[Fwd: PROPOSED FROG/TURTLE BAN - LETTERS NEEDED NOW!]

[Guest guest]

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[Fwd: PROPOSED FROG/TURTLE BAN - LETTERS NEEDED NOW!]

afa

Fri, January 8, 2010 3:48 pm

To:

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PROPOSED FROG/TURTLE BAN - LETTERS NEEDED NOW!

afa

Fri, January 8, 2010 3:34 pm

To:

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January 8, 2010

 

FROG AND TURTLE ALERT - LETTERS NEEDED

 

For 15 years we've been urging the California Fish & Game Commission to

ban the importation and sale of live frogs and turtles for the state's

many live animal food markets (for human consumption). At long last, all

five Commissioners seem to agree that the ban is needed to protect our

native wildlife.

 

Some TWO MILLION American bullfrogs (commercially-raised in Taiwan, for

the most part), and perhaps 300,000 freshwater turtles are imported into

California every year for the markets. ALL of the turtles are taken from

the wild in other states, depleting local populations. A January 2009

study in BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION noted that, of the frogs they necropsied,

62% tested positive for the dreaded chytrid fungus, a prime suspect in the

extinctions of scores of amphibian species worldwide in recent years.

 

None of these animals are native to California, and nearly all are

diseased and/or parasitized. When released into local waters (a frequent,

though illegal practice), the exotics prey upon and displace our native

wildlife.

Though the animal cruelty and deprivation in the markets is staggering,

that is NOT the focus of the Commission, which is PROTECTION OF OUR

NATURAL RESOURCES. So when you write, please focus on these concerns, and

NOT animal welfare.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO: This issue is supposed to be on the Commission's

February 3-4, 2010 agenda in Sacramento, and letters in support of the ban

are needed.

 

PLEASE WRITE: JOHN CARLSON, EXEC. DIRECTOR, STATE FISH & GAME COMMISSION,

1416 NINTH STREET, SACRAMENTO, CA 95814; e-mail - fgc; fax -

916/653-5040.

 

And if you could speak in support of the ban, so much the better. Please

contact me with any questions or " talking points. " And please alert your

members, and disperse this alert accordingly. This may be our best shot

at sparing the lives of millions of these animals. Thanks for caring.

 

AFA would appreciate copies of any letters or emails you send.

 

Sincerely,

Eric Mills, coordinator

ACTION FOR ANIMALS

Oakland, CA

tel. 510/652-5603