We’ve reached out to you before for your help in urging Mendocino County to permanently terminate its contract with the USDA Wildlife Services, which has trapped, shot, and killed hundreds of bears, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, mountain lions and other wildlife in Mendocino—and inadvertently killed non-target species, including imperiled wildlife and beloved pets. The County has been using taxpayer dollars to pay for their lethal wildlife management program, often on behalf of commercial agricultural interests.
Project Coyote urges Mendocino County residents to express their strong opposition to the County’s proposed renewal of their $170,000 contract with USDA Wildlife Services (Agenda Item 5h) via the Telecomment option. Once your comment form has been received and reviewed, you will receive instructions for how to virtually attend the Zoom meeting and provide public comment (if you so choose). Those who are unable to attend the meeting on the 14th are encouraged to submit written comments via the eComment option here (look for Agenda Item 5h). Comments must be submitted no later than 8:00 am on the day of the meeting.
Let’s end Mendocino’s lethal wildlife killing program and encourage the county to adopt a science-based and ethically defensible non-lethal program!
Talking Points:
Here are talking points you can use in your written comments and at the virtual public meeting:
- Mendocino County should end its lethal program (the “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program”), permanently terminating its contract with USDA Wildlife Services. Instead, the County should adopt and implement a non-lethal program alternative for addressing conflicts with wildlife.
- Ethics tell us that this needless killing and depletion of ecologically vital wildlife is wrong and rarely justified.
- Every year, Wildlife Services traps, shoots, and kills hundreds of bears, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, mountain lions and other wildlife, largely at the behest of private ranchers and other agricultural interests. This flies in the face of the Public Trust Doctrine which maintains that wildlife is held in the public trust and we all have a say in how our wildlife is managed.
- Non-target species – including imperiled wildlife and dogs and cats – fall victim to Wildlife Services’ lethal approach to wildlife management. One Mendocino trapper admitted to killing more than 400 dogs, in addition to coyotes, mountain lions, bears, skunks, raccoons, and bobcats.
- Mendocino residents do not want their taxpayer dollars spent on a lethal program that cruelly and senselessly kills wild animals.
- The best available research shows that killing wildlife to reduce predation on livestock or damage to crops is rarely necessary or effective. Such killing may actually increase populations of coyotes while negatively impacting apex predator species such as mountain lions. More information here.
- There are many cost-effective non-lethal methods of addressing human-wildlife conflicts, including the use of livestock guard animals, appropriate fencing, night-corrals and innovations like Foxlights. More information here.
Read more about this issue here, here and here.
Thank you for speaking up for wildlife ~ and please share with other Mendocino County residents!
Camilla Fox
Founder & Executive Director
Don Lipmanson
Advisory Board Member