[va-richmond-general] Re: WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT THE 400 BLACK VULTURES TO BE SHOT AT HENRICUS PARK

  Seriously, folks, people created a known foraging center for the birds, so 
the birds continue to come there.  Humans just can't have it both ways:  we 
can't litter and then be angry because wildlife opportunistically responds and 
it just so happens that our cars get picked over in the process.

  I remember a few months ago, Jan Johnson and I were there at the lot, prior 
to a walk.  There were some birds walking, picking at this and that on the lot 
(litter!), minding their own business.  They were calm but shy; you walk toward 
them and they walked or fluttered off.  She got some nice photos of them before 
the walk.  

  If Prothonotary Warblers happened to, by some chance of nature, enjoy scraps 
and carrion, I wonder if people would be making such a fuss about their 
presence?  My guess is that they wouldn't.  And therein lies another part of 
the problem.

  All in favour of getting a permit to shoot the litterers, say "aye"....

  Frustrated in Southside


  ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Jim Blowers 
    To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 6:21 PM
    Subject: [va-richmond-general] Re: WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT THE 400 BLACK 
VULTURES TO BE SHOT AT HENRICUS PARK


    Combine this with what Irene has been saying. Irene says that the litter 
that people scatter through the area attracts the birds. Then Dale says that 
every year they come out and shoot all the birds. Suck all the black vultures 
into one area, then shoot them all. This is a good recipe for making the birds 
extinct.

     

    Anne and I will try to do something about this, probably fax, phone, and 
email these people.

     

    Jim Blowers

     


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    From: va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dawn Wilson
    Sent: Tuesday, 2005 December 13 14:52
    To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: [va-richmond-general] WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT THE 400 BLACK VULTURES 
TO BE SHOT AT HENRICUS PARK

     

    Hi all.

    Here's what you can do to dissuade this massive killing:

     

    1) Call US House Rep Bob Goodlatte- he's the Agriculture Committee 
chairman:  202-225-5431  Leave a message if you can and/or ask to speak to the 
agricultural legislative assistant.  I think his name is Bill Embergemo 
(spelling?)-- or you can ask the operator for the agriculture assistant, she'll 
transfer you to him.  Faxes are great too; Goodlatte's fax # is 202-225-9681.

     

    2) Call Congressman Warner and ask to talk to the environmental or 
agricultural legislative assistant:  202-224-2023  Her name is Lina Malosofy 
(sp?).   Warner's fax # is 202-224-5432.

     

    3) Call Congressman Allen and do the same.  Phone is 202-224-4024 and fax 
is 202-224-5432.

     

    4) Please email me if you can "for sure" attend a pro test I'm trying to 
organize.  If we can get something together, an interested reporter from our 
local media said she'll show up.  That will be good press for the issue at hand.

     

    Say that you are oppose the permit that USDA granted to USFWS to bait and 
kill black vultures at Henricus Park and Dutch Gap Area in Chesterfield County. 
 Especially for Goodlatte, ask him to use his influence.  According to the 
naturalist at Henricus Park, black vultures have been being shot there for the 
past three summers and each time it has been about 400 birds.  USFWS staff bait 
them into cages with carion then shoot them.  In addition to wildlife 
conservation reasons, tell them that you also oppose your tax money paying for 
this.  Black vultures are endemic to the area and seem to like Henricus Park in 
particular.  Killing them over the past three years has done nothing to sway 
them from the area, s o USFWS has to come back every year to kill more.  It's 
ridiculous.  There has been no research done about the impact removing so many 
birds may have on the black vulture population of Virginia.  

     

    Several prominent bird conservation organations have petitioned USDA and 
USFWS- unfortunately to no avail.  This morning, I spoke with the Director of 
Conservation Advocacy of the American Bird Conservancy regarding this issue and 
he emailed me a copy of a letter that ABC, Nat'l Audubon, Defenders of 
Wildlife, etc. wrote to USFWS Director, Dale Hall about the black vultures.  
Here it is:

     

    October 12, 2005

     

     

    Honorable Dale Hall

     Director

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

    1849 C Street, NW 

    Washington , D.C. 20240 

     

    Dear Director Hall: 

     

    This letter is to express our serious concerns over the decision by the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 5 to amend the MBTA Federal Fish and 
Wildlife permit to allow USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services--Virginia to kill an 
additional 500 Black Vultures and to remove the original permit's prohibition 
against using bait to lure birds into gun or trap range. The current permit 
(unamended ), issued by FWS on April 8, 2005, permitted the take of 300 Black 
and 300 Turkey Vultures by Wildlife Services-Virginia, but only when causing 
damage to personal property and without the use of bait.

     

    On December 4, 2004, our concerns were detailed to Ms. Sherry Morgan and 
others at Region 5 in the attached letter contesting the science used and the 
underlying rationale for the continued killing of vultures in Virginia. That 
letter was sent by American Bird Conservancy, National Audubon Society, 
Virginia Society of Ornithology, Raptor Research Foundation, Fairfax Audubon 
Society, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, and Dr. Jim Fraser, Professor of Wildlife 
Science, Virginia Tech University. The letter addre ssed the Amendment to the 
EA done by Wildlife Services on their Vulture Damage Management Program in 
Virginia. The Humane Society of the United States also submitted comments in a 
separate letter expressing many of the same concerns. 

     

    Why did the U.S. FWS accede to the permitee and change the terms of the 
permit and its conditions? The April 8, 2005 permit was issued only after 
thorough review and staff discussions at Region 5 and with input from 
interested individuals and groups, including the applicant, Wildlife 
Services-Virginia. The permit runs until March 31, 2006. 

     

    The lethal take of vultures by WS in Virginia has increased from none in 
1993, 1995, 1996, and 1997; 9 in 1998; 20 in 1999; 104 in 2000; 159 in 2001; 
562 in 2002; 144 in 2003; and 276 in 2004. Under the amended permit, 1,100 
vultures may be taken, 800 Black and 300 Turkey Vultures. These birds can be 
baited, trapped and killed, regardless of whether they were causing damage to 
personal property. This represents nearly a 

     

     

    Page 2 Director Hall  October 12, 2005

     

    doubling of the highest previous yearly take level and a reversal of the 
original permit restrictions. 

     

    We request that the U.S. FWS provide us with the scientific basis for 
amending the MBTA vulture take permit and the justification for allowing the 
trapping and killing of up to 1,100 vultures in Virginia d uring the permit 
period of less than a year. 

     

    We also request an explanation for under what authority WS-Virginia killed 
vultures from July 1, 2003 to July 12, 2004. We believe this take was illegal 
as the FWS permit expired on June 30, 2003 and WS-Virginia did not have another 
valid FWS MBTA permit authorizing vulture take during this period. WS-Virginia 
killed at least 300 vultures during this period without a permit. 

    Wildlife Services-Virginia continued to take vultures without any authority 
until notified by FWS Region 5 in July 2004 that such take should s top. 

     

    On July 13, 2004, FWS issued an MBTA permit to Wildlife Services-Virginia 
allowing only emergency take where the birds were posing a direct threat to 
human health or safety and requiring notification of the FWS within three days 
of any take. That permit was dated July 8, 2004 effective July 12, 2004 through 
June 30, 2005. The permit was in effect until the current permit dated April 8, 
2005 was issued. It is our understanding that WS-VA did not take vultures under 
the permit from July 2004 to April 7, 2005. 

     

    Our letter to FWS Region 5 of December 4, 2004 detailed objections to the 
Vulture Damage Management Program in Virginia by such reviewers and signatories 
as Dr. Jim Fraser and Dr. Keith Bildstein, raptor specialists who have studied 
and published peer reviewed research on vultures. Also, signatories included 
Dr. Steve Sheffield, Chair of the Conservation Committee of the Raptor Research 
Foundation, and Dr. Greg Butcher, Director of Bird Conservation for National 
Audubon, another ornithologist. 

     

    We would specifically request that our concerns over vulture take in 
Virginia be addressed and that the U.S. FWS respond to these inquiries: 

     

    1. Dr. Michael Avery, a respected Wildlife Services researcher, advised 
Martin Lowney, WS-VA, that the strategy employed at Dutch Gap, Virginia where 
most take of vultures has occurred, seems "to offer at best only a temporary 
respite from the damage." Dr. Avery detailed vulture management recommendations 
for this facility, advising that the WS-VA killing of vultures to control the 
local population has and will continue to fail. How was such expert advice 
considered and reviewed in granting the amendments to the permit? Why did FWS 
fail to require that before any take of vultures could occur at Dutch Gap that 
WS-VA follow their own expert's advice to:

     a. Alter the site to make it unappealing to vultures; 

     

     

    Page 3 Director Hall  October 12, 2005

     

     

    b. Harass vultures at the site;

    c. Engage in Roost dispersal; and

    d. Use carcasses and effigies as detailed in Tillman, E.A. Humphrey, Avery, 
Use of vulture Carcasses and Effigies to Reduce Vulture Damage to Property and 
Agriculture, Proc. 20th Vertebr. Pest Conf. (2002) and in the USDA/APHIS 
Florida NWRC research project, "Development of methods to manage depredation 
and nuisance problems caused by vultures" started in October 1999. (see: 
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ws/nwrc/research/vultures/vulture_previous.html). 

     

    2. With such effective non-lethal methods for vulture damage management, 
why did FWS issue amendments to the vulture take permit to bait, trap, and kill 
as many as 1,100 vultures? 

     

    3. At Dutch Gap, WS-VA baits vultures with a trap with deer carcasses. This 
method attracts vultures from the surrounding area, including Turkey and Black 
Vu ltures, that have not caused any property damage. How can such baiting and 
killing be justified? 

     

    4. Did the FWS consider and analyze the beneficial ecological impacts of 
vultures? While the WS EA goes to great lengths to document damage caused by 
vultures, and mentions public health concerns from vultures, scant attention is 
devoted to the positive role vultures play in disease control and carrion 
removal. WS EA's have made isolated references to the proposition that 
peer-reviewed publications mention that vultures eliminate some potential 
infectious sources by consuming dead infected animals. This disease control 
benefit from vultures consuming carrion and the benefits of carcass removal are 
importa nt issues deserving more focus by WS and FWS, especially since WS-VA 
cites the protection of human health in Virginia as one of the reasons for 
Vulture Damage Management.. Has FWS made or considered such benefits before 
issuing a permit for the take of 1,100 vultures?

     

    5. We understand FWS required some further clarity by WS-VA on population 
impacts from the killing of vultures in Virginia. We must again note that 
USDA/Wildlife researcher Dr. Michael Avery has advised WS-VA that "There are no 
reliable population estimates for either turkey or black vultures." Even if 
WS-VA could provide valid population data and impact projections from killing 
1,100 a year, the justification for such take is still lacking. Can FWS detail 
the scientific basis for assessing vulture populations and the impacts on 
continued lethal take? 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Page 4 Director Hall  October 12, 2005

     

     

    We would appreciate a prompt response because of the swift reversal in 
amending the permit and nearly acceding to the WS-VA original request for the 
take of 1,000 Black an d 300 Turkey Vultures, without the restrictions FWS had 
wisely required. You should be aware that Wildlife Services has significantly 
escalated the killing of vultures nationwide, hence our concerns. 

     

     

     

    Thank you for your attention to this matter

     

    Sincerely, 

     

     

    Perry Plumart

    Director of Conservation Advocacy

    American Bird Conservancy

    1731 Connecticut Avenue, NW

    Washington, DC 20009

     

     

    Greg Butcher, Ph. D.

    Director of Bird Conservation 

    National Audubon Society 
    1150 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 600 
    Washington DC 20036

     

     

    John Spahr

    President

    Virginia Society of Ornithology

    234 West Frederick Street 

    Staunton, VA 24401

     

     

    Steve Sheffield, Ph.D.

    Chairman, Conservation Committee

     Raptor Research Foundation 

    Affiliate Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy 

    George Mason University 

    4400 University Dr. 

    Fairfax, VA 22030 

     

     

     

     

     

    Page 5 Director Hall  October 12, 2005

     

     

    Keith L. Bildstein, Ph. D.

    Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science

    Acopian Center for Conservation Learning

    Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

    410 Summer Valley Road

    < FONT face="Times New Roman">Orwigsburg, PA USA 17961

     

     

    Caroline Kennedy

     Director of Conservation Initiatives

    Defenders of Wildlife 

    1130 17th Street, NW

    Washington, DC 20036

     

     

    Jim Fraser, Ph. D.

    Professor of Wildlife Science 

    Virginia Tech University 

    Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0321

     

     

    Deblyn Flack

    Member, Board of Directors

    The Audubon Society of Northern Virginia

    4022 Hummer Road

    Annandale, VA 22003

     

     

    John Hadidian, Ph.D. 

    Director

    Urban Wildlife Programs 

    The Humane Society of the United States 

    2100 L Street, NW 

    Washington, DC 20037

     

     


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