Part #1 – Deadline for Wolf comments has been EXTENDED!!! – Jul 15th!
Message from Jim Hines of the Sierra Club: “Greetings Activists: We did it…..after our official appeal and my recent face-to-face meeting with the new Interior Secretary, just minutes ago, the Secretary’s office announced that the public comment period for the proposed delisting (removal of federal endangered species act protections) for gray wolves in the U.S. has been extended from May 14, 2019 to July 15, 2019! This administration has not only provided very short public comment periods but …refused to provide any public hearing venues for people to attend, learn about the issue and comment. (Note: the Sierra Club and our partners on the gray wolf issue set up 7 public hearings on the gray wolf issue across the nation in May and they were well attended and we had a court reporter take down the comments and we sent them onto the Dept. of the Interior). All of the above is the result of citizen action (YOU) at work, public pressure put on the administration to get public comments and public hearings on the many issues which matter to all Americans.” – For the wild, Jim.
Write a comment: Let’s not squander this hard-won gift of time. In Part 1 on Friday, 4/26, we asked you to write a comment using this link to prevent the Trump Administration from removing Endangered Species Act protections from wolves and declaring open season of an animal that is still functionally extinct in much of its former range. Please join in and share! There are currently only 78,373 comments.
Part #3 – Stop the trapping our wild critters for “fun” and commercial profit. “YES” on AB 273!
AB 273 – (Gonzales) Fur-bearing and nongame mammals: recreational and commercial fur trapping: prohibition. This bill is now in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water (our Hannah-Beth Jackson is a member!) and is on the June 11th agenda. Your voice is needed to help pass this important legislation, which would end cruel and senseless fur trapping of animals such as coyotes and foxes, thereby setting a standard for the humane treatment of wildlife throughout the nation. You helped us get a ban imposed on commercial and “recreational” bobcat trapping in California in 2015—now let’s extend that ban to the other animals who suffer as a result of the fur trade!
Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I would like Senator [___] to vote YES on AB 273 to ban cruel and senseless fur trapping of furbearing and nongame mammals in California.
Contact
State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (SD-19):SAC (916) 651-4019, SB (805) 965-0862, OX (805) 988-1940 email
Not your people?:findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.
Talking points from Project Coyote.
- Hundreds of coyotes, foxes, beaver and other animals are trapped in California so their pelts can be sold overseas.
- Only 133 trapping licenses were sold to fur trappers in California in 2017, generating less than $15,000 for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. (And only 68 of those licensees trapped wildlife—killing 1,568 animals, including grey foxes, coyotes, beavers, badgers, muskrats and mink and selling 1,241 pelts for an estimated gross take of $4,531.) It costs more to managing and enforcie fur trapping than is covered by the sale of trapping licenses, meaning taxpayer dollars subsidize the fur industry.
- The animals targeted by trappers are critical to healthy ecosystems and trapping them is counterproductive to sound wildlife management and is wasteful, unnecessary and cruel.
- California’s wildlife is worth more alive than dead. While the sale of fur pelts generated less than $5,000 in 2017, wildlife watching produced nearly $4 billion in revenue for California’s economy.
Older actions: Check these off your list if you haven’t done them yet!
Part #2 – Stop killing the animals we need for a functioning eco-system.
In Part 2, we had two actions involving a polite request that our government stop using our tax dollars to slaughter millions of wild animals.
- Make a call: Vote “YES” on HR 2471/S 1301 – Ban sodium cyanide and Compound 1080 poisons for predator control.
- Send an email: Ask our legislators to refocus Wildlife Services
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 