Posts Tagged ‘Big Wildlife’

1 Oct

Alaska Bears At Risk (as usual)

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in Environment. Tagged: , , , , , .

From the website of Big Wildlife:

The Alaska Board of Game is scheduled to discuss three controversial issues affecting Black Bears during their next series of meetings during October 8-12. The issues would legalize the taking of any Black Bears, including sows and cubs, the use of cruel traps for Black and Brown Bears, and the reclassification of Black Bears as “furbearers,” which would allow for the sale of bear body parts and skins. These new measures would make room for the indiscriminate killing and removal of Black Bears from Alaska without requiring the Board of Game to complete the normal process of drafting a formal predator implementation plan. Under this plan, the Board is required to gather data data on the proposals, including the numbers of predators and prey in specific game management units, provide proof that any control actions are necessary in these units, and publicize the plan before authorizing such controversial methods of control. Without these measures of protection, the Black and Brown Bears of Alaska are under serious threat of abuse and eradication through over-hunting and disruption of normal family cycles. Please contact the Board of Game to express your concern for this lack of due process on such questionable and negligent methods of “predator control.” Please contact Chairman of the Board Cliff Judkins and Vice Chairman Ted Spraker along with members Ben Grussendorf, Teresa Sager Albaugh, Stosh Hoffman Jr., Lewis Bradley, and Nate Turner by faxing your letter to (907) 465-6094 or calling (907) 465-4110. Boards Support Section phone (907) 465-4110 fax (907) 465-6094. Big Wildlife thanks you for the work you do to help us protect nature’s precious species!

4 Mar

Bear Necessities

Posted by Andrew Mersmann in One click helping, Support. Tagged: , , , , , .

I tend to think, on many fronts, California kind of has its act together (except that whole equality issue that somehow voters screwed up)…but now I see that there is a TON of room for improvement on the wildlife front as well.

In California, each year, over 2,000 bears are hunted–legally, so I’m OK with admitting that people who are experts have decided that is appropriate–BUT, what I’m not OK with, is the number that are ILLEGALLY hunted and poached. (In the US and Canada, annual black bear hunt numbers are between 40,000 and 50,000–still within the legal limits–many many more are poached). Shockingly, in California it is still legal to hunt bears with packs of dogs–and there ain’t nothing humane or appropriate about that.

California’s Department of Fish and Game has proposed new legislation to eliminate caps on bear hunting, so every single bear could be a target in the Golden State–and I’m sorry, but our pic-i-nic baskets just aren’t important enough to allow that. We continue to build and expand our blight into natural habitats, and then wonder why nature won’t just crawl away. Huge California housing tracts are abandoned to foreclosure, but still we clear cut and build and fractionalize ecosystems that once supported healthy populations of a balanced range of species. I get it that there are problem encounters with bears–I don’t get it that the solution is to somehow fool ourselves into thinking we should blast them all out of nature. How arrogant, and truly uncontrolled we are becoming.

Big Wildlife is focused on assuring the long-term viability of top carnivore wildlife in the West (bears, wolves, cougars, coyotes, etc), and is spearheading a movement encouraging public comment from California voters about this bear issue–but you need to act fast. Hearings were held yesterday, and the deadline for public comment is Saturday, March 13. Here is a link to an action alert page with sample letters to send to the commission and your representatives.

This is, truly, a crime against nature we’re talking about–and something we definitely do not, can not, be complicit in.