For decades, USDA Wildlife Services (“Wildlife Services”) government agents trapped, shot, and killed hundreds of bears, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, mountain lions and other wildlife in Mendocino – and inadvertently killed non-target species, including imperiled wildlife and beloved pets, in the process. The County used taxpayer dollars to pay for their lethal wildlife management program, often on behalf of commercial agricultural interests.
You may recall that our coalition sued Mendocino County to stop this senseless killing of native wildlife. We demonstrated that Wildlife Services’ lethal methods for dealing with wildlife conflicts are cruel, senseless, and counterproductive to sound wildlife management. We successfully made the case that the county violated the California Environmental Quality Act by failing to analyze the site-specific and cumulative impacts of its lethal killing program on the environment and on target and non-target animals. Under the terms of a settlement agreement with plaintiffs, the County agreed to immediately end its contract with Wildlife Services and to produce an environmental impact report (EIR) of its “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program” (read more here and here).
We need your help to urge Mendocino County to permanently terminate its contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services (“Wildlife Services”) and implement a non-lethal program for addressing human conflicts with wildlife.
The County is accepting public comments on the program alternatives before it makes a decision on the issue. The County needs to hear that you support a non-lethal program ensuring that government agents no longer use snares, traps and other cruel methods to kill wildlife. Because taxpayer dollars subsidize the federal government’s Wildlife Services program (e.g., the “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program) and wildlife is held in the public trust, we all have a say in this issue (you do not need to be a Mendocino resident to comment on the DEIR).
Help end Mendocino’s lethal wildlife management program!
Mendocino County has released their draft EIR (“DEIR”), which analyzes the environmental impact of their current lethal management program and a proposed non-lethal alternative. You can find the DEIR here and the documents referenced in the DEIR here. For more information about the DEIR and the public comment period, go here.
Please let the County Board of Supervisors know that you support the non-lethal alternative. There are several ways to help:
- Submit Written Comments on the draft EIR by August 12.
Comments are due by 5:00 PM on August 12, 2019. Please see sample talking points below. You may email your comments to Ignacio Nash Gonzalez at gonzalezn@mendocinocounty.org. Alternatively, mail your comments to:
County of Mendocino
ATT’N: Nash Gonzalez, AICP Recovery Director
501 Low Gap Rd, Rm. 1010
Ukiah, CA 95482
- Attend County Staff’s public input meeting about the DEIR on July 24th.
You will have an opportunity to speak in favor of the non-lethal program alternative – or just attend and show your support. The meeting is scheduled for July 24, 2019, from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. The meeting will be held at the County of Mendocino Board of Supervisors Chambers, located at 501 Low Gap Road, Room 1070, Ukiah, California, 95482.
- Submit a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
Letters urging readers to show their support for a non-lethal program by submitting written comments and attending the public meeting are crucial. Point readers to this link to learn more: https://www.mendocinocounty.org/home/showdocument?id=28692. You can also find tips for writing letters here and talking points below. You may submit your letter to one or more of the following papers:
Mendocino County Observer: observer@pacific.net
Willits Weekly: willitsweekly@gmail.com
Willits News: editorial@willitsnews.com
Anderson Valley Advertiser: editor@theava.com
Ukiah Daily Journal: udjkcm@ukiahdj.com
Fort Bragg Advocate-News: editor@advocate-news.com
- Email the Mendocino County Non-Lethal Coalition at mendononlethal@gmail.com or call Project Coyote Advisory Board member Don Lipmanson at (707) 391-7624 with questions or for more ways you can help.
Talking Points:
Here are talking points you can use in your written comments, at the public meeting, and in your letters to the editor:
- Mendocino County should end its lethal program (the “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program”), permanently terminating its contract with USDA Wildlife Services. Instead, the County should implement the proposed non-lethal program alternative for addressing conflicts with wildlife.
- Every year, Wildlife Services traps, shoots, and kills hundreds of bears, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, mountain lions and other wildlife, largely at the behest of private ranchers and other agricultural interests. This flies in the face of the Public Trust Doctrine which maintains that wildlife is held in the public trust and we all have a say in how our wildlife is managed.
- Non-target species – including imperiled wildlife and dogs and cats – fall victim to Wildlife Services’ lethal approach to wildlife management. One Mendocino trapper admitted to killing more than 400 dogs, in addition to coyotes, mountain lions, bears, skunks, raccoons, and bobcats.
- The DEIR clearly demonstrates that the proposed “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program” could have serious impacts on mountain lion populations when other mortality factors are considered, and for this reason alone the proposed program should be permanently terminated.
- The “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program” alternative proposes to expand cruel and unnecessary killing methods for killing captured wildlife including neck wringing, “cervical dislocation” and the use of CO2 –all of which can cause extreme pain and suffering.
- Mendocino residents do not want their taxpayer dollars spent on a lethal program that cruelly and senselessly kills wild animals.
- The best available research shows that killing wildlife to reduce predation on livestock or damage to crops is rarely necessary or effective. For example, such killing may actually increase populations of coyotes while negatively impacting apex predator species such as mountain lions. More info. here.
- Ethics tell us that this needless killing and depletion of ecologically vital wildlife is wrong and rarely justified.
- As set forth in the non-lethal program alternatives in the DEIR details, there are many cost-effective non-lethal methods of addressing human-wildlife conflicts, including the use of livestock guard animals, appropriate fencing, night-corrals and innovations like Foxlights. More info. here.
Thank you for speaking up for wildlife!
Camilla H. Fox Founder & Executive Director
Don Lipmanson Project Coyote Advisory Board