Brooks Fahy at PREDATOR DEFENSE urging all of us to call our Congressmen in D.C. to vote YES on the Campbell-Defazion Wildlife Services amendment that will eliminate Federal funding for WILDLIFE SERVICES, the branch of the Dept of Agriculture that is responsible for shooting and poisoning thousands of Carnivores every year..........Ironic that Western Ranchers who gladly take Government subsidies on grazing allotments and predator control claim to be "free market" entrepreneurs when in fact they are welfare recipients of the highest order............And on top of taking our tax money to keep them in business, they have the gaul to label the"Feds" as evildoers for restoring diversity( the Wolf) to their lands................Hypocritical, is it not?????????????.........Do as Brooks suggests............call your Senators and Congressmen and urge them to stop this destructive and cost prohibitive and plain out wrong practice of killing our wild Carnivore populations!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Predator Defense <brooks@predatordefense.org>
Date: Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Subject: Urgent: Your calls needed to cut Wildlife Services funding
To: rick meril

Your Calls Needed!

 

Help Us Cut Federal Funding for the Senseless Killing of Wildlife

It's time for the federal government to stop funding the extermination of tens of thousands of animals every year at the behest of agribusiness. Ask your representative to vote for an amendment that would slash funding for Wildlife Services' "livestock protection" program, which spends millions of taxpayer dollars every year to subsidize the killing of bears, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, wolves and other wild predators.

Wildlife Services, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, responds directly to livestock growers who want wild carnivores like coyotes, foxes, and mountain lions killed.  This federal government agency kills tens of thousands of these animals each year under its "livestock protection" program simply because private livestock growers ask them to.  The animals are caught in traps and snares, shot from helicopters, poisoned with cyanide and other deadly toxins, and pups and cubs may be killed in their dens.

In addition to its cost and cruelty, the Wildlife Service's livestock protection program harms the environment by removing large numbers of ecologically important predators from the landscape. And some methods, such as the use of poison traps, put not only wild animals but people and pets at risk of accidental poisoning. See CNN interview at www.predatordefense.org . Further, Wildlife Services  fails to provide needed incentives for livestock operators to prevent and address conflicts with predators.

 

Reps. John Campbell of California and Peter DeFazio of Oregon are offering an amendment to this year's federal Agriculture Department spending bill that would cut federal funding for Wildlife Services to kill wild carnivores to benefit private livestock operations. Please urge your representative to vote for the Campell-Defazio Wildlife Services amendment. This vote could take place as soon as Tuesday, June 14, so please act now!

TARGET
All U.S Representatives

Call your representative today!

U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202- 224-3121 and ask for your Representative's office. If you do not know who your representative is just give your zip code to the operator and you'll be transferred to your Congressman's office

Email letters and talking points to your Representatives

Dear Representative,

At a time when Congress is looking for smart ways to cut federal spending, I urge you to support cutting federal funding for USDA's Wildlife Services' "livestock protection" program. Please support the Campbell-DeFazio amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill to cut this private interest subsidy by $11 million in FY2012.

In 2009, Wildlife Services spent $23 million on programs serving livestock growers and other private agricultural operations, including the livestock protection program. Many of these programs emphasize lethal control, killing animals at taxpayer expense rather than focusing on effective, preventative non-lethal methods for managing wildlife conflicts. Wildlife Services' lethal control methods include shooting, poisoning, trapping, killing young animals in their dens, and even aerial gunning from aircraft.

Federal tax dollars should not be spent killing wild predators to benefit private business. I urge you to support cutting federal funding for Wildlife Services' livestock protection program in FY2012 and to vote for the Campbell-DeFazio amendment.

--
Brooks Fahy
Executive Director
PREDATOR DEFENSE
541-937-4261 Office
541-520-6003 Cell
brooks@predatordefense.org
http://www.predatordefense.org/