FreeLists / va-richmond-general / [va-richmond-general] Henricus Black Vultures- Yahoo Group Started (this is last post about it on this listserve)

[Dawn Wilson <dmwcarrot@xxxxxxxxx>]

Two quick peices of information:
   
  1) In lieu of posting more about the Dutch Gap Black Vultures on the 
listserve, I've created a yahoo group for that purpose.  All updates on this 
issue will be posted there from now on.  If anyone would like to join, please 
go to:
   
          Group name:      henricusblackvultures     Group home page:      
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/henricusblackvultures     Group email:      
henricusblackvultures@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
   
  2) Here is a copy of a statement that was drafted for and distributed at the 
Monday's demonstration:
   
  Statement of Protest Against the Killing of Black Vultures at Dutch Gap, 
Demonstration of its Ineffectiveness Towards Alleviating Vulture Damage to 
Private Property, and a Call for the Use of a Non-Lethal Approach
   
  Issued at the Dutch Gap Conservation Area Parking Area, October 29, 2007, by 
Dawn Wilson on behalf of concerned citizens 
   
  We recognize that Black Vultures cause property damage to vehicles at the 
Dutch Gap Conservation Area parking lot and necessitate additional maintenance 
of the Dominion power plant.  We recognize that these problems must be 
alleviated.  However, the baiting and killing of over 1,200 vultures at this 
site has not solved these problems.  It is obvious that this year?s killing 
will be no different.  It must be stopped and an alternative, non-lethal, 
long-term solution must be employed.
   
  Even the USDA and Chesterfield County admit that the culling practices are 
only a short-term solution.  The Dutch Gap vulture population has rapidly 
recovered after 3 previous killing events.  The number of Black Vultures here 
today underscores this fact. 540 vultures were captured and killed by the USDA 
in 2005, yet the population here has already returned to 300-400 vultures.  
This marks a near 100% population recovery within a 2-year period. In addition, 
approximately 370 vultures were killed in 2002 and another 300 in 2003.  This 
year will be the fourth time that the USDA and its business partners kill Dutch 
Gap?s vultures.  History has shown that this killing will be as equally 
ineffective as a long-term solution.  It will only result in another futile, 
senseless act.
   
  We demand the immediate use of non-lethal and ecologically-based approaches 
to eliminate the human-vulture conflict at Dutch Gap.  Previous non-lethal 
methods used to disperse vultures have merely shifted birds within this site 
rather than away from this site.  We demand that more appropriate non-lethal 
methods be used to force birds to leave Dutch Gap.  This includes disrupting 
all of the nearby nocturnal roosts in combination with the translocation of 
vultures to roosts located elsewhere in the state.  These methods should be 
used in lieu of killing even one more vulture.  
   
  The recurring capture-and-kill approach used by the USDA and its partners, 
despite their knowing its ineffectiveness, betrays the trust we place in our 
natural resource managers.  The issues we raise today have been presented to 
these groups in 2005 by private citizens and by national groups such as the 
National Audubon Society, the American Bird Conservancy, The Human Society of 
the United States, and Defenders of Wildlife.  Since that time, the USDA and 
its partners have had two more years to find a working solution but have sat 
idle.  We believe this has happened because they knew a vulture take-permit was 
in their back pocket.  They have not fully investigated or employed any new 
non-lethal solutions, they have not conducted any research as to why the 
population at Dutch Gap rebounds so quickly after each killing event, and they 
have not addressed the effect of harvesting large numbers of vultures at Dutch 
Gap has on vulture populations throughout Virginia.  Based on
 research of Black Vulture roosts in Florida, the Dutch Gap concentration may 
be comprised of birds that breed or move as far west as Lynchburg, VA and as 
far north as Washington DC.  We demand that the USDA, with support of 
Chesterfield County and Dominion, work together to utilize the abilities we 
trust they possess to implement a non-lethal solution this year, and to abandon 
what would be another unsuccessful culling operation.
     


 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com