5h) Discussion and Possible Action to Adopt Resolution Approving and Authorizing the Execution of a Cooperative Agreement and a Work and Financial Plan with the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plan Health Inspection Services, Wildlife Services, for the Mendocino County Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program
(Sponsors: Agriculture and County Counsel)
I urge the Board to vote to permanently terminate your contract with Wildlife Services, and use the $170,000 saved each year to educate about and implement nonlethal techniques which are working well in many other counties. Thank you!!
As a Mendocino County resident, I sincerely hope you will kindly consider environmentally friendly & non-lethal methods which are both cost effective and successful.
Dear commissioners, please consider a non-lethal approach to the wildlife management in Mendocino. Animals play a role in the natural ecosystem and also have a right to not be killed. We should conduct our actions with kindness and compassion and be a role model for the generations to come. As former and future student in Mendocino County, I urge that you to defund the current support of wildlife services and find other means to deal with wildlife in a more humane manner.
Dear Commissioners, I oppose the proposed Wildlife Services contract and ask you to do the same. I agree with and will not repeat the arguments made by others opposing this contract. However, I will ask you to read this June 26, 2020, article in The Guardian about Wildlife Services: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/26/cyanide-bombs-wildfire-services-idaho. Don't believe everything Wildlife Services tells you: Superior, non-lethal alternatives to this contract are available.
I urge the county supervisors NOT to approve this contract. There are cost effective, environmentally friendly methods of non lethal predator control that are successfully used elsewhere, and could be used in Mendocino County. Instead, please use the money to assist ranchers with non-lethal predator control, and to educate the public on these methods.
I urge that the BOS not renew the Lethal wildlife program with USDA Wildlife Services. This program unintentionally kills non-target wildlife and even pets. Other counties have adopted programs that have been very effective in reducing target populations while being more humane and environmentally-friendly.
Mendocino County should end the program which terminates wildlife. I have a B.S. of Environmental Science from HSU, and have done academic research on effectiveness of lethal methods of management. Beyond simply being cruel or ecologically unsound, lethal methods simply are not the most effective means of wildlife management, and in some cases (such as mountain lions) has proven in recent years to be counterproductive. Reference: http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2009/11/troubled-teens/
I firmly believe that Mendocino County should end its lethal program, permanently terminating its contract with USDA Wildlife Services. There are many cost-effective non-lethal methods of addressing human-wildlife conflicts, including the use of livestock guard animals, appropriate fencing, night-corrals and innovations like Foxlights. Mendocino residents do not want their taxpayer dollars spent on a lethal program that senselessly kills our beloved wildlife. The entire approach is unethical.
The lethal program of wildlife removal should be discontinued with the USDA. The County taxpayer dollars should go to non-lethal methods to educate citizens on wildlife interaction and how to stay safe, non-lethal methods of wildlife relocation, and investing in ecology initiatives to provide buffers/corridors for wildlife encroached upon by urbanization.
Please terminate the agreement with USDA. Lethal trapping and poisoning of wildlife is barbaric, counter-productive, and has a tragic toll, not only on wildlife, but on pets as well. There are plenty of methods to deter predation which are both humane and cost-effective.
Mendocino County should end its lethal program (the “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program”), permanently terminating its contract with USDA Wildlife Services. Instead, the County should adopt and implement a non-lethal program alternative for addressing conflicts with wildlife.
As a resident in the county, I strongly encourage you to adopt a non-lethal approach to wildlife management.
The board's duty is to represent the interest of the entire county, not only some property owners.
The vote will be teaching and setting an example for our children, other people and species, showing our compassion or cruelty, co-existance or human supremacy.
What goes around comes around. Make a prudent decision today, and we can rest in peace knowing what to expect.
I do not support the use of county funds to kill wildlife. These animals play an important role in our natural ecosystems (and were here first!). It is imperative that non-lethal solutions be implemented to protect livestock. The concerns of agricultural interests should not be allowed to supersede the importance of a vibrant, healthy ecology in which predator species are allowed to exist.
Your constituents do not support the continued use of Wildlife Services to manage wildlife-agriculture interactions. Lethal means are ineffective, unscientific and destroy our county's natural assets (to the benefit of private agriculture holders). Enough is enough.
Viewed from every perspective important to me, renewing this contract makes little sense. Scientific analysis and experience suggest that what you propose is ineffective, cruel, counter-productive, and therefore fiscally irresponsible. Mendocino County residents want to know why you would consider renewing this contract.
Please end this legacy and offer agricultural interests alternatives that will achieve the results they seek in more effective and humane ways.
Lethal programs are not really working in the long term to protect either the wildlife or the livestock. There are many examples of successes using more scientifically driven, non lethal methods that create a more natural balance in wildlife populations, effectively reducing predation. Please seriously consider defunding current support of wildlife services, instead, providing education and support to ranchers and farmers so that future predator management can be both more effective and humane.
I strongly urge the Board of Supervisors to adopt a more humane approach to wildlife management by terminating the contract with the USDA Wildlife Services. There are many examples of non-lethal methods that can deal with the human-wildlife conflict. Since these practices exist, it is morally incumbent for the board of supervisors to promote their use.
Please terminate your contract with USDA Wildlife Services. Louis Rohlicek, Willits
Please end the contract with Wildlife Services and implement more effective, humane, sustainable nonlethal methods of wildlife management. This has worked in Marin and Sonoma counties; there is no reason for the toxic and cruel methods used by Wildlife Services, and science indicates that such indiscriminate killing only increases the population of predatory animals.
As a student in Mendocino County, I appreciate very much the less damaged nature and wildlife the county has to offer. Please look for more compassionate, non-lethal program alternatives for addressing conflicts with wildlife.
There are better and more effective ways to protect livestock. Please reconsider a more humane approach to the problem and discontinue the unnecessary killing of wildlife.
I urge the Board to vote to permanently terminate your contract with Wildlife Services, and use the $170,000 saved each year to educate about and implement nonlethal techniques which are working well in many other counties. Thank you!!
Dear Commissioners,
As a Mendocino County resident, I sincerely hope you will kindly consider environmentally friendly & non-lethal methods which are both cost effective and successful.
Thank you.
Dear commissioners, please consider a non-lethal approach to the wildlife management in Mendocino. Animals play a role in the natural ecosystem and also have a right to not be killed. We should conduct our actions with kindness and compassion and be a role model for the generations to come. As former and future student in Mendocino County, I urge that you to defund the current support of wildlife services and find other means to deal with wildlife in a more humane manner.
Dear Commissioners, I oppose the proposed Wildlife Services contract and ask you to do the same. I agree with and will not repeat the arguments made by others opposing this contract. However, I will ask you to read this June 26, 2020, article in The Guardian about Wildlife Services: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/26/cyanide-bombs-wildfire-services-idaho. Don't believe everything Wildlife Services tells you: Superior, non-lethal alternatives to this contract are available.
I urge the county supervisors NOT to approve this contract. There are cost effective, environmentally friendly methods of non lethal predator control that are successfully used elsewhere, and could be used in Mendocino County. Instead, please use the money to assist ranchers with non-lethal predator control, and to educate the public on these methods.
I urge that the BOS not renew the Lethal wildlife program with USDA Wildlife Services. This program unintentionally kills non-target wildlife and even pets. Other counties have adopted programs that have been very effective in reducing target populations while being more humane and environmentally-friendly.
Mendocino County should end the program which terminates wildlife. I have a B.S. of Environmental Science from HSU, and have done academic research on effectiveness of lethal methods of management. Beyond simply being cruel or ecologically unsound, lethal methods simply are not the most effective means of wildlife management, and in some cases (such as mountain lions) has proven in recent years to be counterproductive. Reference: http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2009/11/troubled-teens/
I firmly believe that Mendocino County should end its lethal program, permanently terminating its contract with USDA Wildlife Services. There are many cost-effective non-lethal methods of addressing human-wildlife conflicts, including the use of livestock guard animals, appropriate fencing, night-corrals and innovations like Foxlights. Mendocino residents do not want their taxpayer dollars spent on a lethal program that senselessly kills our beloved wildlife. The entire approach is unethical.
The lethal program of wildlife removal should be discontinued with the USDA. The County taxpayer dollars should go to non-lethal methods to educate citizens on wildlife interaction and how to stay safe, non-lethal methods of wildlife relocation, and investing in ecology initiatives to provide buffers/corridors for wildlife encroached upon by urbanization.
Please terminate the agreement with USDA. Lethal trapping and poisoning of wildlife is barbaric, counter-productive, and has a tragic toll, not only on wildlife, but on pets as well. There are plenty of methods to deter predation which are both humane and cost-effective.
Mendocino County should end its lethal program (the “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program”), permanently terminating its contract with USDA Wildlife Services. Instead, the County should adopt and implement a non-lethal program alternative for addressing conflicts with wildlife.
As a resident in the county, I strongly encourage you to adopt a non-lethal approach to wildlife management.
The board's duty is to represent the interest of the entire county, not only some property owners.
The vote will be teaching and setting an example for our children, other people and species, showing our compassion or cruelty, co-existance or human supremacy.
What goes around comes around. Make a prudent decision today, and we can rest in peace knowing what to expect.
I do not support the use of county funds to kill wildlife. These animals play an important role in our natural ecosystems (and were here first!). It is imperative that non-lethal solutions be implemented to protect livestock. The concerns of agricultural interests should not be allowed to supersede the importance of a vibrant, healthy ecology in which predator species are allowed to exist.
Your constituents do not support the continued use of Wildlife Services to manage wildlife-agriculture interactions. Lethal means are ineffective, unscientific and destroy our county's natural assets (to the benefit of private agriculture holders). Enough is enough.
Viewed from every perspective important to me, renewing this contract makes little sense. Scientific analysis and experience suggest that what you propose is ineffective, cruel, counter-productive, and therefore fiscally irresponsible. Mendocino County residents want to know why you would consider renewing this contract.
Please end this legacy and offer agricultural interests alternatives that will achieve the results they seek in more effective and humane ways.
Lethal programs are not really working in the long term to protect either the wildlife or the livestock. There are many examples of successes using more scientifically driven, non lethal methods that create a more natural balance in wildlife populations, effectively reducing predation. Please seriously consider defunding current support of wildlife services, instead, providing education and support to ranchers and farmers so that future predator management can be both more effective and humane.
I strongly urge the Board of Supervisors to adopt a more humane approach to wildlife management by terminating the contract with the USDA Wildlife Services. There are many examples of non-lethal methods that can deal with the human-wildlife conflict. Since these practices exist, it is morally incumbent for the board of supervisors to promote their use.
Please terminate your contract with USDA Wildlife Services. Louis Rohlicek, Willits
Please end the contract with Wildlife Services and implement more effective, humane, sustainable nonlethal methods of wildlife management. This has worked in Marin and Sonoma counties; there is no reason for the toxic and cruel methods used by Wildlife Services, and science indicates that such indiscriminate killing only increases the population of predatory animals.
As a student in Mendocino County, I appreciate very much the less damaged nature and wildlife the county has to offer. Please look for more compassionate, non-lethal program alternatives for addressing conflicts with wildlife.
There are better and more effective ways to protect livestock. Please reconsider a more humane approach to the problem and discontinue the unnecessary killing of wildlife.