Following up on some fascinating recent discoveries about the behavior of diverse animals (also see other essays here) I'm sorry to report some atrocities including Oregon State University.
In Canada, 145 bears were shot by fish and wildlife conservation officers in the oilsands area in the Fort McMurray district in Alberta after being habituated to garbage. That's right, you read it right, conservation officers shot the bears after people habituated them to garbage and no individual or company was charged with improper storage of food or other attractants.
In this article Alberta Wilderness Association conservation specialist Carolyn Campbell said it suggests "Albertans are far from using best practices 'or even a modern attitude' toward wildlife management... There needs to be much more responsible behaviour by companies running these camps to really get serious about reducing food and other attractants... The attitude of ‘attract them, feed them and then shoot' them is really repugnant to most Albertans."
And of course there are many different views on this inexcusable and horrific slaughter: "Conrad Fennema, president of the Alberta Fish and Game Association, said he believes the shootings were necessary to protect people from hungry bears. 'If they are doing it to protect people, I don't have a problem with that.' He said as the population of the province grows and people infringe more into bear territory there are bound to be confrontations.'Can we stand in the way of progress? No, but it is not as though they are an endangered species.'"
Please contact Darcy Whiteside, Public Affairs Office, Communications Sustainable Resource Development, Phone: 780 644-5774, Fax: 780 422-6339, E-mail: darcy.whiteside@gov.ab.ca to voice your opinion on thus egregious slaughter.
As if this wasn't enough to ruin my day, I also learned that snares and traps set illegally on the campus of Oregon State (OSU) University are killing wildlife and endangering neighborhood pets. The picture here is of a dead coyote with a snare around its foot captured at the OSU sheep farm. The coyote's other hind foot was already missing; it had chewed it off to escape a previous trap.
Dead coyote with snare around its foot
And there're more. In June 2011 a tiny fawn was found long dead, having strangled by the neck in a snare attached to the bottom of the fence. Undoubtedly, the fawn had tried to follow its mother who was able to jump the four-foot fence. In August, a family's dog, Maggie, was found with her neck crushed in an instant kill conibear trap set by Wildlife Services within 50 feet of their home. Maggie perished within minutes before the trap's jaws could be released. Again, warning signs were not posted in an area frequented by children and pets, nor were homeowners made aware of the dangerous traps.
All in all, the following actions demonstrate further violations of Wildlife Services' Directive 2.450, Traps and Trapping Devices:
- Snares and leg hold traps were not set to minimize changes of capturing non-target species.
- Non-target animals were not released alive.
- Target animals were not dispatched immediately, were not removed from capture devices and immediately dispatched and properly disposed of.
- Warning signs were not posted.
- No efforts were taken to notify or obtain approval of adjacent landowner.
- Caution was not taken so that captured animals would not be conspicuous.
Please take action to stop these illegal atrocities.
Watch this video, "End Federal Trapping at Oregon State University," filmed at the OSU sheep farm.
Directly urge OSU and Governor Kitzhaber to suspend Wildlife Services' indiscriminate and inhumane trapping practices at OSU, along with their contract, until an independent and public review is completed.
Contact OSU President Edward Ray through his administrator at (541) 737-4133 or by emailing Elizabeth.Grubb@oregonstate.edu
Contact Governor Kitzhaber at (503) 378-4582 or send an email online via governor.oregon.gov/Gov/contact.shtml
Contact your federal representative and senator. Ask them to oppose funding for Wildlife Services lethal control actions when appropriation bills come to them.
These are not the only violations for which Wildlife Service employees are responsible. They routinely break laws and brutally slaughter millions of animals.
Thank you for expressing your concern about the inexcusable, brutal, and illegal slaughter of these nonhuman animal beings.
All images can be found here. The teaser image (seen here) is of a live raccoon caught by its rear leg and attempting to escape by weaving itself through a fence. Wildlife Services left it to die after illegally setting traps and snares.
