YOUR HELP WILL TURN THE TIDE. (Oct. 26, 2001)

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YOUR HELP WILL TURN THE TIDE . (Oct 26, 2001)

 

Dear Caring friend,

 

The following urgent ISSUES need your help :

 

1: PUBLIC COMMENTS ON ENDANGERED RIGHT WHALES.

(Deadline: Oct 31, 2001 by 5 PM Est. )

2: POISONING PLAN WILL HURT WILDLIFE

3: PLEASE SAVE AZ MOUNTAIN LIONS

4 : PLEASE STOP KILLING COYOTES .

5: PLEASE TAKE PART IN PRAIRIE DOG PROTECTION

6: PLEASE JOIN THE MOST IMPORTANT DEMONSTRATION

FROM SHACUSA ON OCT 27---29, 2001

7: PLEASE PROTECT PENNSYLVANIA'S WILDLIFE.

 

Each Issue below is separated with " @@@@@@@ " .

Thanks so much for your kindness, compassion and urgent help.

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ISSUE # 1: PUBLIC COMMENTS ON

" ATLANTIC LARGE WHALE TAKE REDUCTION PLAN " .

 

DEADLINE: OCT 31, 2001(Wednesday) , BY 5 PM EST.

 

 

Dear Caring friend,

 

Thousands of North Atlantic Right Whales perished year after year.

The number from perhaps 50,000 down to now 300 which is

very dangerously close to " extinction " .

The National Oceanic and Atomospheric Administration (NOAA)

(under Department of Commerce) is asking the Public Comments

on Atlantic Large Whale Reduction Plan (ALWTRP).

 

The Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team (ALW TRT) is one of

several take reduction teams established by the National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS) in the 1996 to help develop plans to mitigate the risk to

marine mammals posed by " fishing gear " . (Please refer :

http://www.nero.nmfs.gov/whaletrp/ )

Let's all send Comments to NMFS now to save the desperate

whales. Sample letter and Contact info is enclosed .

 

(For further information, please click :

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/multidb.cgi

click # 6: Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Commercial Fishing

 

Or you may contact :Gregg LaMontagne, NMFS, Tel: 978-281-9291

Note: NMFS does NOT accept Email. Please send FAX/Letter now.

===============================================

 

SAMPLE LETTER : (note: you are welcome to write your own letter.)

 

Please place : DATE, Docket number, ID number, Your Name,

your Address at the begining of your letter.

 

 

RE: 50 CFR Part 229

DOCKET NO. 0011283341232--02, I.D. 091401B and

DOCID: fr01oc01-32, I.D. 092101B

 

My Comments on " Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan "

( ALWTRP )

 

DATE: October 26, 2001

 

Dear Chief of Protected Resources,

 

Please use all your power to protect North Atlantic Right Whales

which is dangerously sliding to the extinction due to the collisions

with ships, entrapment and/or entanglement of fishing gear, habitat

degradation, plus low rate of reproduction and high mortality rate

from inbreed.

 

At least 10,000 to 50,000 or more right whales used to live in the

Northern Atlantic Ocean. Of all the large whale species, the northern

Right whale is the most endangered. Prized for centuries for its copious

oils and baleen ( " whalebone " ), it was intensely hunted into the 20th

century. Now, there is only about 300 north Atlantic Right Whales still

inhabit the waters off the east coast of the United States and Canada.

Recent studies indicate that the population is sliding toward extinction.

(see Reference # 1, # 2 ).

 

The large number of entanglements that have occurred in the past two

years. Disentanglement efforts do not appear to prevent serious injury

and mortality. It is crucial that the NMFS to immidiately restrict the

use of lobster and all of the gillnet fishing gear use in all of the

habitats areas in which Right Whales depend on surviving.

 

Fishing gear that entrap and entangle whales include deep sea lobster

lines, ropes, seine nets, fish weirs, and gillnets. Six percent of known

right whale deaths between 1970 and 1994 were caused by

entanglements, and 57 Percent (57 %) of right whales have scars

which are believed to be from fishing gear.

 

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has

estimated over 200 million people depend upon fish as a main source

of income. Since the 1970s, fisheries have skyrocketed to

unprecedented levels of production. The FAO estimates that 70% of

the world's fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. The

worldwide fleet of commercial fishing vessels has doubled since 1970.

The annual global catch has currently at about 85 million tons.

 

More than 30 million tons of marine mammals, sea turtles, seabirds,

sharks, and other unwanted fish are thrown back into the oceans,

dead or dying, annually. Some fisheries use large nets with small mesh,

trapping or fatally wounding many non-target species.

Other gear with high bycatch rates include " longlines " and " bottom

trawls. " One of the worst fishing methods is drift-netting; a drift-net

may be miles long, with an all-but-invisible plastic mesh that ensnares

everything in its path. Significant negative interactions occur between

fisheries and marine mammals such as porpoises, dolphins, whales,

sea lions, seals, manatees, and dugongs.

 

For example, the dolphins are deliberately chased, harassed and

encircled by huge nets used to catch the tuna swimming below them.

Thousands die as a result of the use of this fishing method. Another

critical interaction involves the highly endangered northern right

whale and New England fisheries. Only about 300 of these great

whales remain; every one entangled in a fishing net or struck by a

vessel is a disastrous loss to the population. (see Reference # 3 )

 

Right whale habitat is being degraded or lost to shipping and military

operations in key regions. The pollution of the whales habitat areas

due to effluents, off-shore oil exploration and production (in the

northeastern United States) and phosphorus mining (in the southeastern

United States) remains a big problem. Pollutants would reduce the

abundance of prey and toxic effects on the whales themselves.

 

Another impediment to the whales' comeback is low rate of reproduction,

coupled with a relatively high mortality rate . A " genetic bottleneck "

within this species has led to inbreeding among the very few hundred

remaining whales left in the world.

 

My suggestion to NMFS is :

 

The NMFS must develop and implement plans for the conservation

and survival of the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.

The biological opinion (“B.O.”) upon which the NMFS relies under

Section 7 of the " Endangered Species Act " (ESA) states that

incidental take of North Atlantic Right Whales cannot be authorized.

The current take reduction plan has not met its mandate.

 

The NMFS must initiate inter-agency and international cooperation

to assist in the development of programs to protect this species.

 

The NMFS must issue the following regulations to reduce the

incidental taking of North Atlantic Right Whales in commercial fishing :

 

1: This includes, but is not limited to: to close portions of Right

Whale critical habitat to gillnet and/or lobster fishing; completely

stop allowing the use of high risk types of fishing gear in

designated critical habitat at known times of use by the whales;

 

2: Please Stop relying on current best fishing practice to reduce

mortality and serious injury when such practices have been

demonstrably unsuccessful;

 

3: The NMFS must develop take reduction plans that would mitigate

bycatch of all strategic stocks of marine mammals in commercial

fisheries.

 

4: The NMFS must undertake an adequate program of research and

development for the purpose of devising improved fishing methods

and gear so as to reduce to the maximum extent practicable the

incidental taking of North Atlantic Right Whales in connection with

commercial fishing. The NMFS must carry out its statutory

responsibilities under the MMPA(Marine Mammal Protection Act)

to conserve and recover the North Atlantic Right Whale.

 

Time is essence. The Right Whale is very dangerously on the way to

the extinction. This is the last chance to save the North Atlantic Right

Whales. Please take all the actions now for the Right Whales. Thanks.

 

Sincerely,

 

Your Name,

Your Address,

City, State, Zip.

Country.

 

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Important References :

1: http://www.hsus.org/whatnew/whale080700.html

2: http://cnie.org/NLE/CRSreports/Biodiversity/biodv-12.cfm

A Congressional Research Service report to Congress in 1995.

National Council for Science and the Environment

1725 K Street, Suite 212 - Washington, DC 20006

Tel: 202-530-5810 , Email: info

3: http://www.hsus.org/programs/wildlife/marine/factsheets/fisheries.html

4:

http://www.orecity.k12.or.us/ochs/departments/science/species/right.html

5: The photo of the Right Whale :

http://whales.magna.com.au/DISCOVER/RIGHT/rightg.html

 

 

(**** Letter Ends here ****)

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CONTACT INFORMATION :

 

NOTE : NMFS does NOT accept Email as " Public Comments " .

If you send by postal mail, please send Express mail as the current

mail may take double time to reach the destination.

If you Fax to the NMFS, then if you can please also make a call to

make sure the Chief received your fax.:

 

1: The most important is to send your Comments to :

 

Chief of Protected Resources,

Protected Resources Division,

NMFS,

Northeast Region,

1 Blackburn Dr.,

Gloucester, MA 01930

 

TEL: 978-281-9291

FAX: 978-281-9394

 

--

 

2: Then you may also send a COPY of your letter to :

 

Mr. GUDES, SCOTT B.

Acting Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere and

NOAA Administrator,

14TH & CONST AVE NW

WASHINGTON DC 20230-0001

Tel: (202)482-4569

Fax: (202)482-1041 (in U.S.A. )

Email : Scott.B.Gudes (@noaa.gov )

 

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ISSUE # 2 :

POISONING PLAN WILL HURT WILDLIFE:

 

The National Park Service (NPS) is set to begin an ill-advised rat

poisoning plan on Anacapa Island, a part of California's Channel

Island National Park. Although the plan is being touted as a means

to protect the island's seabird population, critics of the plan fear

that the ends do not justify the means.

 

The poison of choice, brodifacoum, is both extremely toxic and

non-selective, meaning that other animals aside from rats, including

those who may feed on the bodies of poisoned rats, will also be

poisoned. Morever, the NPS plans to disperse the poison via aerial

drops, literally sprinkling the entire surface of the island with deadly

poison. While the NPS does plan to trap and later release or

relocate many of the island's deer mice and raptors to reduce

non-target mortality, the stress that such maneuvers will place on

local wildlife makes the plan all the more questionable.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please

 

1: Based on the above reasons, write to the NPS to object to the

poisoning program.

2: Ask to postpone poisoning until it has reevaluated the need

for the program and the negative impacts it could have on wildlife.

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CONTACT INFORMATION :

 

Tom Setnicka, Superintendent

Channel Islands National Park

1901 Spinnaker Dr.

Ventura, CA 93001

fax: 805-658-5799

ph: 805-658-5700

email: CHIS_Superintendent (@nps.gov )

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(Reference Source: HumaneLines, HSUS, The Fund for Animals ).

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ISSUE # 3 :

PLEASE SAVE AZ MOUNTAIN LIONS:

 

The Arizona Fish and Wildlife Service (AZ FWS) is gearing up to

kill dozens of mountain lions near Saguaro, Apache, and Canyon Lakes

on the Tonto National Forest.

 

The AZ FWS plans to justify its killing plan by calling it part of a

study to " assess the impact of lion predation on bighorn sheep. "

 

In blaming mountain lions for the decline in bighorn sheep numbers

(leaving the hunters with less animals to kill), the AZ FWS completely

ignores the fact that drought and disease (introduced by domestic sheep)

have had a far greater impact on bighorn sheep populations than

mountain lions have.

 

Furthermore, because the AZ FWS' proposed " experiment " has

confounding variables and lacks a control group, any data obtained

will be impossible to interpret.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO:

 

The AZ FWS must get approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service

(FWS) (which is under Dept. of Interior ) before it can begin its killing

plan. Please contact US FWS and ask them to :

 

1: Terminate Arizona Fish and Wildlife Service's Mountain lion killing

plan based on its lack of scientific merit.

2: Ask US FWS , at the very least, require that the AZ FWS prepare

an " Environmental Impact Statement " (EIS) on its plans to kill the

Mountain lions.

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CONTACT INFORMATION :

 

Ms. Nancy Kaufman

Regional Director

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Region 2 Southwest Regional Office

P.O. Box 1306

Albuquerque, NM 87103-1306

Tel: 505-248-6282

Fax: 505-248-6910

 

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ISSUE # 4 : STOP KILLING COYOTES .

 

-

Wendy Keefover-Ring

Colorado Coyote Action Alert

 

HELP STOP THE STATE FROM ENDORSING

INDISCRIMINATE COYOTE-KILLING PRACTICES

 

In January, you helped us stop the Colorado Wildlife Commission from

implementing aerial gunning of coyotes as part of a “study” that

purported to see if coyote killing would help the mule deer population.

In March, your letters and emails helped us stop a $2.6 million study

from happening at all—the Colorado Legislature killed funding the

project. Thank you!

 

But now, Wildlife Commission is considering several ill-advised

coyote-killing schemes—none of which will actually help Colorado’s

mule deer population! Please mail or email comments to the officials

below and ask them to stop their coyote control plans

(Sample Letter and Contact Information below).

If you have time, please try to personalize it. Thank you.

--------------------------------

 

Your Name

Your Address

Date :

RE : Please Stop Killing Coyotes

 

Dear .......... :

 

I'm urging you Please stop killing coyotes .

Colorado’s mule deer population is suffering a decline because of a

variety of factors, the most important of which relate to inadequate

habitat (due to growth and sprawl and fire suppression) and disease

(including bovine viral diarrhea, which is transmitted by livestock).

As the Division of Wildlife has determined in their 1999 to 2000 study

of the mule deer population on the Uncompahgre Plateau, coyotes are

only responsible for 12% of the “probable, suspected or confirmed”

mule deer fawn mortalities.

 

Indiscriminate campaigns to kill coyotes are bad policy, unwise,

unethical and very cruel. Even if killing coyotes created more mule

deer—and the weight of science shows it will not—we should not

kill one species of wildlife to create more of another for humans

to hunt.

 

I ask that you avoid proposal for dual big game/coyote licenses,

encouraging counties to hold bounties, and other schemes that

will ultimately fail.

 

For example, Baca and Prowers Counties currently hold bounties and

their treasury pays $7.50 for each set of ears they receive. Prowers

held their bounty from January through May 2001 and paid $4,372.50

for 583 sets of ears. It is also the Taxpayer fraud.

 

Coyotes compensate for losses in their population by changing their

breeding strategies. When persecuted, more yearling females breed

and coyotes may increase their litter sizes.

 

Wild carnivores kill wild prey in the natural world; they provide the

unique service of removing the weak, sick, diseased and malnourished

from the population. This benefit improves the overall fitness of

ungulates, like mule deer.

 

I enjoy viewing wildlife, including coyotes, which contribute to a

balanced and natural ecosystem. Again, please stop killing coyotes.

Thank you for considering my comments.

 

Sincerely,

 

Your Name,

Your Address,

City, State.

========================================

CONTACT INFORMATION :

 

1: Bill Owens, Governor

Colorado State Capitol

200 East Colfax

Denver, CO 80203-1784

Email : governorowens (@state.co.us )

Address to : Dear Honorable Governor Owens,

 

 

2: Colorado Wildlife Commission

c/o Human Dimensions Unit

Colorado Division of Wildlife

6060 Broadway, Denver, CO 80216

Email : wildlife.comm (@state.co.us )

 

3: Russell George, Director

Colorado Division of Wildlife

6060 Broadway, Denver, CO 80216

F: 303.294.0874

Email : russell.george (@state.co.us )

 

4: Greg Walcher, Executive Director

Colorado Department of Natural Resources

1313 Sherman Street, Ste. 718

Denver, CO 80203

F: 303.866.2115

Email : greg.walcher (@state.co.us )

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ISSUE # 5 :

TAKE PART IN PRAIRIE DOG PROTECTION:

 

The plight of the black-tailed prairie dog is thought by many to be

Colorado's greatest wildlife crisis. Urban development and deliberate

poisoning programs have taken such a grim toll on black-tailed prairie

dogs that they are now listed as " threatened " under the federal

Endangered Species Act. Yet the federal government is doing little

to stop developers from bulldozing over prairie dog colonies or to stop

ranchers from poisoning ENTIRE colonies to expand livestock grazing

areas.

 

Because prairie dogs are a keystone species, their demise has grave

consequences for a myriad of other species (such as hawks, coyotes

& burrowing owls) who are associated with them. The destruction of

prairie dogs and their habitat portends the destruction of an ENTIRE

ecosystem.

 

The Prairie Dog Coalition ( www.prairiedogcoalition.org ) was formed in

response to this ecological crisis in order to aid in recovery of the

black-tailed prairie dog in northeastern Colorado, to preserve key

Front Range colonies, and to promote the protection of all

prairie dog species and their ecosystems throughout the US.

Join the Prairie Dog Coalition in Denver on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2001

for a special reception and informational gathering

concerning the coalition and its efforts to preserve the prairie dogs.

For more information :

contact Dave Crawford at davec or 303-449-4422.

 

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ISSUE # 6 :

PLEASE JOIN THE MOST IMPORTANT DEMONSTRATION

FROM SHACUSA ON OCT. 27--29 (Saturday till Monday )

 

DATE: October 27 - 29, 2001

 

On Monday, October 29th 2001, animal right activists from across the

world will descend upon Little Rock, Arkansas, in US for what will be

one of the biggest and most important demonstrations in the history of

the animal rights movement. For more details , please click following:

 

http://www.october29.org/shacusa/events.htm#oct29

http://www.october29.org/home.htm

Contact infor: please Email: shacusa (@envirolink.org )

 

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ISSUE # 7 :

 

PLEASE PROTECT PENNSYLVANIA'S WILDLIFE:

 

Please protect wildlife in Pennsylvania by contacting their state senator

and representative on the following bills which is hotly debated in the

Capitol :

 

Please Contact PA Senators and Representatives to :

 

1: SUPPORT SB 909 - to end the growing trend of " canned hunts, "

the shooting of exotic, semi-tame animals within fenced enclosures.

2: SUPPORT HB 560 - to instate a three-year moratorium on bobcat

hunting and trapping, following the Pennsylvania Game Commission's

decision to increase the number of permits for killing bobcats,

3: SUPPORT H.B. 541 and S.B. 848 - to extend protection from

cruelty offenses from only cats and dogs to all animals, including

wildlife.

4: OPPOSE HB 1673 - - to expand the range that trappers can trap

and kill animals (including unlucky pets) within any waterway.

5: OPPOSE HB 1510 - to reduce the minimum hunting age

in the state from twelve to ten years old.

-

 

CONTACT INFORMATION :

 

1: Copy the following list of PA Senators addresses and Paste into

your BCC field in you new email. Then place your different email

address in the TO field . It must have a comma between two

addresses.

(The following addresses all have @dem.pasen.gov at the end).

Address to : Dear Senator,

 

 

williams,

belan,

bodack,

bodack,

boscola,

costa,

fumo,

hughes,

kitchen,

kukovich,

lavalle,

mellow,

musto,

opake,

schwartz,

stapleton,

stout,

tartaglione,

wagner,

wozniak,

bodack,

boscola,

costa,

hughes,

kitchen,

kukovich,

lavalle,

mellow,

musto,

opake,

schwartz,

stout,

tartaglione,

wagner,

williams,

wozniak,

-------------------

 

2: Please CALL/Email to PA State Representative :

Click the following , Enter your Address, then click

" Get District " , then click " State Rep " on the right side :

http://politics./freps , then contact Represenatative.

 

Or : To find out any State Senators and Representatives :

http://politics./politics/State_and_Local/

Then click " State and Local " on the upper right corner.

Then click the State.

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3: You may also send a copy to PA Governor :

Email: governor (@state.pa.us )

---------------------------

 

(Reference Source: www.fund.org or contact Heidi Prescott

at 301-585-2591 or hprescott )

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Thanks so much for your kindness, compassion and urgent help.