Category Archives: “game” management

Oklahoma Doesn’t Need Wildlife “Services” to Kill Thousands of Geese…

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…, they just encourage sport hunters to do it.

Oklahoma Saturday hunting news:

The Okla. Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the season dates for the next water-fowl season.The most significant change from last season is the increase in the daily limits for geese.

The daily limit for Canadian geese has increased from three to eight.

The daily limit for light geese has increased from 20 to 50. [50? Did they say FIFTY!!]

A migratory game bird biologist for the Okla. Dept. of Wildlife Conservation
hopes the increased bag limits will lure more people back to hunting geese.

He states “Hopefully, having eight birds (as the daily limit for Canadian geese) will get some folks back into the sport.”

Geese continue to cause nuisance problems in the state. He adds “We are trying to increase the harvest.”

For duck hunters, the daily limit during the Sept. teal season has increased from four to six birds. The limit of scaups during the duck seasons has been reduced from six to three birds daily. The daily limit for canvasbacks has increased from one to two.

Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson

Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson

Tell Washington State Officials to Stop Killing Geese

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FROM Action for Animals
July 26, 2013

ACTION:
Contact officials at Washington State Parks and tell them to stop the endless cycle of killing and to come up with a focused well thought out comprehensive plan, which uses humane alternatives. Washington State Parks hired USDA Wildlife Services to kill the geese at Lake Sammamish State Park. In all about 90 geese were herded up and gassed to death. Killing is unacceptable and we must do a better job of sharing the earth with wildlife.

Sign an online petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/washington-state-parks-officials-stop-killing-geese

And/or better yet, make direct contact:

Rich Benson, Lake Sammamish State Park Manager
2000 NW Sammamish State Park
Issaquah, WA 98027
phone (425) 649-4275
Richard.Benson@PARKS.WA.GOV

Andrew Fielding, Washington State Parks Resource Steward
phone (509) 665-4312
Andrew.fielding@parks.wa.gov

Don Hoch, Washington State Parks Director
P.O. Box 42650
Olympia, Washington 98504-2650
phone (360) 902-8844
Don.Hoch@PARKS.WA.GOV

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS:

A few weeks ago Washington State Parks used USDA Wildlife Services to kill geese at Lake Sammamish State Park. There was no notice given to the public or any opportunity to comment.

USDA Wildlife Services cruelly rounds up geese when the adults start to molt and they cannot fly. They then herd the adults and babies into pens. If they are still doing what they did in the past when they were killing geese in the Seattle parks, the geese are shoved into gas chambers in the back of the USDA trucks. The gas chambers were not designed specifically for large birds like geese. The chambers are too small for the geese to stand upright prior to being gassed to death. Multiple geese are stuffed into the chamber at the same time while frantically struggling and trying to escape. Of course this is all done under a cloak of secrecy, so that people are unaware of what is being done or how.

There are many humane alternatives which work well when used in conjunction with each other. Killing the geese only creates a temporary solution, as other geese will move in, which results in an endless cycle of killing.

Geese at all of the Washington State Parks are in danger. If they are killing geese at Lake Sammamish State Park, then they are probably killing them in the other state parks as well.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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Game Departments Must Think They’re God

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Cannon Beach, nestled along the northern Oregon Coast, used to be a prettymore housepix 235 peaceful place. It’s a nice, romantic getaway or a great place to bring the entire clan. Haystack Rock, perched immediately off CB’s two mile stretch of sand, appears on more post cards and magazine covers than any other feature on the entire coast.

Folks stay there to escape the noise and manic pace of Portland or Seattle, enjoying quiet walks, hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the native wildlife. A small herd of elk lives there and can sometimes be seen taking their own cautious walks out on the beach in the early morning, foraging on the thick, leafy salal bushes in Ecola State Park or resting on the grass in city parks at the edge of town, adding to the natural character of area.

Cannon Beach is not the kind of place people expect to run into cammo-clad Elmers with shotguns or compound bows stalking the area’s half-tame animals.

But when the town’s parks and community services committee wanted to limit the local hunting season to only one month, the Oregon state Department of Fish and Wildlife told them they could not limit the hunting season and instead set five seasons there, totaling 90 days.  And although the town of Cannon Beach wanted to restrict hunting to bows and arrows and shotgun slugs, the ODFW informed them that buckshot would be allowed as well.

Yes, you read that right—now any hunter who wants to can blast a 700 pound bull elk with a shotgun. What a mess that would be for some sightseeing family to come across. And how many elk and deer, who were nearly out of range at the time they were shot at, will escape with a gaping, bleeding, lead-filled hole in them?!!

According to the almighty ODFW, hunting on the Ecola Creek Forest Reserve will be extended from one month to 92 days, beginning Aug. 24. And rather than being limited to one season from Sept. 28 through Nov. 1, five seasons will be allowed through Dec. 8!

The great and powerful ODFW have decreed that hunting dates in the reserve shall be:
• Aug. 24 through Sept. 22: bow hunting for deer and elk.
• Sept. 28 through Nov. 1: shotgun hunting for buck deer.
• Nov. 9 through Nov.12: shotgun hunting for bull elk.
• Nov. 16 through Nov. 22: shotgun hunting for bull elk.
• Nov. 23 through Dec. 8: bow hunting for deer.

This is just another example of state game departments pushing their weight around, defying the will of the people and town councils, not to mention the will of the wildlife. Who do “game” regulators think they are, God? Sorry, but I hear that position has already been filled.

Text and Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson

Text and Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson

Why YOU Should Care About the Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee

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Hunters should realize that their God-given right to remain silent protects them from having anything they say used against them…, such as the information in this article in Outdoor “Life” magazine…

 

Hunting Access: Why You Should Care About the Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee

by John Haughey

It may appear to be nothing more than semantics, but a proposal to make the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee a permanent advisory panel rather than one that must have its charter renewed every two years by Congress is a significant step in ensuring wildlife, habitat conservation, and hunting are priorities in federal land-management decisions.

The Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (WHHCC) advisory committee was created in 2010, replacing the Sporting Conservation Council, to advise the Interior and Agriculture departments on wildlife and habitat conservation, hunting, and recreational shooting issues on federal land.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the WHHCC requires Congressional reauthorization every two years for it to continue operating. The committee was renewed for the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years, but rather than renew its charter for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years, Rep. Robert Latta (R-Ohio) has proposed a bill that will make the panel a permanent advisory committee.

The Sportsmen’s Heritage And Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act introduced into the House by Latta and three co-sponsors on July 23 exempts the WHHCC from the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s two-year renewal stipulation by making it a “permanent” committee.

“Ensuring that sportsmen and sportswomen have an advisory capacity role across future Administrations is vital for all who enjoy the great outdoors throughout the nation to engage and provide consensus recommendations to federal agencies that will benefit from the Council’s vast experience and expertise,” Latta said. “I am confident that this legislation will serve to the betterment of current and future generations of hunter-conservationists.”

“This legislation will ensure that sportsmen are able to provide first-hand knowledge of the wildlife and hunting issues to the federal government,” agreed Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus.

The bill was referred to the House Natural Resources and Agriculture committee where it will be reviewed before introduction onto the floor.

Like its predecessor, the revamped committee would include members of state fish and wildlife agencies, bird and big-game hunting groups, representatives of Indian tribes, and leaders in tourism, hunting equipment, and farming industries.

Members would serve staggered terms of two, three, and four years. The committee would meet at least twice a year and file an annual report.

For more, go to:
— House Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus -Sportsmen’s Priorities Moving in Congress

— New wildlife and hunting advisory committee proposed (Video)

— H.R. 2799: To establish the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee to advise the Secretaries …;

Top TWENTY New Names for “Wildlife Services”

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Thanks to all of you who contributed to this expanded list…

Top 20 New Names for Wildlife “Services”

20) U.S. Department of Nimrods

19) Federal Bureau of Elmers

18) Fuckin’ Neanderthals

17) Hunters with Badges

16) USDA: United States Destroyers of Animals

15) The “We Hate Wild animals and hate those who defend them” Agency

14) Federal Goon Squad– “If it’s breathing we’ll kill it”

13) Central Unintelligence Agency

12) Department of Corrupt out the Ass

11) WildDEATH Services

10) Wildlife Termination Services

9) Government-issued Animal Abusers

8) Goose-stepping Nazi war criminals

7) Seven Psychopaths

6) Biodiversitybusters

5) The Anti-Predator Project

4) A Bunch of Loathsome Cattle-Barron Butt-kissers

3) Chaos

2) The Animal Abolition Agency

1) Two words: Wildlife Disservices

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Top Ten New Names for Wildlife “Services”

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Wildlife Services” department needs to be renamed…again.

That warped, wretched little wildlife-killing agency formally “Animal Damage Control” isn’t fooling anyone with their innocuous appellation: Wildlife “Services.” Even the New York Times recently ran an editorial entitled, “Agriculture’s Misnamed Agency,” declaring: “It is time the public got a clear picture of what Wildlife Services is up to, and time for the Department of Agriculture to bring the agency’s work into accord with sound biological practices.”

Marc Bekoff dubbed the agency, “Murder Incorporated”—others have given it a less wholesome label. Hoping we would go easy on them, USDA representatives asked the staff of Exposing the Big Game (me, myself, and my wife) to come up with another new name for their Wildlife “Services” department. Here’s what we came up with:

Top Ten New Names for Wildlife “Services”

10) Wildlife Termination Services
9) Government-issued Animal Abusers
8) Evil Anti-Wildlife Nazis
7) Seven Psychopaths
6) Biodiversity Busters
5) U.S. Department of Nimrods
4) A Bunch of Loathsome Cattle-Barron Butt-kissers
3) Chaos
2) The Animal Abolition Agency
1) Two words: Wildlife Disservices

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A division of the:

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Wildlife “Services” at it Again

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Washington State Parks  hired USDA Wildlife Services to kill the geese at Lake Sammamish State  Park.  In all about 90 geese were herded up and gassed to death.

Below are a couple letters to the editor from followers of this blog, as well as a petition against geese gassing…

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The geese are not as harmful as the humans

I was saddened to read a letter in your paper dated July 2, 2013, regarding the removal of Canada geese.

The writer would like you to believe that geese are the problems in our state parks and that eradicating them solves all their problems.

The very fact that these animals have had their habitat removed from them gives the geese very little choice of where to exist.

I have frequented the park on many occasions and it’s the human species that litters with nonbiodegradable items, plastic bags, cans and all kinds of trash.

When are we going to take account for the treatment of our environment and coexist with Mother Nature instead of looking to destroy what is good?

Geese do not saturate the air with loud music, they do not litter, they are family orientated and we should embrace them all.

Martyn                                                                                 Redmond

….

Removing geese is a temporary solution

Don’t blame our resident geese. This is a man-made problem. Decades ago, in their infinite wisdom, Fish and Wildlife transplanted young geese to Western Washington. They just stayed and multiplied, without their parents to teach them to migrate.

We created the problem and it is our responsibility to deal with the geese humanely.

The Issaquah Press editorial gleefully stated “good riddance to state park geese” and that the “geese have been relocated.” There was no accompanying article and no facts given.

The real story is that state park authorities hired USDA Wildlife Services to remove the geese, not “relocate” them. Wildlife Services rounds up the geese when the adults start to molt and they cannot fly. They then herd the adults and babies into pens.

If they are still doing what they did in the past when they were killing geese in the Seattle parks, the geese are shoved into gas chambers in the back of the USDA trucks. The gas chambers were not designed specifically for large birds like geese. They are too small for them to stand upright prior to being gassed to death. Multiple geese are stuffed into the chamber at the same time while frantically struggling and trying to escape. Of course, this is all done under a cloak of secrecy, so that people cannot see this cruel crime against nature.

There are many humane alternatives that do work, especially when used in conjunction with each other. Removing the geese only creates a temporary solution, as other geese will move in, which results in an endless cycle of killing.

“Whitewashing” the truth and taking pleasure from the death of highly intelligent sentient beings is just plain wrong. And, Washington State Parks, clean up our parks and stop killing our wildlife!

Diane                                                                                           Issaquah

…..

Action For Animals created a change.org petition  asking the state to stop killing geese in our state parks.  If you have not  already done so, please, please, please sign the petition and pass the link  along!

Annals of Game Management

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The only way humans can get chronic wasting disease is by eating deer So the obvious answer is: Don’t kill and eat deer, people! Meanwhile, hundreds of deer–who didn’t even have CJD–were cruelly mowed down by “game” “managers”!!

Michael Elton McLeod's avatarFirst Light Productions

Three years ago, wildlife biologists from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department drove into the paddock of James Anderton’s Whitetail Ranch hunting reserve. Using rifles mounted on tripods they killed more than 70 of Anderton’s animals, shooting for hours, working the panicked herd back and forth across the paddock, picking them off one by one.….

    A white helicopter with what appeared to be a forward-looking infrared camera mounted to its nose flew lazy loops over the ranch, scanning for survivors.

    Texas wildlife officials were concerned that animals in the herd might be carrying a highly transmissible killer of deer known as chronic wasting disease (CWD).

    Anderton said the deer had been bought in Arkansas, a state with no documented cases of the disease so far. But he couldn’t provide evidence of the state of origin for every animal because he was locked in prison for wildlife trafficking. The FBI and…

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