENSELESS KILLING of WASHINGTON’S ENDANGERED WOLVES. More than 20 wolves have already been gunned down by the state, including 18 to appease one rancher who refuses to take reasonable steps to protect his cattle, like removing them from known wolf den and rendezvous sites. It’s cruel, counter to science and a waste of taxpayer money
“Washington has more than 1 million cattle and approximately 120 wolves. Conflicts between cattle and wolves are rare, affecting only a handful of Washington’s cattle annually. In response the state has killed 20 percent of Washington’s endangered wolves, destroying wolf families and even killing pups.
Science shows that killing wolves is not effective at reducing conflicts and may actually create more. The only methods scientifically proven to work are nonlethal.
And yet: The state has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on helicopter snipers to gun down endangered wolves, and spent more than $1 million on a consultant for its wolf-killing program.
“HERE’S WHAT MUST CHANGE:
Thank you to the Center for Biological Diversity for paying for this ad!! For more information — or to donate — visit BiologicalDiversity.org.
Also see previous posts on this blog:
Does This Look Like a Cow Pasture? Then Stop Killing Wolves, Gov. Inslee
Fish & Wildlife Killed the Matriarch of the Profanity Pack: Time to Start Calling
Gratitude, Sorrow for Wolf Researcher Who’s Out at WSU
It’s disheartening to see any price tag on a living being — but the low, low $2 price tags on betta fish are especially sad.
People buy bettas because they’re cheap, beautiful and have a reputation as easy to care for. One reason bettas for that reputation, National Geographic explains, is that betta fish have an organ that allows them to take oxygen from the air above the surface of water. That means they can live in water with less oxygen than other fish.
However, all fish require more work than many people realize and should not be taken as pets without careful consideration, National Geographic shows based on science — and many people, including me, can tell you anecedotally. My husband and I had goldfish for years, and they required a fair bit of work, including a lot more space than those cartoonish goldfish bowls indicate and water that gets dirty quickly and therefore needs to be changed frequently. Even with our hard work and good intentions, one of our fish died from a bacterial infection that, we later learned, he probably would have survived if we’d gotten better advice. Google was not a big help, and neither were people at the pet stores we consulted. Pancho was more than 10 years old, and it broke our hearts to see him go the way he did.
As National Geographic explains, betta fish also require more time and care than many people realize — so be aware in advance of what any fish you take in will need and have resources available before you need them, so you can act quickly if your fish gets sick.
Just because some animals can live in harsh conditions for a while — for example, with small tanks and dirty water — that doesn’t mean they should. Similarly, just because people know how to breed animals to be pets doesn’t mean we should (although breeding is better than capturing fish in the wild, as most pet fish are).
Petco and other stores have shown they don’t know how to properly care for the betta fish they sell. They often stack bettas near each other in a way that stokes their anxiety, and as PETA recently documented, betta fish often suffer and die from cold temperatures, dirty water and being shipped in too-large containers that put dangerous pressure on their bodies.
If you or your child would like a betta fish, ask around at work and school. Chances are you’ll find someone with a betta sitting in a corner whom they’d like to rehome with someone who has more space and more time, so the fish can thrive rather than just sit there and look pretty.
Please consider tweeting @Petco and/or emailing customerrelations@petco.com to ask the company not to carry betta fish anymore. It’s too complicated a process for a company that hasn’t handled that responsibility well.
Please contact Gov. Inslee and Washington Fish & Wildlife to demand that the killing of wolves stop. The photo above and the words below are a repost from Predator Defense Executive Director Brooks Fahy of what’s going on and what you can do.
“The picture above was taken in the core territory of the Profanity Peak wolf pack, which Washington wildlife managers destroyed in 2016 after a rancher dumped his cows to graze near the wolves’ den and rendezvous sites. As you can see, the terrain is essentially indefensible. It is rugged, forested and remote. It is no place for cows.
Seventeen of the 22 wolves killed to date in Washington State were killed on behalf of this one rancher, Len McIrvin, who refuses to follow science-based, common sense measures to protect his cattle. Other ranchers have had great success in preventing losses. For starters, they are not dumping them in the heart of wolf territory.
But McIrvin, who has been overheard expressing his hatred for wolves, apparently doesn’t believe they deserve a place to live in peace, except perhaps in zoos? He does believe his cattle should be able to graze on and destroy our public lands, lands for which he pays a fraction of market rate. And he obviously doesn’t care about healthy ecosystems, which require the presence of wolves, or the fact that thousands of people want to be able to see wolves in the wild and could bring tourism dollars to struggling rural economies.
So instead of protecting and preserving wildlife, Washington wildlife managers are working to protect cows. It is insane. Wolves need places to live in peace.
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Sample Letter to Send Gov. Jay Inslee
Dear Governor Inslee,
I want you to know how grateful I am that you respect the science of climate change and have taken such positive action to protect our planet and our children’s future. But I also want you to know that I am deeply troubled you are ignoring the best-available science when it comes to wolves.
Science increasingly shows that killing wolves increases attacks on cattle because it fractures the pack’s social structure. So by killing wolves Washington wildlife managers are perpetuating the very problem they say they want to prevent. They are also doing this on behalf of one rancher who is refusing to take common sense, preventive measures that have worked for other ranchers.
Healthy, balanced ecosystems are necessary for our future prospects. They require wolves performing their vital roles as apex predators with their strong family units intact, as each member of a pack plays an essential role.
I am outraged that hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent helping wolves recover, apparently just to be killed all over again…and all so ranchers can destructively graze their cattle on our public lands.
This is both a tragedy and a travesty. At the very least wolves should be able to live in peace in remote rugged, indefensible forest, like the area the (now former) Profanity Peak Pack lived.
Please stop Washington’s unnecessary and counter-productive wolf slaughter, put an end to livestock grazing in unsuitable territory , and allow wolves places to live in peace.
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For all that is wild and free,Brooks Fahy
The mission statement for the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife is: “To preserve, protect and perpetuate fish, wildlife and ecosystems while providing sustainable fish and wildlife recreational and commercial opportunities.”
The truth is, it does a lot of killing — of geese every year, of more than 300 mountain goats on the Olympic Peninsula (despite catchy visuals of the luckier goats being transported elsewhere by helicopter) this year — and of wolves on behalf of people who ranch on public land every year lately.
Here’s how it killed another wolf from a helicopter on Friday, according to a Facebook post from the Western Wildlife Council — which rightly points out that on Monday, it’s time to start calling the governer and Fish & Wildlife (numbers below) about releasing this information at 5 p.m. on a Friday. The last wolf expert who stood up to ranchers is out. It’s time for the public to say something.
“Today at 4:57 pm I received an email from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife providing a link to a recent update regarding wolves in Washington State.
Imagine the sounds of helicopter blades cutting the air over these wolves and the crushing feeling of a blast of Buckshot Piercing their skin, breaking their bones incapacitating them until someone arrives to finish them off. This happened today.
In this update that the Department purposely waited until shortly before the close of business to circulate, it stated that they believed they have shot from a helicopter (not so unlike the one pictured below) the Breeding Female of the OPT pack in Northeast Washington in Ferry County.
This makes the current count on wolves killed by this ranching outfit to 18 Wolves for the mere reason that he and his group have refused to accept the best available science and, therefore paid the price by a significant number of cattle being injured.
The method commonly used to dispatch wolves from choppers are using large pelleted buck shot fired from a shot gun to disable the animal until it is later given a kill shot from someone on the ground.
It is appalling that WDFW uses tactics like this to kill our wildlife that reside on our public lands for the sake of cows that do nothing but damage these fragile ecosystems.
Since WDFW waited until nearly 5:00 pm to release the information in the hopes advocates will calm down a bit and not call in to their offices disrupting their phone services, I think it is time to organize a call in Monday through Wednesday of this next week to the Governors Office and to WDFW ( ALL OFFICES) and keep calling!!
You See, it’s not just the wolf activity they are monitoring. It’s your reaction!!
Governors Office Number 1-360-902-4111
WDFW 1-360-902-2200
Please also email director Susewind at director@dfw.wa.gov
Please also direct phone calls to Donny Moterello and WDFW’s Region 1 Office @ (509) 892-1001
It’s Time to truly roll up our sleeves!!
Picture of Profanity Wolf Below”
Photo by Christopher Michel used under Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
The Puget Sound is now in danger of losing a third precious orca. The poor health of the 27-year-old male came to light this week following the recent losses of a baby that lived just minutes and whose lifeless body was carried by her mother for weeks, and subsequent loss of a 3-year old female who was once bursting with health and life.
Resident orca whales need about 385 pounds of fish — preferably chinook — every single day to thrive, and pregnant mothers need even more, according to Lynda V. Mapes’ article in The Seattle Times. So no one should get their hopes up yet about the fact that three resident orcas are pregnant.
What can we do?
For starters, stop eating salmon. You won’t find that advice much, because a big industry has grown up around humans eating (and wasting) salmon. You’ll hear about how complicated it is, about the failure of hatcheries, about where we fish versus where the orcas fish. The bottom line is we eat and waste a whole lot of wild chinook. Let’s leave them — and the oceans — all we can.
Here’s more advice you won’t find much, also because of industry: Vessel noise disrupts the orcas’ ability to fish, so stop or limit your whale watching tours and other boating activities.
Contact your elected officials to demand that the Army Corps of Engineers start breaching four dams on the Lower Snake River for which it now has the authority and funding. The Army Corps will not start work until it hears from Gov. Inslee and Sen. Murray, according to the Orca Network. In the face of political and historical arguments for keeping the dams, it’s important to know that shipping has steadily declined along the waterway the dams create, and “the dams provide only about 5 percent of the region’s power, which today is easily replaced, if it’s needed at all. The dams provide no flood control and irrigation takes place only at Ice Harbor dam, nearest the Columbia,” according to another Lynda V. Mapes article.
Encourage elected officials to prioritize mitigation for climate change and pollution, which the Center for Whale Research points out is a major reason orccas no longer thrive in local waters.
You can take steps personally to mitigate pollution and climate change as well, including limiting water consumption (turn off water while brushing your teeth, limit showers to five minutes), reducing electrical consumption (set thermostats to 68 degrees or less, turn down your hot water heater, unplug rarely used electronics, switch off lights), use unbleached paper products, reuse (glass jars, cloth bags), recycle, avoid extra packaging, buy local and/or organic, limit pesticide use, limit household chemicals, and carpool or, better yet, walk, bike or ride the bus or train.
Here’s a ridiculous, narrow-interest bill we’d like to defeat on general principle. It flies in the face of common sense and would hurt animals at the same time. Who thinks of these things?
Pasado’s Safe Haven has posted this description and a two-minute action alert that’s worth our time to follow.
“The dairy industry recently introduced the Dairy Pride Act (S.130) which promotes animal products by making it illegal to label non-dairy foods with terms such as ‘milk,’ ‘ice cream,’ and yogurt.’ This not only includes new products, such as almond milk, but also impacts products that have been around for centuries like coconut milk. The dairy industry is responsible for a tremendous amount of animal cruelty, negative environmental impacts, and human-health hazards – and now they are feeling the threat of increasingly conscious consumers. In fact, with more people becoming food aware, all milk should be accurately labeled, including milk produced by cows, which should be labeled as ‘cow milk.’
Judy Woods, the founder and primary caregiver at Pigs Peace Sanctuary in Stanwood, has posted an urgent request for help on her website. The big-hearted lover of pigs was badly injured in June , spent time in the hospital and is now recovering but does not expect to be on her feet before winter.
She’s had to turn away rescue pigs, KING-5 reported. “I get 50 to 100 requests per month. I just can’t do it right now.”
Her son, Nathan, said, “No one can replace herThe work she was doing as one person, it’s taking a team of us to just try to fill in those gaps.”
Any donations — or extra shopping at Vegan Haven in Seattle’s U District, which Pigs Peace operates through volunteers — are greatly appreciated right now.
Judy with Honey, from the Pigs Peace website
Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Brandon Southall, NMFS/OPR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51647007@N08/5036399325/.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has opened what it calls “a robust, transparent public process” over proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act, a law that aims to recover “our most imperiled species to the point they no longer need federal protection.”
Curious that Fish & Wildlife considers what it’s doing “robust” and “transparent.” You would think from reading its summation and an accompanying press release that the proposed changes were good for animals. To the contrary. The first clue that something is not robust and transparent comes from the press release: “The Trump Administration is dedicated to being a good neighbor and being a better partner with the communities in which we operate.”
This is an administration that has nominated a Dow Chemical lawyer to oversee the Superfund program, worked hard to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, and foisted the U.S. Army Corp of Engineer to evaluate a prospective gold mine near Bristol Bay over the objections of Alaska’s governor.
Also curious thaty NOAA Assistant Administrator for Fisheries Chris Oliver says the changes are meant to bring “clarity and consistency” to the Endangered Species Act.
NPR’s Nate Rott highlights two of the changes: “The first would end the practice of treating threatened species the same as endangered. This proposal says that threatened species could still get some of those protections as endangered, but it would be determined on a case-by-case basis. It won’t be de facto anymore. The second would allow the economic consequences of a species’ protection to be taken into consideration during a listing. The decision would still ultimately be determined by the best available science, but the cost of that would also be considered.”
Costs and economic consequences balanced against wildlife.
Rott interviewed Collin O’Mara, head of the National Wildlife Federation, who said, “One out of every three wildlife species in this country is either at risk or vulnerable to extinction in the coming century. We have a crisis that we need – that needs solutions. Like, the status quo is basically just managing decline of specie populations that we all care about.”
O’Mara would like to see more resources put into helping wildlife before they’re threatened or endangered, Rott said.
That sounds smart. Let’s do that instead. Here’s where you can comment on the administration’s proposed changes, until September 24.
Here’s a sample comment:
Your summation and press release indicate this would be good for wildlife, while instead it would be good for business. You need to drop this plan and instead (not in addition, but rather instead) work on more and better ways to help wildlife before it’s threatened and/or endangered.
Here’s how public employees with integrity behave: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/11/21/resisting-trump-from-inside-the-government
The Humane Cosmetics Act (H.R. 2790) is a bipartisan bill in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce committee that would end cosmetic animal testing by private companies and the federal government.
Cosmetic testing is unnecessary and cruel.
Manufacturers can — and have — used non-animal alternative test methods, and they can — and have — made new products with thousands of ingredients already proven safe.
U.S. companies have already made changes to their testing practices in order to comply with international laws in the European Union, Israel and India to remain competitive in the global market.
Now our country needs to put a stop to cruel and pointless tests for its citizens as well.
Hamsters, cats,
The bipartisan bill is sponsored by Representatives Martha McSally (R-AZ,) Don Beyer (D-VA), Ed Royce (R-CA), Tony Cardenas (D-CA), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), and Paul Tonko (D-NY).
The American Anti-Vivisection Society makes it easy to thank your representative for supporting this bill.
Let’s get it passed!
Photo: Jo-Anne McArthur / The Unbound Project
Photo: Berkely Bedell: https://www.flickr.com/photos/50838842@N06/6754978699/
A comment period is now open on a U.S. Interior Department plan to allow hunters in Alaska to:
Among other things, the Associated Press and others report. It’s hard to believe these things were ever legal on wildlife preserves, but they were until 2015 — and will be again unless the Interior Department reverses course.
Alaska’s Division of Wildlife Conservation is on board, saying this would align regulations on almost 37,000 square miles of national preserves with state rules — although the Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports that the latter three practices (hunting bears with dogs, killing wolves in their dens, and shooting caribou from boats) are legal in only a small part of Alaska. If all of this rings a bell, it may be because Congress and Donald Trump last year enacted a law allowing unsportsmanlike hunting on wildlife refuges, including shooting bears and wolves from airplanes.
Here’s the link for making a comment the latest measure. Please leave at least a short one. Silence is dangerous.