Fortunately for Cougars and Wolves, there’s Only One Washington

From the Capital Press article:

One Washington, two sides

by Don Jenkins    March 26, 2015

OLYMPIA — Residents of Eastern Washington are frustrated with the more populous Westside of the state. And nowhere was that frustration more prominent than one day last month in the Capitol. On the docket were cougars and wolves, two hot-buttoncopyrighted Hayden wolf in lodgepoles issues that split the state right down the center of the Cascade Range.

In one hearing, Eastside ranchers were asking senators to loosen the state’s law against using hounds to chase cougars and keep the predators away from livestock.

In another hearing, an Eastside county commissioner told legislators that his constituents were fed up with wolves.                                                                              …

In the weeks since, lawmakers have agreed to take a close look at the wolf problem. The hounds, however, will remain on the leash. …

More: http://www.capitalpress.com/Washington/20150326/one-washington-two-sides#.VRRp-qw3hjc.facebook

Washington Bills Undermine Advancements for Wildlife

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

Two new bills seek to underhandedly undermine voter-approved advancements for wildlife that set Washington apart from its anti-wildlife neighbors. Both the hound hunting of cougars and the baiting of black bears were banned by the citizenry of  in Washington, but could once again threaten wildlife if these bills are passed. Please take action on these two Human Alerts:

https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=6771&autologin=true&s_src=sh_aa6771

Washington: Protect Cougars from Trophy Hunters

A terrible bill has been introduced that will allow for the expanded hound hunting of cougars. This cruel and unsporting practice was rightfully outlawed by voters in 1996.

Under this proposal, counties can authorize a hound hunt based on public safety complaints of cougar sightings. The existing law already allows for citizens to protect themselves if they feel threatened by a cougar. Despite the fact that seeing a cougar does not constitute a threat and cougar kittens are extremely vulnerable to attacks by packs of dogs, proponents of the bill want to bring back the trophy hunting of cougars with hounds. This program was in place from 2004 until 2011, and resulted in widespread, guided recreational hound hunts offered by hunting clubs throughout eastern Washington.

TAKE ACTION
Please call your state senator today to stop this dangerous proposal. Look up your legislator’s phone number. You can say: “I am a constituent, and I am calling to ask you to please oppose SB 5940.”

After making your call (please do not skip that crucial step!), fill in and submit the form below to send a follow-up message. Legislators receive a lot of email; be sure to edit your message so it stands out.

And:  https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=6777&autologin=true&s_src=sh_aa6777

Washington: Protect Bears from Cruel and Unsporting Baiting

Washington’s bears need your help from being shot over bait stations packed with greasy, sugary junk foods. Bear baiting is cruel and unsporting, and Washingtonians rightfully outlawed it in 1996.

A bill has been introduced that would allow any land owner or tenant to place a bait station on their property. Baiting stations, full of high-calorie junk food, lure bears in for an easy kill. While the bill sponsor wants landowners to kill bears who have caused damage to timber plantations and livestock, the truth is baiting attracts all bears. The result will be killing random bears, orphaning new born cubs, and unnecessarily putting people in dangerous proximity to human-food habituated bears.

After hibernation, bears are in a state of starvation because they have not fed for many months. Sadly, mother bears, who wake up with newborn cubs, are drawn to bait stations because they must urgently obtain thousands of calories for the whole family’s survival.

Mother bears may strip bark from trees to obtain sugary sap. While girdling trees has some negative economic consequences for the owners of industrial timber lands, the harm is small and can be mitigated. Likewise, livestock growers can employ many non-lethal solutions to prevent the minuscule threat of predation by bears on their domestic animals

Landowners who bait bears will create unwanted human-bear conflicts. That is because baits are covered in human scents, and bears will learn to associate baits with humans. When that happens, the neighbors of bear baiters may be exposed to human-habituated bears, and they can be dangerous. There is a reason why voters prohibited bear baiting almost 20 years ago.

TAKE ACTION
Please call your state representatives’ offices today, and urge opposition for SHB 1838.. Look up your legislators’ phone numbers. You can say: “I am a constituent, and I am calling to ask you to please oppose SHB 1838.”

After making your call (please do not skip that crucial step!), fill in and submit the form below to send a follow-up message. Legislators receive a lot of email; be sure to edit your message so it stands out.

See sample letters here: https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=6771&autologin=true&s_src=sh_aa6771

and here: https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=6777&autologin=true&s_src=sh_aa6777

 

Protect WA Cougars from Trophy Hunters

https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy

A terrible bill has been introduced that will allow for the expanded hound hunting of cougars. This cruel and unsporting practice was rightfully outlawed by voters in 1996.

Under this proposal, counties can authorize a hound hunt based on public safety complaints of cougar sightings. The existing law already allows for citizens to protect themselves if they feel threatened by a cougar. Despite the fact that seeing a cougar does not constitute a threat and cougar kittens are extremely vulnerable to attacks by packs of dogs, proponents of the bill want to bring back the trophy hunting of cougars with hounds. This program was in place from 2004 until 2011, and resulted in widespread, guided recreational hound hunts offered by hunting clubs throughout eastern Washington.

TAKE ACTION
Please call your state senator today to stop this dangerous proposal. Look up your legislator’s phone number. You can say: “I am a constituent, and I am calling to ask you to please oppose SB 5940.”

After making your call (please do not skip that crucial step!), fill in and submit the form below to send a follow-up message. Legislators receive a lot of email; be sure to edit your message so it stands out. 

“Social Acceptance” of Wolves has Disappeared in NE Washington

[Never mind that wolves are social animals too…]

From Capital Press: http://www.capitalpress.com/Washington/20150224/wolf-cougar-and-hemp-bills-meet-deadline-to-stay-alive-in-olympia

Here is a look at where some agriculture-related bills stand:

• Wolves: House Bill 2107 requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to amend by June 30, 2017, the wolf recovery plan. The bill instructs game managers to review thecopyrighted Hayden wolf in lodgepoles plan in light of the fact that wolves are concentrated in northeast Washington but have not spread throughout the state.

The bill got bipartisan support in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. But it may be amended by the full House to require that changes to the wolf plan be reviewed under the State Environmental Policy Act, a lengthy process.

Northeast Washington officials say “social acceptance” of wolves has about disappeared in their corner of the state. If SEPA is attached to HB 2107, any change to the wolf recovery plan likely will be pushed back much later than mid-2017.

• Cougars: SB 5940 would allow hounds be used to pursue or hunt cougars in Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, Chelan and Okanogan counties for the next five years. Other counties could opt in. The bill received bipartisan support in the Senate Natural Resources and Parks Committee.

Florida Power & Light Co: Don’t build a power plant in prime panther habitat!

Florida Power & Light Co. is planning a huge new power plant on thousands of acres of rural land south of Lake Okeechobee in Hendry County – but this land is prime habitat for the endangered Florida panther. Although they once roamed the entire southeast of the country, there are now only 100 to 160 Florida panthers remaining.

We can’t let Florida Power & Light Co. destroy this land that is critical to the panthers’ survival – sign the petition today urging them not to build a power plant in panther habitat!

The Florida panther is one of the most at-risk mammals in the country and has been listed on the Endangered Species Act since 1973. This vulnerable animal is protected by Florida state law, yet Florida Light & Power Co. is moving ahead with plans for their massive new plant.

The plant would fragment and destroy the panther habitat just north of the Seminole Tribe’s Big Cypress Reservation. Plus, it could use as much as 22 million gallons of water a day, threatening water availability.

It’s up to us to send Florida Power & Light Co. the message that building this plant will be bad for business. Let’s act now to demand that they protect the panthers’ habitat and preserve its natural environment for future generations.

 

Did the Hunters Get your Wolves’ Elk?

In one of Edward Abbey’s many epic books he mentions seeing a bumper sticker on the back of a gas hog, redneck rig that went something like, “Did the coyotes get your deer?” It was an unabashed show of narcissistic entitlement which spelled out just how the driver felt about nature and the need for a diverse ecosystem.

Although his type doubtless have no qualms about supporting factory farming by buying a nightly meal of meat from the local “Western Family” grocery store, when hunting season rolls around they are right there to lay claim to the wildlife as well, in the form of deer, elk, moose or pronghorn.

It don’t mean shit that apex predators such as wolves, cougars, bobcats and coyotes have nothing else to eat and have evolved over eons to live in harmony with their wild prey. Hunters think of themselves as apex predators, decked out in their best Cabella’s camouflage outfit, tearing up the land on their trusty 4-bys or 4-wheelers, hoping a deer steps out in front of them.

But as a faithful reader pointed out this morning, human hunters aren’t apex predators, they’re apex parasites (Homo parasiticus).

Personally, I’d rather “my” deer went to the coyotes and “my” elk went to the wolves, as nature intended.

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson. All Rights Reserved

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson. All Rights Reserved

Activist, author of vicious letter to Daley, gets 27 months

[All I can say is whoever ran over the mother sea lion and stole her pup better get at least 27 months…!]

http://politics.suntimes.com/article/chicago/activist-author-vicious-letter-daley-gets-27-months/wed-04302014-1233pm

Mumbling a pathetic apology in federal court Wednesday, round-shouldered botanist Rich Hyerczyk could not have looked less dangerous.

But for nearly a decade, the lanky 54-year-old Southwest Side lichen expert hid a dark obsession.

He was a self-styled vigilante, who avenged the deaths of wild animals and U.S. soldiers by writing 90 anonymous letters in which he threatened to murder politicians, rape police officers’ wives and kidnap children.

Wednesday, what U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman called his “unbelievably cold-blooded” crimes finally caught up with him, when he was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Though Feinerman said there was “no evidence” that Hyerczyk ever followed through on his threats, a home next door to former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s lakefront retreat was torched in 2008, just three days after Hyerczyk sent Daley a letter vowing he’d “BURN down the Daley house in Michigan” as revenge for Chicago Police shooting a wild cougar caught roaming through Roscoe Village.

Outside court on Wednesday, Hyerczyk acknowledged for the first time that the “coincidence” of the unsolved suspected arson looked bad.

“But I wasn’t there,” he said, holding two pointed fingers to his head in a Boy Scout-style oath of honesty.

“I swear to God — that wasn’t me.”

Hyerczyk hoped to get probation. But his guilty plea earlier this year showed that despite his mild-mannered appearance, his job at a La Grange Park molding company and his  background that included teaching at the Field Museum, the Morton Arboretum, and the Chicago Botanic Garden, he had a hair-trigger temper.

If someone cut him off in the street, he’d follow them home, then mail death threats to their house.

When events in the Middle East upset him, he threatened to kill a Muslim girl in Bridgeview.

And when political issues closer to home rankled, he threatened to murder Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his wife, and wrote racist letters to U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and Ald. Leslie Hairston, who he vowed to ambush with a knife in a City Hall bathroom.

Some of his vilest threats came after police shot the wild cougar in April 2008. He warned police should “Prepare to DIE like the Cougar you killed,” threatening a sniper would kill “pigs” at the annual St. Jude Memorial March.

In another letter, he mocked Daley’s son Kevin, who died of spina bifida, writing “F—  your dead son.”

Feinerman read aloud from the letters Wednesday, telling Hyerczyk he “should have realized … ‘I need help,’” long before federal authorities nabbed him in January.

Hyerczyk’s mental health problems — including an obsessive personality — were no excuse, he said.

“It was not my duty to act as a vigilante,” Hyerczyk admitted. “I would not want what I did to happen to me.”

In addition to the prison time, he was also fined $10,000 and ordered to stay away from children. Investigators found evidence he’d searched for child porn on his computer, prosecutors said.

Nebraska Governor Vetos Bill That Would Ban Cougar Hunting

Nebraska Governor Stands Up For Sportsmen, Veto’s Hunting Ban

Columbus, OH –(Ammoland.com)- Today, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman vetoed a bill that would have banned Mountain lion hunting in Nebraska.

The measure, LB 671, sought to remove the authority of the state’s wildlife management professionals in favor of legislative ban on mountain lion hunting.

In his veto message, Governor Heineman stated “Nebraskans expect responsible wildlife management. LB 671 eliminates an important tool used to accomplish it. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission should retain the ability to determine those management actions which are necessary to protect both the health and safety of our citizens and the wildlife in our state. Removing the agency’s authority to manage mountain lions through hunting at this time is poor public policy.”

The bill will now be returned to the legislature where they would need 30 yes votes to override the Governor’s veto.

“Our system of wildlife management is designed to remove political influence and allow wildlife management professionals to do their jobs,” said Nick Pinizzotto, USSA’s president and CEO.

“We’re extremely proud of Governor Heineman for standing up to protect sportsmen. This action speaks volumes about his view of hunting and scientific wildlife management. Nebraska sportsmen should call Governor Heineman today and thank him for this stance.”

On Monday, March 24, the Nebraska legislature passed the bill that removes the authority of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to manage the state’s growing mountain lion population. The effort to ban Mountain lion hunting is being driven by Senator Ernie Chambers. Senator Chambers has vowed to oppose every proposal of the state’s Game and Parks Commission until the mountain lion season is banned.

Nebraska added Mountain lions to the state’s list of game animals in 2012 when Governor Heineman signed LB 928 into law. In 2013, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission took a measured approach designed to maintain, or slightly reduce—the population of mountain lions in the state.

http://beforeitsnews.com/survival/2014/03/nebraska-governor-stands-up-for-sportsmen-vetos-hunting-ban-2516300.html

mountainlion

Nebraska’s first mountain lion hunt could also be last

‘It was the first time he had ever seen a mountain lion.’ [Too bad he couldn’t just enjoy the experience, instead of ruining it for all others and ending the life of the cat.]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/27/nebraska-first-mountain-lion-hunt-could-also-be-last/

By Robert Gearty

Published March 27, 2014

FoxNews.com

William “Paul” Hotz shot this 102-pound mountain lion days after Nebraska’s first sanctioned hunt of the animals began. (Courtesy: William “Paul” Hotz)

A grammar school teacher who killed a Nebraska mountain lion in the state’s first cougar hunt could also be the state’s last hunter to bag one of the trophy cats.

William “Paul” Hotz, 33, may earn that distinction if a bill halting future hunts becomes law.

He was one of three Nebraskans to kill a mountain lion after state issued permits to hunt the big cats for the first time this winter. The bill to end the hunt was passed this week by the Nebraska State Senate.

Gov. Dave Heineman has until the weekend to sign the bill into law or veto it. His spokeswoman, Jen Rae Wang, told FoxNews.com the governor is reviewing the bill and has not yet made a decision.

Mountain lions are native to Nebraska but disappeared in the late 1800s after settlers hunted them in massive numbers. The first confirmed sighting in the state in more than 100 years took place in 1991. Over the next two decades, their numbers increased, particularly in the northwestern part of the state.

The state Legislature passed a law to hold a cougar hunting season in 2012 with the aim of keeping their numbers in check in Nebraska’s rugged Pine Ridge region. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission believes the region is home to about two dozen mountain lions.

The commission said hunters could kill four mountain lions in Pine Ridge but that if a female cougar was killed before the quota was filled, the season would end.

Hunters shot two male cats in January. One of the hunters paid $13,000 to obtain a cougar hunting license at an auction. The other hunter won his permit in a lottery.

Hotz was also a lottery winner along with 99 other hunters who were allowed to hunt cougars from Feb. 15 to March 31.

He and a friend started hunting on Feb. 26. They immediately got lucky when they spotted a big cat on a hillside near the South Dakota border.

“We had a good amount of snow two days earlier and that helped,” he said.

It was the first time he had ever seen a mountain lion. “You can spend days in the pines searching and calling and never see a cougar,” he said.

Hotz shot the cougar in the neck from a distance of about 250 yards with his 25.06 Remington rifle.

He described the hunt as a “once in a lifetime experience.”

The female mountain lion he shot had been tagged as a cub in Wyoming. The cat was five years old and weighed 102 pounds.

Because it was a female, Hotz’ kill ended the state’s hunt.

If the cougar hunt halt becomes law, Hotz would go down as the last Nebraskan to kill a mountain lion.

Hotz said he is not so sure he approves of the bill.

“I think honestly having a season is a better way to manage them than not,” he said.

The effort to end Nebraska’s mountain lion hunt was led by Omaha State Sen. Ernie Chambers, a long-time hunting opponent. Chambers said the relatively small size of the mountain lion population in Pine Ridge didn’t warrant a state-regulated hunt.

“I think it goes more to extermination than to appropriation of wildlife management,” he told FoxNews.com.

His legislation still permits killing a mountain lion to protect humans or livestock.

At a State Senate hearing on the Chambers bill in January, opponents included representatives from the Nebraska Sportsmen’s Foundation and other hunting groups.

Stacy Swinney, a Dawes County Commissioner, told senators she opposed the bill because Nebraska has a “serious mountain lion problem.”

“We now have a growing, reproducing number of one of nature’s most fearless, dangerous predators, and they walk through our homesteads at will day or night,” she said.

Colorado Hunter In Cross Hairs After Online Bullying By Anti-Hunting Activists

[I don’t encourage people to visit these sites and “bully” the poor trophy hunters, but if the animal-killers don’t want to receive a lot of angry comments from animal advocates then they shouldn’t post photos of themselves smugly posing with their victims. That’s why child molesters don’t pose with their victims. This article doesn’t make the connection; the only victim they see is the one with the rifle.]

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2014/03/27/colorado-hunter-in-cross-hairs-after-online-bullying-by-anti-hunting-activists/

March 27, 2014
DENVER (CBS4)- A picture of a hunter posing on Facebook with her kill, a mountain lion, has put her in the cross hairs of groups that oppose hunting. She claims she’s being harassed online by animal activists- some have threatened her life.

“My first hunting experience was when I was three years old,” said Charisa Argys.

Argys lives in Buena Vista and grew up with a love of hunting after being introduced to the sport by her father.

“It’s always been quality time for us. It’s always been a time when we got to get away,” said Argys.

In February 2013 she hunted and shot a 175-pound male mountain lion. She posted pictures of her kill on the internet.

“I am very proud of what I had accomplished that day,” said Argys.

One year later that picture would result in online threats.

“My picture had been placed on an animal rights activist page,” said Argys.

That picture quickly made the rounds in cyberspace as anti-hunting organizations picked it up and re-posted it, along with hundreds of comments, some of them hurtful.

“They were calling me horrible names. They were saying they wanted to kill me, they wanted to see me dead, they called me fat, they called me ugly, they called me the B-word, they called me the C-word,” said Argys. “There really wasn’t anything they weren’t willing to call me and to say.”

One comment reads, “The only answer is to take out these psychopaths. Problem solved — animals saved.”

Another comment calls for “an eye for an eye.”

And another, “You are a disgrace to those of us who respect life, human and animal. I’d love to hunt YOU and hand YOUR head on my living room wall.”

“You know it was definitely cyberbullying. These were not just threats but I would say they were terroristic threats,” said Argys.

Argys’ shooting and killing the mountain lion is legal in Colorado.

“Absolutely it’s legal. It’s part of wildlife management,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Mike Porras. “You may not like hunting, we understand that. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to express your opinions.”

Porras said Argys is not the first female hunter to be the target of attacks on the internet.

“I mean there are Facebook pages harassing women that have posed with their harvest,” said Porras.

Argys said she did not expect that type of reaction when she posted her picture on the internet, “I had no idea that this type of behavior was going on.”

Argys said Silva Wadhwa, a former reporter with CNBC based in Germany, claims to have started the firestorm.

In a Facebook message to Argys, Wadhwa wrote that she doesn’t agree with trophy killing. She went on to state, “But I do not and will not ever condone or encourage insults, threats or death wishes.”

Argys said the internet comments continue but she vows not to be intimidated, “If I don’t stand up for myself and I don’t take a position on what I feel passionate about how can I expect my children to stand up if it happens to them?”

She also plans to keep hunting.cougar cub

“It was an extreme hunt and it was well worth it,” said Argys.

According to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Argys hunted her mountain lion in an area where there is an effort to reduce the number of wild cats.