Last year, Eric Rickerson, U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Service’s Washington state supervisor attended a conference with his subordinates and other agency members.
Authorities say Rickerson got drunk and followed one of his female colleagues to the condo where they were staying with 2 other colleagues. Prosecutors say Rickerson exposed himself and touched his colleague inappropriately. About 3 a.m., the woman got in her car and drove back to her home in Portland, missing the conference. Rickerson’s conduct as described herein was outrageous and extraordinarily beyond the bounds of socially tolerable conduct.
On Oct. 29, 2019, well over a year after the assault, Rickerson pleaded guilty to third-degree sex assault, harassment, coercion, intimidation and private indecency. Circuit Judge Forte ordered Rickerson to have no contact with the woman. Rickerson was supposed to serve just a 30-day jail sentence, but has been conditionally released. This is outrageous!!
We’ve seen nothing but terrible behavior coming from both the State and Federal Wildlife agencies in Washington. Rickerson got a slap on the wrist, little-to-no jail time, and despite a judge ordered a no contact order, as far as we know, Rickerson still has his job. The circuit judge failed her. The USFWS failed her.
Please call and write to demand Eric Rickerson be fired from the USFWS! Thus far, they’ve made no comment when reporters have asked of his employment status. We want:
Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Office
510 Desmond Dr. Southeast, Suite 102, Lacey, WA 98503
Phone: (360) 753-9440
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Regional Office
911 NE 11th Ave. Portland, (503) 231-6118
**Regional Director – Robyn Thorson**
robyn_thorson@fws.gov, 503-231-6119
Assistant Regional Director – Theresa Rabot
theresa_rabot@fws.gov
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Human Resources Department
humancapital@fws.gov
Contact message form: https://www.fws.gov/pacific/askaquestion.html
#GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement that’s unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. In an increasingly divided world, Giving Tuesday represents a new global ritual based in joy and hope, proving that acts of kindness and goodwill can transcend country, ethnicity, religion and political ideals, and create connections between people.
#GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good at a time that felt like unprecedented disruption in global politics and the global economy. Over the past seven years, this idea has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.
GivingTuesday is held annually the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and this year will be on December 3, 2019.
Why should you consider giving to the Northwest Animal Rights Network?
Whether you’re giving your voice, your time, goods, or your money, helping others or working for the causes you care about, generosity is one of the most powerful ways you can have an impact in the world.
NARN is a volunteer-run organization and is the longest standing grassroots animal rights organization in the Pacific Northwest. For NARN, GivingTuesday is an exciting chance to talk about our passion for animals and why we care so much about the work that we do.
We’ve been able to use GivingTuesday to introduce new people to animal rights and to NARN so that they become year-round supporters and volunteers. We have the unique opportunity to reach those who might not understand the issues affecting animals in their own community, and we act as an entry point for a more just and compassionate lifestyle. For NARN, fighting animal cruelty is a non-partisan issue.
This year, we wanted to introduce our volunteer Board of Directors and some of the dedicated volunteers that keep NARN going. Please listen to the stories of why we contribute so much of our free time to the movement to protect animals. Now, more than ever, we need to lift up and celebrate compassion, sharing, and generosity in the world.
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to hear updates on wolf, cougar, and bear management at its upcoming October meeting.
The commission, a volunteer panel appointed by the governor to set policy for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will meet Oct. 18-19 at the Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington St. SE in Olympia.
Commissioners will also hear an update on the implementation of House Bill 1579, which directs WDFW to adopt rules liberalizing the bag limits for bass, walleye, and catfish in many waters throughout the state. This language was passed in part to implement task force recommendations meant to increase the abundance of Chinook salmon for the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population.
The commission will also hear a briefing and public comment on proposed amendments to the spring black bear rule (WAC 220-415-080).
During Saturday’s meeting, staff will brief the commission on current cougar management. The briefing will include how the department currently manages cougars, the science behind it and comparison to neighboring states.
A full agenda is available online at wdfw.wa.gov/about/commission/meetings.
Send comments here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/about/commission/contact
After years of delay, the Trump administration is finally taking comments on a plan to reestablish a healthy grizzly population in this wild and rugged part of the state. Grizzlies once roamed this area for thousands of years, but now fewer than 10 bears remain.
The National Park Service has given the public a range of options to comment on, with different timelines and strategies for recovering the struggling grizzly population. Alternative C takes an incremental approach that would start by releasing about five bears each summer to remote sites, for five consecutive years, with the goal of reaching 200 bears in the next 60-100 years. Please tell the Park Service to choose Alternative C — the best way to help grizzly bears recover while meeting people’s needs.
Act now to send in a personalized letter telling the Park Service why grizzly recovery matters to you. With your help we can bring these magnificent bears back to this wild area.
Frequently Asked Questions: North Cascades Ecosystem Grizzly Bear Restoration Plan
Talking points:
• I support the plan to restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades. But it’s essential that agencies consider the recovery of grizzly bears in balance with the needs of humans. Alternative C is the best way to ensure both needs are met.
• Alternative C provides the most appropriate timeline for bear restoration while emphasizing factors that’ll be key to this population’s long-term recovery. For instance, this alternative recognizes the importance of interaction and breeding by strategically releasing these bears near one another in remote sites. I also support this alternative’s incremental approach — starting with small releases of five bears each summer, for the first five years.
• Please move forward quickly with the plan to bring these bears back to the North Cascades under Alternative C. Restoring grizzlies to these lands will benefit not only the bears, but the entire ecosystem and all the people who are rooting for their recovery.
Today, Sept. 30, NARN asks that all its members reach out to their U.S. senators and representatives to tell them how important it is that they support the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act.
First, go to this link and create a Facebook profile picture that supports TEASPA. Type in “Animal Defenders International” to get a profile photo that supports this bill with hashtags #FederalCircusBill and #StopCircusSuffering.
Then write to your U.S. senators and representatives (find your senators and representatives) asking them to move S2121 and HR2863 to a vote and to pass this important legislation. Tweet and post on their Facebook pages, too — and follow up with a call to be sure these bills are finally passed.
Some talking points for you: TEAPSPA will stop the suffering of circus animals. Studies on the use of wild animals in traveling acts show that circuses cannot meet the physical or behavioral needs of wild animals. Animals are confined in small spaces, deprived of physical and social needs, and spend excessive time shut in trailers and train cars. These animals often demonstrate abnormal behaviors – rocking, swaying, and pacing – indicating they are in distress and not coping with their environment. ADI’s video evidence shows these animals are forced to perform tricks through physical violence, fear, and intimidation.
The time has come to end traveling animal acts. Tell your family, friends and neighbors. Let’s raise a ruckus and get this thing done! Thank you!!
The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife — the agency that killed a wolf pack on behalf of a single rancher (the fifth pack killed for that rancher) while a judge was issuing a restraining order saying the department could not kill that pack while a lawsuit about it was ongoing — thinks wolves are doing so well that we need a “post-recovery” plan for them.
The department is taking public comments. Here are details regarding what they’re looking for, and here’s a link where you can let them know what you think of the whole idea.
Sample letter:
Dear WA Fish & Wildlife,
As you continue to kill wolves for the Diamond M Ranch, most recently while a judge was telling you not to, it is clearly too early for a post-recovery wolf program. But if you’re going to create one, then the highlight should be enhanced nonviolent conflict resolution training for ranchers who graze their cattle on public land. The second priority should be a public awareness campaign for wolf recovery that highlights wolf ecology, behavior and needs taking into account research and work by the Center for Biological Diversity. Please do your jobs with integrity and keep in mind that you’re working for us, the citizens — not ranchers.
Thank you,
Restore Point Reyes National Seashore writes on its website:
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement and General Management Plan Amendment for ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore is a rare opportunity for the public to have a voice in the future management our national park. How you would like this national park to be managed and why? Send your comments to the National Park Service by September 23.
NPS’s “Preferred Alternative B” is a wholesale giveaway of our public land. It prioritizes ranching over recreation, wildlife and protecting natural resources. In sum, it commits our national seashore to commercial cattle grazing for decades to come.
Economics and climate change threaten the Seashore ranches’ viability. There’s a surplus of milk, prices are falling, and both beef and dairy consumption is declining. To shore up the ranchers, the NPS wants to grant 20-year leases and allow them to “diversify” by growing and processing crops and adding more livestock–pigs, chickens, goats, and sheep–to their operations. Their plan calls for shooting any Tule elk that “trespass” on the ranch lands.
Alternative B would:
Ranching is unsustainable. We need a new vision for the Seashore.
The preferred alternative:
To comment on the draft plan, go to: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=333&projectID=74313&documentID=97154
Comment period ends September 23, 2019.
The Western Washington Wolf Coalition wrote on its Facebook page last Friday, Aug. 16:
“This morning in King County Superior Court wolf advocates were successful at getting an injunction to stop the slaughter of the OPPT pack.
“However, in what can only be called an act of retribution by Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, THIS MORNING — WHILE ADVOCATES WERE IN COURT — had their sharpshooters kill four of the five remaining wolves of the OPPT pack. Your tax dollars at work.”
It’s a time for grieving these beautiful animals and for speaking up for them to people in power. Please write to Gov. Jay Inslee and to the Fish and Wildlife Commission at commission@dfw.wa.gov and/or (360) 902-2267 before a Sept. 3 special meeting to let them know how you want wolves in Washington to be treated. Please do not curse or use abusive language, as that actually hurts the wolves’ cause.
Should officials in Washington state sacrifice native wolves to appease a single rancher? If your answer is no, please visit www.animalsinaction.org/WAwolves for information, to donate money and to follow what’s happening.
Please add your information to a prewritten message to the Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife. Also add your information to the following prewritten message to send Gov. Inslee. You can edit/tailor both messages.
“Dear Governor Inslee,
A single ranching family is subverting your state’s wolf protection and management programs. The complaints of the Diamond M Ranch have led to the killing of 18 wolves in the Colville National Forest in recent years. If the ranching operation continues to graze cattle on this national forest, which offers poor grazing opportunities for cattle but ideal habitat for wolves, there will continue to be conflicts between ranchers and wolves. It’s entirely predictable.
We hope you will issue a directive to stop the killing of the Old Profanity Territory wolves. We also hope you will not lift the ban on killing wolves until this resource conflict in the Colville National Forest is resolved. The ranchers have other grazing lands they can use that won’t produce these recurring conflicts.
Governor Inslee, you have made protecting the environment the centerpiece of your two terms as governor and also in your campaign for the Democratic nomination for President. The wolves are part of our environment, and deserve a more protective response from Washington’s government. We can do a better job of managing conflicts between wolves and ranchers, but it must start in the Colville National Forest.”
And here’s an add that Animal Wellness Action ran in The Seattle Times:
Humane Voters of Washington says the parks levy includes $36 million to fund the zoo, which is a private entity.
“In zoos animals are denied the most basic instinctual behaviors that are important to them—like courting, mating, roaming, climbing, foraging and choosing others of their own kind with whom to socialize. As our communities’ acknowledge that even under the best of circumstances captivity cannot begin to replicate wild animals’ lives and habitats, it has lead to a 10-year trend that is unmistakable and accelerating: attendance at WPZ is declining while the region’s population is booming,” according to the Humane Voters of Washington website.
“Since 2002, King County and Seattle taxpayers have provided nearly $200 million to WPZ. Yet as a private organization the zoo is exempt from public disclosure laws which means there is little oversight or transparency about WPZ’s care and treatment of the animals, despite partial funding from public sources. Rejecting this levy means that fewer dollars flowing to the zoo will ensure fewer wild animals suffering in zoo captivity.”
What Woodland Park Zoo did with the elephants who once lived there was particularly heartbreaking. There’s been a lot of coverage about the suffering of elephants in zoos — Michael J. Berens’ series in The Seattle Times exposed the profit motive behind allowing that suffering. The New York Times last week published a magazine article about the fact that elephants continue to be taken from Africa — as supposed “rescues” — despite “mounting evidence that elephants find captivity torturous.”
So do other animals.