AUGUST 2018 IN THIS ISSUE:
During my recent travels to screen Project Coyote‘s film KILLING GAMES–Wildlife In The Crosshairs and to address predator conservation at the Speak for Wolves Conference in West Yellowstone and at the Taft-Nicholson Environmental Humanities Center in Centennial Valley, Montana, I was reminded of the intense antipathy towards native carnivores that still exists in the United States. My experience punctuated the urgency of exposing and countering these negative forces at both the state and national levels.
From left to right: Jill Fritz, Sarah Hanneken, Vicki Markus, Lynn Sadler, Camilla Fox, Louisa Willcox, and Amaroq Weiss at Speak for Wolves Conference
Wildlife and wildlands are under assault across the U.S. Just two weeks ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries announced a proposal to strip key provisions from the Endangered Species Act, bowing to demands from industry lobbyists who claim that stringent environmental protections thwart business interests. At the same time, the Trump Administration and Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke are attempting to reverse Obama-era regulations that prohibit the most extreme and egregious hunting methods on Alaska’s public lands, including killing wolf and coyote pups and mothers in their dens; using artificial lights to kill hibernating black bears and their cubs; and using bait and dogs to hunt bears.
Project Coyote is doing everything we can to halt this unconscionable assault on our beleaguered keystone native predators. (Read about our latest efforts below.) In July, our FLOAT.org campaign generated tremendous support for our national campaign to End Wildlife Killing Contests in the U.S. Next week, I and other members of the Project Coyote team will convene in New Mexico to join other conservation advocates at the Wildlife for All: Re-Envisioning State Wildlife Governance summit in Albuquerque.
We pursue these and other efforts at national, state, and community levels in hopes of creating a world where compassion trumps fear and violence, using science-based advocacy to refute fear-based misconceptions about our native wildlife.
We would also like to express our sincere condolences to our neighbors—human and animal alike—who are suffering through one of the worst fire seasons in our nation’s history. We urge all of our supporters to reach out and help those who have been impacted by these fires in any way you can, whether it’s with a financial or in-kind donation, or by picking up the telephone and offering kind words of support.
Camilla Fox
Founder & Executive Director
REFORMING PREDATOR MANAGEMENT
National: Speak Out for Imperiled Red Wolves!
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently proposed a rule (FWS-R4-ES-2018-0035) that, if adopted, could decimate the only population of wild red wolves left in existence–currently estimated at 30 or fewer wolves. The proposed rule would diminish the red wolf recovery area to ten percent of its current territory, limiting red wolves to an area in North Carolina that can support fewer than 15 to 20 wolves by FWS’ own assessment. The rule further proposes to allow any wolves that leave these boundaries to be shot, poisoned, or trapped without penalty. Please let FWS know you oppose this proposed rule by submitting your comments here (click on the (“Comment Now!” button) before the July 30 deadline. For talking points and more info, click here.
Project Coyote’s Campaign to Ban Wildlife Killing Contests in the News and on the Film Festival Circuit
Project Coyote continues to make news with its campaign to end wildlife killing contests. NPR recently interviewed Camilla Fox on All Things Considered; and the Sierra Club featured the issue in its award-winning magazine Sierra. Yale Environment 360 also helped expose the issue in a hard-hitting article: Coyote Carnage: The Gruesome Truth about Wildlife Killing Contests.
KILLING GAMES ~ Wildlife In The Crosshairs, Project Coyote’s film exposing the barbarity of these events, continues to touch hearts and minds and to inspire viewers to speak against these cruel kill-fests. In addition to its continued screenings as part of Wild & Scenic On Tour and Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival’s WILD on Tour, the film won 1st place for “Best Short” documentary at the Animal Film Festival and the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience and was selected for inclusion at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Compassionate Conservation Forum in Salem, MA. Listen to an interview with Camilla Fox at the Wild & Scenic Film Festival here.
Atlanta, GA: Coalition of Scientists and More Than 25 Wildlife Protection Groups Urge Georgia Officials to Cancel Statewide Coyote Killing Contest
On June 19, a coalition of scientists, along with Project Coyote and the National Coalition to End Wildlife Killing Contests (“Coalition”), delivered two letters—see here and here—to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner Mark Williams, and Georgia Wildlife Resources Division Rusty Garrison, urging the cancellation of the controversial Georgia Coyote Challenge and the support of efforts to prohibit similar wildlife killing contests within the state.
Alaska: Trump Administration Seeks to Expand Killing of Wolves, Coyotes and Bears in Alaska
The Trump Administration and Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke are attempting to reverse Obama-era regulations that prohibit the most extreme hunting methods on Alaska’s public lands. These include: killing wolf and coyote pups and mothers in their dens, using artificial lights to kill hibernating black bears and their cubs, and hunting bears using bait and dogs. Allowing these cruel and scientifically unsound practices on National Park Service lands is a violation of the agency’s congressional mandate to preserve wildlife for the enjoyment of all Americans. Thanks to all who responded to our action alert on this issue–your voice matters! Read Project Coyote’s letter opposing this unconscionable proposal here.
Ventura, CA: California Fish and Game Commission Adopts Historic Progressive Predator Policy
The California Fish and Game Commission voted on April 19–following an 18-month process conducted by the Commission and its Predator Policy Working Group (“PPWG”)–to institute a state policy of predator conservation, stewardship, and management that will “protect and conserve predator populations.”
The Commission’s newly adopted provisions “acknowledge[] that native terrestrial predators are an integral part of California’s natural wildlife and possess intrinsic, biological, historical, and cultural value, which benefit society and ecosystems,” while “recogniz[ing] that sustainable conservation and management strategies are necessary to encourage the coexistence of humans and wildlife.”
Read more here; and to view the policy as adopted by the Commission on April 19, 2018, click here.
Idaho: Federal Court Rules That USDA Must Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Before Expanding Operations to Kill Predators
On June 22, the Federal District Court in Idaho found that USDA Wildlife Services–the federal agency responsible for killing millions of native carnivores annually on behalf of ranchers and others–“acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in deciding not to prepare an EIS [Environmental Impact Statement]” before expanding its operations to kill thousands of native predators as part of its controversial predator damage management [PDM] program. The Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and acknowledged that Wildlife Services failed to conduct a scientific review of how such killings would impact the ecosystem and ignored “the unanimity of critical comments from other [federal] agencies.” Ordering WS to prepare an EIS, the Court stated, “In conclusion, the lack of reliable data and the unconvincing responses to the serious concerns of agencies with long experience and expertise in the very area Wildlife Services sought to expand its operations into, demonstrates that the expanded PDM program is controversial, and its environmental impacts highly uncertain, so that an EIS is required[.]” (Memorandum Decision and Order at 22.) Read more here.
Formation of the National Coalition to End Wildlife Killing Contests
Earlier this year, Project Coyote and The Humane Society of the United States founded and became co-chairs of the National Coalition to End Wildlife Killing Contests (“NCEWKC”), a coalition of conservation organizations whose goal is to ban wildlife killing contests nationwide. The NCEWKC currently consists of 30 state and national wildlife conservation and animal protection organizations, and we look forward to adding more members. Read our mission here and below about the NCEWKC speaking out against the Georgia Coyote Challenge.
Montpelier, VT: Vermont Becomes Second State in the Nation to Ban Coyote Killing Contests
On May 22, Vermont enacted H.636, effectively banning coyote killing contests statewide. A coalition of landowners, biologists, farmers, hunters, conservation groups–including Project Coyote, Protect Our Wildlife Vermont, The Humane Society of the United States–and others campaigned vigorously to pass this historic bill.
The bill’s passage is a victory for Vermont’s wildlife. Project Coyote Executive Director Camilla Fox stated, “We are gratified that the state of Vermont recognizes the ecological damage and suffering that these killing contests inflict, and is among the nation’s vanguard in instituting policy according to science-based management techniques of predator control.”
The bill’s passage makes Vermont the second state in the nation, after California, to ban these events, which often operate out of public view. Anyone found participating in such a competition will be fined for a first offense and will face license suspension and a fine for a second and any subsequent convictions.
National: Trump Administration Seeks to Dramatically Weaken Endangered Species Act Protections
On July 19, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries announced a proposal to strip key provisions from the Endangered Species Act, catering to demands from industry lobbyists who claim that stringent environmental protections thwart business interests. The proposal would remove the same automatic protections for threatened species–animals likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future–as for endangered species and weakens protections for critical habitats, which species rely on for recovery. Notably, this proposal comes at a time when a recently published study by Project Coyote Science Advisory Board Members Jeremy Bruskotter and John Vucetich, “Support for the U.S. Endangered Species Act over time and space: Controversial species do not weaken public support for protective legislation,” found that support for the Endangered Species Act remains high.
COYOTE FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES
Goodyear, AZ: Hard Work and Patience Win Out
Project Coyote Program Associate Linda Bolon has spent the last 14 years disseminating information on compassionate coexistence. She shares Project Coyote’s Coyote Friendly Communities™ program with her neighbors in the Pebble Creek Community in Goodyear, Arizona. Linda worked closely with the community’s General Manager and HOA Board, and her dedication and persistence has paid off—Pebble Creek recently adopted a “No Kill” policy for coyotes! Linda’s dedication is a great example of how every voice matters; each of us can use our voice to make a difference for coexistence with wildlife.
Coming Up:
Visit us at the Speak for Wolves conference on July 26th and 27th in West Yellowstone where Camilla Fox will be speaking and showing KILLING GAMES ~ Wildlife In The Crosshairs and Project Coyote Program Associate Vicki Markus will help with outreach and tabling. If you’ll be in the Bay Area this fall, please visit Project Coyote’s table at the Wildlife Conservation Network’s Fall Expo in San Francisco, CA, on October 13, meet Project Coyote staff and volunteers and pick up some information and swag.
Rancho Santa Fe, CA: Citizen Speaks Up ~ Coyote Trapping Avoided
In another example of individuals making a difference, Nikola Kaminsky, a Project Coyote Supporter in Rancho Santa Fe, CA, worked with Project Coyote to dissuade a neighbor from setting coyote traps on her property. Nikola became concerned when a neighbor informed her that she had hired a trapper to come to her property to check on and possibly relocate area coyotes. Nikola contacted Project Coyote Southern California Representative Randi Feilich, who provided Nikola information regarding the relevant California code on trapping (stating that relocation is illegal and prohibited), and materials on coexistence and on the Coyote Friendly Communities™ program. Nikola shared the information with her neighbor—who then cancelled the trapper! The neighbor had no idea a snare trap would be used; she had mistakenly believed that the coyotes would be caught in a box and relocated. Great work, Nikola and Randi!
National: Educating Communities About Coexistence
The Project Coyote team and our fabulous volunteers have been active in promoting Coyote Friendly Communities™ across the country. In the SF Bay Area, we spoke with neighbors at the Marin County Free Library, Project Coyote for KIDS!, the Stonestown Farmers Market, Berkeley Animal Care Services, Tam Valley Community Center, the J.P. Murphy Clubhouse in San Francisco, Oakland Zoo Earth Day, Berkeley Bay Festival, Cove School Gallery, and North Berkeley Library. Project Coyote’s work was featured with a cover story about coyotes in the SF Bay Area magazine Common Ground. In New Hampshire, Project Coyote New Hampshire and Vermont Representative and Wild Canid Ecologist Chris Schadler kept busy schedules with presentations at the Rye (NH) Public Library, Birch Hill Terrace (NH), Lincoln Hall (MA), Fox Research and Demonstration Forest (NH), and the Gilmanton Year-Round Library (NH). And in Reno, NV, Project Coyote volunteer Jana Hofeditz reached hundreds of youth and adults with our message and information at the Art Paws festival.
RANCHING WITH WILDLIFE
Benton County, OR: Pilot Program Awards $35k to Farm Operations Using Non-Lethal Wildlife Deterrents to Protect Livestock and Crops
As reported in the May issue of Notes From the Field, Benton County, Oregon, has adopted an Agriculture and Wildlife Protection Program that supports innovative non-lethal projects aimed at reducing conflicts between livestock and predators. The program has awarded $35K to selected farm operations that comply with the program’s mandate to use non-lethal wildlife deterrents to protect livestock and crops. Read more about this significant success story here.
NEW PROJECT COYOTE TEAM MEMBER
We are delighted to introduce our newest team member, Vicki Markus, who joins us as Program Associate. Vicki has already been instrumental—along with Dave Parsons, Judy Paulsen, Joe Newman, and Kézha Hatier-Riess—in our highly influential film and coexistence campaigns in New Mexico. Welcome, Vicki!
RECENT NEWS
IN CLOSING…
A gentle reminder to all: pupping season is beginning—coyote families will be raising their young. Please live safely and peacefully with our native Song Dogs; find more information on coexistence here. Download our brochures and signage, share with your neighbors, post signs on trailheads and in your community! Learn more about what you can do here.
Join our E-TEAM
Get periodic e-news, action alerts, and join our growing network of educators, scientists, predator friendly ranchers and citizen leaders who are helping people and wildlife coexist in our communities.
Join a growing community of educated and empowered citizens by expressing your commitment to compassionate conservation with a financial investment.
You can DONATE, become a SPONSOR or leave a LEGACY GIFT.