[va-richmond-general] WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT THE 400 BLACK VULTURES TO BE SHOT AT HENRICUS PARK
- From: Dawn Wilson <dmwcarrot@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 11:51:44 -0800 (PST)
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 protest 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, so 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 addressed 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 during 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 stop.
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
Vultures, 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
important 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 and 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
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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