PROTECT OREGON'S COUGAR FROM DOG HUNTS!
- by: WWW.OreCat.org
- recipient: PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION TO STOP KILLING COUGARS WITH DOGS
WHEN KILLING COUGAR IS WRONG, IT COSTS THE TAX PAYER TIME AND MONEY AT STATE LEGISLATURE!
HB 2337, HB 3326, HB 3428 ARE IRRESPONSIBLE PLANS THAT STEAL FROM THE VOTERS WILL AND HARM OUR ECOSYSTEMS.
HB 2337, HB 3326, HB 3428 is not about public safety and livestock safety. From 2005 to 2010 we had a public safety program with a mandatory kill of 3000 cougar a year on top of the changes ODFW made after M18 to enable folks to kill more cougar without dogs than before with dogs. Last Legislative session we passed Bill 2971 that allows hound-hunting of cougar. If you can pass the criminal background check, have no animal abuse issues and have not violated any ODFW hunting rules, you can hunt cougars with dogs. If you cannot pass the requirements and you hunt cougar with hounds, you are considered a Measure 11 penalty, which here in Oregon can put you in jail for awhile.
Poaching is out of control in Oregon. Poaching deer or elk or cougar exceeds the legal kills of each species. There are not enough law enforcement to curb poaching. The only tool we have to help our law enforcement are the M11 constraints and the requirements of HB 2971. The NRA supports HB 2337 as a Sports Hunting Bill that rolls back the M11 criminal charges and the restraints HB 2971 offer. HB 2337, HB 3326, HB 3428 are irresponsible Bills that supports prolific poaching issues, animal abuse and ODFW violations that cost Oregonians millions of dollars and administrative costs and contributes to the $100,000,000 annual Black Market poaching issues in California. ODFW has no sustainable cougar plan. Only Bills to kill them.
In 1994 it was an arbitrary number ODFW picked to start their computer cougar population model. The arbitrary number was not supported by any science telling us if this was a sustainable population for Oregon's cougar or even a correct population count to begin with. It was a political decision, not a decision based on sound science. This arbitrary number model system has caught the attention of famous biologists such as Dr. Jane Goodall and prestigious communities such as the Smithsonian who have written about ODFW's flawed cougar management plan as being a very bad plan. California has only 4000 to 5000 cougar and according to their Fish and Wildlife officials their cougar population is declining in-spite of decades of a no hunting policy and a mandatory open space program for wildlife. Washington State uses much the same plan that ODFW is using (minus the 3000 mandatory public safety kill program that did not work and sunset in 2010) and their cougar population has plummeted like a rock. So why not Oregon%u2019s cougar population?? If ODFW is completely comfortable with their plan, why are they unwilling to have an outside unbiased peer review done? It took us approximately 47 years for cougar to rebound from a population of 200 to 3000. 47 years. It is not possible for a cougar population to triple or even double in a lesser amount of time while under siege of a more aggressive hunting program(s) and less open spaces that their social structure requires. We don't have 6000 cougar. Yet ODFW continues to claim their arbitrary computer numbers are correct regardless of killing more cougar than before M18 including an unaddressed poaching problem that kills more cougar than are legally killed. We are paying ODFW valuable tax dollars for wrong information and this is not right. We could use this money for schools rather than poor wildlife management! Washington's killing program, which ODFW has copied, has caused their cougar population to drop like a rock. They may have only 1600 left. California has only 4000 to 5000 cougar and according to their Fish and Wildlife department, their cougar numbers are declining. California for decades has had a ban on killing cougar and they have more open spaced dedicated to wildlife yet less cougar than Oregon which has for the last 17 years been killing their cougar for Sports or poaching in record numbers. Oregon does not have 6000 cougar and ODFW cannot with any reliable science support those numbers. And that is why they cannot hit their target mark, we don't have the cougar population to support that.
ODFW did not even know the record numbers mule deer were being poached until they found out by accident while doing another study on them (see one of two poaching articles about this on our HB numbers button above). ODFW does not know how many cougar we have either. In fact, ODFW's cougar management plan is ridiculous.
It appears that ODFW's real plan is to make Oregon's cougar extinct.
Oregonians need to ask two questions regarding their cougar:
1. If killing 6,762 cougars over a 44-year time period once almost wiped out the cougar population in Oregon, why does ODFW believe that killing 7,468 cougars over the past 43 -years of regulated cougar hunt hasn't produced similar results?
2. If a regionally-close state (Washington) has the same cougar hunting restrictions, as well as analogous cougar hunting policies (without the additional administrative removal plan), and that state's policies and actions have resulted in a significant reduction in their cougar population, why does ODFW believe that similar results are not taking place in Oregon?
HERE ARE ALL THE EMAIL ADDRESSES TO OUR STATE SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES. PLEASE, EMAIL THEM NOW AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO! ON ALL THE ABOVE BILLS! LET THEM KNOW THE WORLD IS WATCHING!! Thank you!!
Kindest regards,
Jayne Miller, Director OreCat.org
rep.chrisgarrett@state.or.us, ruthanne.lidman@state.or.us, rep.gregmatthews@state.or.us, rep.bencannon@state.or.us, andrea.hand@state.or.us, rep.katieeyrebrewer@state.or.us, jenn.baker@state.or.us, sen.RichardDevlin@state.or.us, laura.jannsen@state.or.us, rep.shawnlindsay@state.or.us, rep.chrisharker@state.or.us, rep.jimweidner@state.or.us, rep.vickiberger@state.or.us, rep.timfreeman@state.or.us, rep.brianclem@state.or.us, rep.vicgilliam@state.or.us,
rep.patricksheehan@state.or.us, sen.davidnelson@state.or.us, jordan.conger@state.or.us, rep.cliffbentz@state.or.us, rep.mattwingard@state.or.us, rep.andyolson@state.or.us, rep.kimthatcher@state.or.us, rep.nancynathanson@state.or.us, sen.alanbates@state.or.us, debbie.a.miller@state.or.us, rep.paulholvey@state.or.us, rep.julesbailey@state.or.us, erik.kancler@state.or.us,
rep.tinakotek@state.or.us, rep.saragelser@state.or.us, patrick.sieng@state.or.us, repgar@aol.com, rep.bettykomp@state.or.us, rep.valhoyle@state.or.us, rep.tobiasread@state.or.us, Rep.DennisRichardson@state.or.us, rep.jasonconger@state.or.us, rep.bradwitt@state.or.us, rep.deborahboone@state.or.us, rep.davehunt@state.or.us, rep.lewfrederick@state.or.us, rep.margaretdoherty@state.or.us, rep.peterbuckley@state.or.us, rep.johnhuffman@state.or.us, rep.mattwand@state.or.us, sen.markhass@state.or.us, rep.wallyhicks@state.or.us, rep.jeffbarker@state.or.us, rep.markjohnson@state.or.us,
rep.michaeldembrow@state.or.us, rep.jeffersonsmith@state.or.us, alex.tinker@state.or.us, sen.ginnyburdick@state.or.us, rep.mitchgreenlick@state.or.us, betsy@betsyjohnson.com, sen.betsyjohnson@state.or.us, rep.marynolan@state.or.us, rep.waynekrieger@state.or.us, rep.philbarnhart@state.or.us. rep.mikemclane@state.or.us, rep.jimthompson@state.or.us
rep.kevincameron@state.or.us, rep.salesquivel@state.or.us, rep.brucehanna@state.or.us, rep.billkennemer@state.or.us, rep.bobjenson@state.or.us, rep.mikemclane@state.or.us, rep.julieparrish@state.or.us, rep.gregsmith@state.or.us, rep.sherriesprenger@state.or.us, rep.jimthompson@state.or.us, rep.genewhisnant@state.or.us, rep.terrybeyer@state.or.us, rep.mitchgreenlick@state.or.us, rep.arnieroblan@state.or.us, rep.mikeschaufler@state.or.us, mikeschaufler@comcast.net, rep.carolyntomei@state.or.us, sen.jasonatkinson@state.or.us, sen.leebeyer@state.or.us, sen.suzannebonamici@state.or.us, sen.brianboquist@state.or.us, sen.ginnyburdick@state.or.us, sen.petercourtney@state.or.us, sen.richarddevlin@state.or.us, sen.jackiedingfelder@state.or.us, sen.chrisedwards@state.or.us, sen.tedferrioli@state.or.us, sen.larrygeorge@state.or.us, sen.fredgirod@state.or.us, sen.markhass@state.or.us, sen.betsyjohnson@state.or.us, sen.jeffkruse@state.or.us, sen.lauriemonnesanderson@state.or.us, sen.rodmonroe@state.or.us, sen.frankmorse@state.or.us, sen.davidnelson@state.or.us, sen.alanolsen@state.or.us, sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us, sen.dianerosenbaum@state.or.us, sen.chipshields@state.or.us, sen.brucestarr@state.or.us, sen.christelfer@state.or.us, sen.chuckthomsen@state.or.us, sen.joanneverger@state.or.us, sen.dougwhitsett@state.or.us, sen.jackiewinters@state.or.us
Current Cougar Legislation
At this time (April, 2011), renewal of Oregon's " public safety" pilot program for an additional 5-year period, along with two similar House Bills, are making their way through the Oregon State Legislature. All of these bills violate the spirit if not the letter of Measure 18.
All of the proposed Bills support a prolific poaching issue in Oregon that ODFW states exceed legal kills of deer, elk and cougar and OSP stats show cost taxpaying Oregonians millions! California has a $100,000,000 ANNUAL poaching issue that is connected to the Black Market of wildlife parts and Oregon is NO exception. Oregon newspapers have documented only a small portion of our poaching issues with Oregon wildlife animal parts showing up as far away as Illinois. Prove to OreCat members across Oregon that cougar cubs are not being taken and raised and released around schools and communities and into small farming operations in order to create an illusion that we are overrun with cougar. Cougar cubs are often taken from their dead mother and sold as pets on the Black Market. See www.OreCat.org YouTube references and links to pet domesticated cougars taken as cubs from the wild. If a cougar is unafraid of humans it is because it was raised around humans and by humans and when released in communities stay because that is what they are familiar with. A cougar raised in the wild by it's mother is afraid of humans and stays away from humans unless hounded by humans. California is doing a better job of documenting their poaching issues, while Oregon looks the other way. Why then did so many Representatives support Bills laced with trickery to over turn the voters voice and Bills that support poaching and animal abuse?
PLEASE HELP STOP THESE BILLS BY SIGNING OUR PETITION TODAY!!
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