FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE: Thursday, April 10, 2003
Contacts:
Brian Vincent, Animal Protection Institute, 916/447-3085 x 201, bvincent@api4animals.org
Spencer Lennard, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, 541/846-0732, spencer@kswild.org
Sally Mackler, Oregon Sierra Club, 541/846 6148, gilam@earthlink.net
Wendy Keefover-Ring, Sinapu, 303/447.8655 x 1, wendy@sinapu.org
Lori Cooper, Siskiyou Project, 541/846-6547, lori@siskiyou.org
Francis Eatherington, Umpqua Watersheds, Inc., 541/673-7649, francisE@internetcds.com
Kelly Peterson, The Humane Society of the United States, 971/544-1623, petersonka@aol.com
GROUPS URGE WILDLIFE SERVICES TO SCRAP BEAR KILL PROGRAM IN OREGON
Agency Expected to Issue Decision on Killing Bears to Protect Trees Soon
Williams, Oregon -- Today a coalition of conservation and animal protection
organizations, including the Animal Protection Institute, The Humane Society
of the United States, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Oregon Sierra Club,
Sinapu, Siskiyou Project, and Umpqua Watersheds, urged Wildlife Services to
abandon its program of killing black bears who might claw bark in Oregon tree
plantations. Wildlife Services, a division within the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
is expected to issue a decision on its proposed continuation of its bear killing
policy soon.
ìFor two decades, this program has followed the Tony Soprano school
of wildlife management. Timber companies have put out contracts on bears who
claw a few trees and Wildlife Services has bumped the bears off. There are
better ways to save trees then to snuff Smokey,î said Brian Vincent,
Program Coordinator for the Animal Protection Institute.
In early spring, bears peel bark from trees to get at the sugary sap that
satisfies the intense energy requirements they have after emerging from their
winter dens. Timber companies claim that the hungry bears damage trees on
their property and want the federal government to continue trapping and killing
ìoffendingî bears. Although Wildlife Services has been engaged
in this program since the mid-1980s, the agency sought public comment just
this year. The disclosure of the bear kill sparked public outrage and a demand
for an end to the program, as well as a flurry of media reports about the
upcoming plan. Wildlife Services kills an average of 119 bears every year
in Oregon because the agency claims those bears harm young trees on private
and county land. Although the public has largely been unaware of this practice,
the annual bear kill is funded in part with taxpayer dollars.
Most of the bears are killed with leg snares. Wildlife Services places bait
to attract bears to trap sites. When a bear steps on a buried pan, a trigger
sends a wire coil around the bearís foot which tightens as the bear
struggles. The agencyís policy is to check the traps every other
day. That means that a bear could spend up to 48 hours in the snare, longer
if Wildlife Services doesn't check it on time. Bears caught in traps are shot.
If the bear has cubs (yearling cubs stay with a trapped mother), Wildlife
Servicesí policy is to also kill the cubs.
ìThere has been minor bear damage to tree plantations ever since tree
plantations were invented on a large scale in the 1950's. It used to simply
be a cost of doing business. But now corporations are trying to squeeze out
more profits from the Oregon woods by killing bears,î said Francis Eatherington
of Umpqua Watersheds.
The groups contend there are alternatives to killing bears to protect trees.
An understanding of bear behavior and foraging preferences, coupled with the
use of non-lethal preventative techniques and modified forest management practices,
can help reduce bear damage to timber. For example, timber corporations could
manage tree farms differently to mitigate conflicts. Bears don't damage trees
in uneven-aged forests or in forests with a diversity of tree species. Bears
rarely damage bark if their traditional food sources are plentiful, such as
food in large rotting logs or berries in the forest understory. Other effective
forest management practices include delayed thinning of forests and avoiding
fertilization.
ìInstead of working with timber companies to minimize what is already
very minor damage caused by hungry bears, Wildlife Services wants to kill
black bears only because they have the misfortune of inhabiting areas of value
to timber interests,î said Kelly Peterson, Oregon representative for
The Humane Society of the United States. ìNorth America has the only
remaining stable bear populations in the world and to kill them needlessly
and only for the protection of private industry under the guise of wildlife
management is inhumane and unconscionable.î
ìConsidering there is an unprecedented crash of large carnivores populations
worldwide it is reckless to allow continued killing of black bears, especially
to subsidize the timber industry which has left a legacy of trashed salmon
streams, denuded hillsides, and wrecked communities. We need to save what
is left of our wildlife and change course now," said Spencer Lennard,
Executive Director of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center.
###
Brian Vincent
Program Coordinator
Animal Protection Institute
Phone: 916/447-3085 x 201
Fax: 916/447-3070
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 22505
Sacramento, CA 95822
Street Address:
1122 S Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
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can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
-- Mohandas Gandhi
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