A
TEMPORARY REPRIEVE FOR
MONTANA BISON:
The 2003 Montana Legislature approved the creation of a bison hunting
season. The season was supposed to begin on January 15.
However, largely at the urging of
Montana's newly elected governor, Brian
Schweitzer, the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission voted to cancel this
year's bison hunt, citing the likely public relations nightmare the hunt
would have caused for
Montana. In addition, Governor
Schweitzer expressed that the hunt would do little to address disease or
population management issues.
The hunt represented another senseless management strategy in
Montana’s misguided battle against
Yellowstone’s magnificent bison. The state
and the National Park Service continue to slaughter bison to ostensibly
protect cattle from brucellosis despite the fact that there has been no
documented case of brucellosis transmission from bison to cattle in the wild
and that the risk of such transmission is negligible.
Although cancellation of
the hunt is a temporary reprieve from one assault, the ongoing, unnecessary
capture-slaughter regime continues.
Click here for more
information on the
mismanagement of
Yellowstone bison.
FWS STRIPS MUTE SWANS AND 112 OTHER BIRD SPECIES OF FEDERAL PROTECTION:
The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has declared that more than 100 species of
birds protected under international law will no longer be protected in the
United States.
The FWS’s action is the result of an amendment to the recently passed
omnibus spending bill, adding the Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act of 2004.
The FWS is accepting public comments until February 3, 2005 on a proposed
list of 113 bird species to which the MBTA will no longer apply.
The MBTA was enacted in the early 1900s in order to implement international
treaties requiring that migratory birds be protected regardless of their
origins. For decades, neither the MBTA nor the treaties distinguished
between native and non-native birds. However, the Reform Act directs the
FWS to remove MBTA protections for those species of birds that the FWS
determines are not native to the
United States under an
arbitrary definition. The draft list is likely to have the greatest impact
on mute swans, which have been wrongly blamed for the declining health of
the
Chesapeake Bay, despite a lack of
scientific support for such a claim.
The
FWS’s decision to remove mute swans from the protections of the MBTA is the
first step in implementing the large-scale extermination of mute swans
envisioned by many state wildlife agencies.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Please submit comments
to the USFWS by February 3, 2005 asking them to withdraw the proposed list.
Chief, Division of Migratory Bird Management
U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 North Fairfax Drive,
Mail Stop 4107
Arlington,
VA
22203
Fax:
(703) 358-2272
E-mail: nonnativebirds@fws.gov
Phone: (703) 358-1714
Talking points you may want to include in your comments:
-
This list will declare an open season on the killing of over a hundred
species of birds, and mark the beginning of a mass-slaughter campaign
against mute swans.
-
The FWS’s action is directly contrary to the
U.S. government’s
obligation under international law to protect these birds, regardless of
their origins.
-
The FWS has failed to conduct any study on the environmental impact of
removing 113 bird species from federal protection.
- The list does not
present any of the scientific evidence justifying inclusion of the bird
species on the FWS’s list. Without such evidence, the FWS cannot possibly
make a rational decision to abandon the longstanding federal protections
these species have received under the MBTA.
THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR ANIMALS ---
TODAY!!
To receive directly, call 202-955-3668 or email
humanelines@hsus.org For more
information on legislation, how to find your legislators, or past
HUMANElines, go to
http://www.hsus.org/ or
http://www.fund.org/ |