These bills either made it into committees or have a chance. Either way, they need an extra push to pass or fail in the current session of the legislature — so please call (if you have time) or email soon!
Find your legislators here — and fill out a single simple form for all three of your representatives.
ASK LAWMAKERS TO OPPOSE
HB 1323: Would provide funding for Woodland Park Zoo, which is a PRIVATE zoo with a horrible track record with elephants and other animals. More information here.
ASK LAWMAKERS TO SUPPORT
HB 1919: Would expand the circumstances under which a person may commit an Animal Fighting offense to include, among other things. Read more here.
HB 1026: Prohibits a city or county from prohibiting the possession of a dog based upon its breed, imposing requirements specific to possession of a dog based upon its breed, or declaring a dog dangerous or potentially dangerous based upon its breed unless certain conditions are met.
SB 5004: Save Washington Pets says: “This important bill authorizes public animal shelters and nonprofit humane societies to provide expanded veterinary services to benefit low-income pet owners. Under current law, services are limited to spay/neuter, electronic ID (microchipping) and vaccinations. Those restrictions are lifted under this bill.”
HB 1476: [NEEDS TO GET OUT OF COMMITTEE BY NEXT WEEK!] would prohibit contracts that use dogs or cats as security or collateral, so that these pets cannot be repossessed.
SB 5211: Prohibits the use of live animals to practice invasive medical procedures in paramedic training programs.
SB 5212: Promotes the adoption of dogs and cats that have been used for science or research purposes.
The PRIVATE Woodland Park Zoo has its hand out for more taxpayer welfare in the upcoming King County Parks Levy.
Please urge the King County Council to remove the zoo from getting more tax dollars in the parks levy – money that should go to our beloved PUBLIC parks.
Twitter: @kingcountywa
Email: https://blue.kingcounty.gov/about/contact/
Woodland Park Zoo has already received more than $51 million dollars from King County taxpayers since 2008. In addition, Seattle taxpayers (who are also King County taxpayers) have forked over $133 million dollars to the zoo since 2002. The zoo also benefits from rent-free use of the valuable land on which it sits, rent-free buildings, and free ownership of its inventory: the animals.
It’s time for the PRIVATE zoo to be self-sustaining. Woodland Park Zoo’s gate attendance has declined over the past decade. The public is not supporting the caging and suffering of wild animals as they once did so it’s time to STOP financially supporting the Zoo.
Sample email:
Dear County Council,
Woodland Park Zoo is a private zoo, but it already uses valuable land rent-free. The parks levy should be for our beloved city parks, not a private zoo. Let this private zoo fund itself privately.
Sincerely,
Your Name
When: Sunday, Feb. 24., 4-6 p.m.
Where: Papas Hot Potatoes, 500 NW 65th St., Seattle
Please join us for a letter-writing party on behalf of the animals over dinner at Papas Hot Potatoes in Ballard.
Letter writing is a simple and powerful way to make change for the animals! You’re welcome to bring your laptop, but NARN also provides stationery, pens, stamps and sample letters.
Topics for letters at past parties have included support for the orcas and wolves, opposition to the creation of new animal laboratories, and raising the spirits of activists and comrades who have been jailed for their pro-animal and political actions.
Check out the yummy menu at Papas Hot Potatoes: https://www.papashotpotatoes.com/menu/
There are committee hearings tomorrow for wo bills in the Washington State House of Representatives would outlaw animal fighting paraphernalia: HB 1919 and HB 1929.
House Bill 1919, sponsored by Reps. Mosbrucker, Appleton, Smith, Ybarra, Dye, Ormsby and Stanford, would:
House Bill 1929, sponsored by Reps. Lovick, Klippert, Leavitt and Stanford, would expand the circumstances under which a person may commit an Animal Fighting offense (a Class C felony) to include owning, possessing, buying, selling, transferring, or manufacturing animal fighting paraphernalia for specified purposes. Paraphernalia would include items such as “breaking sticks; cat mills; treadmills; fighting pits; springpoles; unprescribed veterinary medicine; and gaffs, slashers, heels, and any other sharp implement designed to be attached in place of the natural spur of a cock or game fowl.”
It’s important that both these bills pass. Please contact your representatives to ask that they support HB 1919 and 1929. The easiest way to find your representative is to input your address on this website.
In an email, letter or phone call, you might say:
Dear Rep. So-and-so,
I’m writing to ask that you help ensure HB 1919 and 1929 in the current legislature pass. They elevate animal fighting from a Class C to a Class B felony, expand the definition of animal fighting to include buying and owning animal fighting paraphernalia, and require the Washington State Patrol (WSP) to establish both a statewide voicemail line to allow the public to anonymously report incidents of animal abuse and a central repository for local law enforcement agencies to report incidents of animal abuse for submission to the National Incident-Based Reporting System.
These are important bills that should have no trouble passing. Thank you for taking the time to ensure that they do.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Seriously, what century is this? Aren’t enough animals being farmed for fur — so many that companies sometimes misrepresent whether clothing they sell uses animal or faux fur — that we don’t need competitions to kill more? People are the beasts in this scenario.
Idaho Fish and Game are part of this depraved situation, which appears to be at least tacitly condoned by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials, according to The Smokey Wire website, which is administered by Sharon Friedman, Ph.D., forest geneticist, Forest Service retiree (2012) and former chair of both the Forest Policy Committee and Forest Science and Technology Board at the Society of American Foresters.
What’s Idaho Fish and Game upset about? Of the 2.6 million cattle and sheep in Idaho at any given time, about 77 cattle and 61 sheep have been killed each year there since 2009, according to a post on The Smokey Wire by Matthew Koehler. That compares to fewer than 1,000 wolves, last time Idaho counted. It’s worth reading his whole post to learn more about this subject.
If you’re in Boise, please visit Idaho Fish and Game in person to let them know what you think: 600 S. Walnut, Boise, ID. If you’re not, please call them at (208) 334-3700 and call or email Idaho Fish and Game Commission Members:
You also can call the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which funds the wolf hunt: 800-225-5355.
Here’s an overview of bills worth writing to your legislator about this session, which goes through April:
Senate Bill 5349: Concerning products identified as milk (WHAT ON EARTH?)
The bill adds this to language to existing state law that prohibits selling contaminated milk:
“It is unlawful to sell, offer for sale, or deliver any product that is identified by the word ‘milk’ and that is intended for human consumption as food or drink if the product is not milk or does not contain milk or milk products.”
House Bill 1026: Concerning breed-based dog regulations (YES!)
A public hearing is scheduled in the House for 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 21, and it’s set to go to executive committee on Jan. 31.
“Prohibits a city or county from prohibiting the possession of a dog based upon its breed, imposing requirements specific to possession of a dog based upon its breed, or declaring a dog dangerous or potentially dangerous based upon its breed unless certain conditions are met.”
House Bill 1045: Prohibiting the lethal removal of gray wolves (YES!)
“Prohibits the department of fish and wildlife from authorizing the killing of gray wolves. Allows the department to authorize the nonlethal removal or relocation of gray wolves that are destroying or injuring property, or when nonlethal removal or relocation is necessary for wildlife management or research.”
House Bill 1007: Concerning dedicated funding for animal shelter capital projects (YES!)
“Requires the department of commerce to establish a competitive process to: (1) Solicit proposals for and prioritize projects whose primary objective is to assist animal shelters in acquiring, constructing, or rehabilitating facilities; and (2) Establish a competitive process to prioritize applications for assistance.”
House Bill 1025: Concerning the slaughter of horses and other equines for human consumption (YES!)
“Prohibits a person from: (1) Slaughtering a horse if the person knows or should know that the meat from the slaughtered animal is intended to be used for human consumption; and (2) Possessing, purchasing, bartering, selling, or transporting horses if the person knows or should know that the horse or its meat will be used for human consumption. Excludes horses, mules, and asses from the definition of ‘meat food animal.'”
House Bill 1046: Prohibiting hunting with the aid of dogs for certain purposes (YES!)
“Prohibits a person from hunting or pursuing black bear, cougar, bobcat, or lynx with the aid of a dog.”
Look up your state legislators: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
A list of their email addresses: https://app.leg.wa.gov/memberemail/Default.aspx?Chamber=S
Set up alerts for bills you want to follow: https://www.washingtonvotes.org/
Look up more about this session’s bills here: https://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/
Here’s a celebration of a lack of empathy: To reward people who’ve learned coyote calls well enough to lure them to their deaths, the United States Predator Challenge invites people from three parts of the country to kill coyotes and bring their carcasses to three locations for counting toward a depraved contest entry.
The website reads, “We want to stress the importance that to win one of these regional contests will be HUGE… and to win the overall Championship will truly set the bar in the predator calling world.”
In an action alert, Project Coyote asks that you:
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
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.