[Fwd: how timely]

[Guest guest]

January 3, 2006

 

This 1/3/06 Gary Bogue column (CONTRA COSTA TIMES) deserves broad

circulation. Please forward to interested parties.

 

And drop Gary Bogue a note of appreciation while you're at it:

gbogue.

 

Thanks,

Eric Mills, coordinator

ACTION FOR ANIMALS

 

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how timely

Tue, 3 Jan 2006 16:04:08 -0800

Karen Benzel <KarenBenzelPR

Jay Holcomb <jay, Eric Mills <afa

 

 

 

 

<http://www.contracostatimes.com/>

 

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Posted on Tue, Jan. 03, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*GARY BOGUE*

 

*Let's resolve to do more to help wildlife this year*

 

 

past memories fade

 

2006 promises

 

a new beginning

 

THINK ABOUT IT

 

Since this is my first new column of 2006, I thought it would be

appropriate for me to toss out a few ideas we should be thinking about

this year.

 

Who knows, maybe some of us will even be able to figure out new ways to

do something positive about these things.

 

What do you think?

 

• Wind Farms: I think wind energy companies should be required to come

up with better ways to keep their monster wind turbines from killing

many thousands of birds and bats.

 

And the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service definitely needs to do a much

better job of enforcing the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and all the other

laws that supposedly protect all those birds and bats that are being

slaughtered.

 

• Ecoterror Arrests: According to a series of stories reported by the

Associated Press throughout the month of December, " Six people have been

arrested in connection with ecoterrorism attacks in Oregon and

Washington dating back to 1998, including a $1.2 million fire that

destroyed a U.S. Department of Agriculture research facility near

Olympia. " The Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front claimed

responsibility for most of the attacks. According to AP, the U.S.

attorney's office in Seattle said the investigation, already nine years

old, is continuing.

 

This is making me wonder if the FBI is still looking for Marin County

resident Daniel Andreas San Diego, who was named by federal

investigators as a suspect in the Aug. 28, 2003, bombings at Chiron

Corp.'s Emeryville headquarters and Shaklee Corp.'s offices in

Pleasanton. You'd think the Feds would have caught up by now with this

suspected member of the Revolutionary Cells, aka Animal Liberation

Front, aka Earth Liberation Front.

 

Why do I get this creepy feeling in the pit of my stomach that we're

going to be hearing a lot more from these " eco-fronts " in 2006?

 

• Wolves: Will attempts to eradicate these beautiful predators from

Idaho and maybe some other states be successful?

 

Will the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service really be able to save the wolves?

 

Are they really trying to?

 

Film at 11.

 

• Fish and Game depredation permits: The California Department of Fish

and Game says it is required to give you a depredation (license to kill)

permit if you can show them any damage to your property caused by wild

turkeys, raccoons, deer, bears, mountain lions, wild pigs and other

wildlife species. In other words, if you bump heads with one of your

wild neighbors, DFG will be a buddy and help you kill it.

 

That has always bothered me. Somehow, I've always expected the Fish and

Game Department to protect native wildlife, and not to kill it. Maybe we

can help do something about this in 2006. Like getting a qualified

wildlife expert to fill Commissioner Jim Kellogg's seat (his term

expires on Jan. 15) on the state Fish and Game Commission.

 

You can write ... Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the State Capitol,

Sacramento, CA 95814 ... and ask him to please appoint a wildlife expert

to fill Kellogg's seat. Hopefully it will be someone who'll fix this

depredation permit mess.

 

We don't have to shoot wild animals just because they do something we

don't like. There are humane, nonlethal ways to deal with them (electric

fences, repellents, etc.). Yes, they probably take longer and are more

expensive than shooting. So?

 

There's lots more but I don't want to wear your brain out in one day.

We've got a whole year to ponder and do something about this stuff.

 

Let the games begin.

 

/

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/

 

/Find more Gary in his blog at:

blogs.www.contracostatimes.com/gary_bogue; write Gary, P.O. Box 8099,

Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099; old columns at www.contracostatimes.com

<http://www.contracostatimes.com>, click on Columnists; e-mail

garybug <garybug.// /

 

 

 

 

 

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© 2006 ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources. .

http://www.contracostatimes.com

 

*Karen Benzel*

 

*Public Affairs Director*

 

*International** Bird Rescue Research Center***

 

*831-622-7588*

 

*www.ibrrc.org*

 

*Helping birds around the world since 1971*

[Guest guest]

Gary Bogue was at the Fish and Game Commission meeting in Concord and sat

through two days of it. It was great to see him there and I hoped it might

be reflected somehow in this column. (I hoped he might talk about proposed

regs affecting wildlife rehab groups that are causing concern. We got them

pulled off consent and postponed until Feb meeting in Sac.) The one

reflection is his comment on Jim Kellogg (the hunters' best hound dog along

with Commission pack mate Mike Flores, who wants to get Kellogg re-appointed

to the Commission). I finally asked Bogue why he was there and he said he

was in support of Cindy Gustafson, the newest Commissioner. She is very good

and deserves our support. We need another candidate to take Kellogg's place.

Regarding his comment on depredation permits, the law requires a permit be

given if there is evidence of damage. The law needs to be changed from

" shall " to " may " . The Commission cannot do that. They could sponsor

legislation to get the Legislature to change it. But as long as that's the

law, the permit must be given. It's been on my possible legislation list for

years. With Bogue's support maybe something could be done. I need to send

him the existing law.

Virginia