WildlifeCh. 3

Wildlife are animals that have not been domesticated by humans.

…human safety, property, etc.

Some threaten

Some that “endanger moving vehicles”

What are some other examples of wildlife?

Eg

Eat, wear or use

Wildlife fall into these categories:

Kill for sport

Wildlife fall into these categories:

Kill for sport◦ Some imported for canned hunts

Wildlife fall into these categories:

Do labor or entertain people

Wildlife fall into these categories:

Ones humans enjoy watching

Wildlife fall into these categories:

Ones useful in scientific or medical experiments

Wildlife fall into these categories:

Kept as pets

Wildlife fall into these categories:

American Bison nearly extinct in 1800s – now thriving. Then, bison burgers.

Some issues in the debate:

Numerous studies refute this MYTH.

If deer weren’t hunted they would starve.

What do we learn from keeping wild animals in captivity?

Should wild animals be kept in captivity to entertain or educate humans?

Official hunting seasons were set up in the early 1700s and over the next 100 years we saw the emergence of state fish and game departments, license requirements

and hunting restrictions.

Colonists had to fight off animal predators – 1700s

Not always the same

Conservationists Animal Welfarists

Conservationists help wild animals by preserving natural habitat.◦ Many are hunters.◦ Ethical battle continues

today

First federal wildlife law◦ Lacey Act of 1900 (p. 33)

Many funded conservation efforts with hunting fees.

Government Enacts Regulation Laws

State and Federal Laws

…provide strong financial incentives to increase the consumption of wildlife.

Federal Incentives

Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (1937)

Created a fund raised through taxes on the sale of firearms and materials. To qualify for the money, states must use hunting revenues only for state fish and wildlife programs.So if NY is to receive federal funding under this Act, NY

cannot use license fees for any other purpose than administration of En Con’s Fish and Wildlife Division.

New YorkMinimum Hunting Age

Minors under the age of 12 may not obtain a hunting license or hunt wildlife.

Under New York State Environmental Conservation Law (section 11-0523), people are not required to obtain a

permit to trap on their own property, or on the property someone of else who has given them written

permission to trap. 

Trapping on public lands or other private property requires a wildlife control permit, which is obtained from

the Department of Environmental Protection.

Federal Incentives State wildlife agencies are in competition

with each other for federal funds, and the only way a state can raise the ceiling on its potential federal funding is to increase the number of people it licenses to hunt.◦ This raises incentives to increase # of animals

available to hunt.

Government Agencies that Control Wildlife

Federal

Manages

◦ Manages Millions of acres in national wildlife refuges and wetlands Migratory bird conservation National fish hatcheries, resource & field offices Enforces many federal wildlife laws

USFWS (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

USFWS works with U.S. Customs & Border Protection and the USDA to monitor shipments of protected plants and animals.

Wildlife Services of the USDA◦ Controls wildlife that can damage agriculture,

property, natural resources and threaten public safety

Other federal agencies

Goals of Government Wildlife Regulation

(1) Protecting human interests(2) Preserving endangered species

Rabies West Nile virus Lyme disease Bovine tuberculosis Chlamydiosis (respiratory disease in tropical

birds) Histoplasmosis (lung disease) Salmonellosis (intestinal illness)

Zoonotic Diseases & Wild Animals

CDC reports 7,258 cases of animal rabies in U.S.◦ Wild animals 93% of

this figure

Rabies

1-1

.5 m

illion p

er y

ear

$1

.1 b

illion in

repairs

Collision with Deer

Wildlife Damage to Livestock - $71 million Primarily a problem in western states = open rangelands

Wildlife problems reported by each state - 2001

Table 3.2

Relocation Poisons Sharpshooters Contraceptives Repellents

◦ Example North Carolina and Canadian Geese

◦ Techniques recommended by Wildlife Service of USDA In choosing a control technique, WS specialists consider the

biological and legal status of the target species and potential nontarget species, local environmental conditions and possible environmental impacts, and the practicality of available control options.

Direct control methods to deal with “nuisance wildlife”

Kinderhook, NYBirds poisoned to curb dairy threat.

Problem Horses

The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971 (Public Law 92-195) required the protection, management, and control of wild free-roaming horses and burros on public land. Congress declared that wild free-roaming horses and burros are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the west; they contribute to the diversity of life forms within the Nation and enrich the lives of the American people; and these horses and burros are fast disappearing from the American scene. It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where they are presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.

The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971

This law states; The Secretary of the Interior shall manage wild free-roaming horses and burros in a manner that is designed to achieve and maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on public lands. It also states, if an over population exists on a given area of the public lands and action is necessary to remove excess animals, he shall immediately remove excess animals from the range so as to achieve appropriate management levels. … all excess animals … removed so as to restore a thriving natural ecological balance to the range, and to protect the range from the deterioration associated with over-population.

The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971

Since the passage of the act to 2007 approx. 235,00 wild horses and burros have been adopted to private individuals. Even with this high number of

adoptions, it has been decided that public lands can only sustain 28,849 wild horses and burros in total. At the end of 2003 the wild horse and burro

population on the open range was 37,186.

The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971

For the year 2005, the Bureau of Land Management's annual budget for the Wild Horse and Burro Program was approximately $40 million dollars. Half of this money was allocated for the care and feeding of the animals in captivity.

Save the Mustangs video

The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971

Equine Advocates

Best Summary of this Issue

Table 3.4

Fact Sheet

Managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Applied to wild horses and burros over ten years old

Not likely adoption candidates

Could be sold at auctions without limitation i.e., slaughter

Click icon to add picture

2004 – Omnibus Appropriations Bill

Bought back 52 of the horses

Save the Mustangs

“Wild Horses Sold by U.S. Agency Sent to Slaughter”

Protecting Endangered &

Threatened SpeciesTable 3.5

Endangered Species Act

USFWSNational Marine

Fisheries Service

Prohibits any person from

taking a listen species. Taking includes (p. 41)

ELEPHANTS – to be covered in Entertainment

Penalties There are different degrees of violation with the law. The most punishable

offenses are trafficking, and any act of knowingly "taking" (which includes harming, wounding, or killing) an endangered species.

The penalties for these violations can be a maximum fine of up to $50,000 or imprisonment for one year, or both, and civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, may be assessed. Lists of violations and exact fines are available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration web-site.

One provision of this law is that no penalty may be imposed if, by a preponderance of the evidence that the act was in self defense. The law also eliminates criminal penalties for accidentally killing listed species during farming and ranching activities.

In addition to fines or imprisonment, a license, permit, or other agreement issued by a Federal Agency that authorized an individual to import or export fish, wildlife, or plants may be revoked, suspended or modified. Any federal hunting or fishing permits that were issued to a person who violates the ESA can be canceled or suspended for up to a year.

Violations

1990s – reintroduced to western U.S. – moved from Canada

2000 – population recovered

1967 – gray and red wolves endangered

Endangered Species Act (ESA): wolves throughout the Lower 48 United States are listed as endangered except in Montana, Idaho and portions of Oregon, Washington and Utah where they have been delisted through congressional action. Currently, the delisting of wolves in Wyoming has been approved in principle by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In Minnesota wolves are listed as threatened. In Alaska, wolves are not listed under the ESA.◦ Source: Defenders of Wildlife

Gray Wolf Legal Status

The CITES appendices list thousands of animals from all over the world for which trade is prohibited. Of major concern: Asian and African elephants and primates.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

Valued for hides, bones, & penises in Asia. Federal law allows the possession of captive-bred tigers, but only if this enhances the survival of the species. It is illegal to kill tigers for profit or sell their parts, meat or hide in

interstate commerce. It is not illegal to donate the animals.

GUILTY PLEA

Endangered

With a rough estimate of 5,000 tigers in captivity, the United States likely ranks second behind China as the country with the single largest tiger population.

Although the United States has no large scale, commercial captive breeding operations, all of the tigers in the U.S. are held in captivity.

Unfortunately, U.S. laws and regulations governing the keeping of these tigers are not adequate to foreclose the possibility that parts or derivatives from these animals could enter illegal trade.

Captive Tigers

At the state level, laws and regulations governing the keeping of tigers in private possession vary

widely: • 28 states have laws banning the possession of tigers in private collections; • 17 states allow for the keeping

of tigers by individuals but require a state permit or registration (Iowa, Oregon, and Washington have recently instituted bans on private possession of tigers, but also have systems in place to regulate the tigers

that were grandfathered in prior to enactment of those bans.); and

• 8 states have no laws on the subject.

Captive Tigers

The United States has a strong legal framework at the federal

level governing international trade in tigers or their parts through the Endangered Species Act, the Lacey Act, and the Criminal Code. ◦ The Lacey Act combats trafficking

in “illegal” wildlife, fish, and plants.

The Rhino and Tiger Conservation Act, as amended

in 1998,further prohibits any domestic sale of tiger parts, as well as the sale of any products labeled or advertised to contain tiger parts.

Captive Tigers

Through the Animal Welfare Act, the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)

registration and permit system for captive-bred wildlife, the United States

also has a federal legal framework governing the interstate movement of captive tigers; rules for the sale, trade, or exhibition of live tigers; and conditions

for their confinement.

Caged Tigers

All of these laws and regulations, however, have exceptions or

exemptions that mean, in practical terms, that the majority of private owners of tigers in the United States need only to keep records of tigers held.

While such records must be made available upon request, federal agencies charged with implementing these laws and regulations do not have a mandate to maintain a current inventory of how many tigers may be in the country, where they are, who possesses them, when they die, or how they are disposed of.

Captive Tigers

N.Y. ENVTL. CONSERV. §11-0512 - Envtl. Conserv. Possession, sale, barter, transfer, exchange and import of wild animals as pets prohibited

New York

Hunting and fishing rates are important to the USFWS and state agencies because fees collected (licenses, tags, permits) fund wildlife related programs.◦ See Tables 3.7 and 3.8.

Participation COUNT$

HuntingFigure 3.9

Where can I go hunting?Federal law allows hunting and fishing on

national wildlife refuges if it is determined that protected wildlife will not be jeopardized.

Non-targeted species such as dogs and cats, rabbits, river otters, geese, ducks, hawks, owls, eagles, bears are captured in these body-gripping traps at –

refuges.

Trapping is used as a control method on federal lands.

Hunting as a wildlife control and conservation method

Captive hunts, also known as “canned hunts,” are the very opposite of fair chase. Shooters at captive hunts pay to kill animals—even endangered species

—trapped behind fences.

Canned Hunts

New York - Canned hunts of mammals are legal except that "big game non-native animals" cannot be tied, hobbled, staked or attached to a stationary object or "confined in a box, pen, cage or similar container of 10 or less contiguous acres from which there is no means for such mammal to escape". The animal also cannot be released in front of the person who will be shooting or spearing it. N.Y. Envt. Con. Laws§11-1904(1)(A)(1)-(3).

New York - Legal

A bill that would have banned canned hunts in New York was passed by the state legislature but was vetoed by then Gov. George Pataki in 2003. Several subsequent attempts to ban canned hunts in New York have also failed including a bill this past session, 

Assembly Bill 6788 This bill would have amended the current law and make it illegal to hunt big game non-native animals that are "in a fenced or other area" from where there is no means of escape. It would eliminate canned hunts of big game non-native

mammals in New York state.

New York

Internet HuntingIllegal in NY

Started in Texas http://live-shot.com/

Wild Animal Commodities

p. 48

Dog and Cat Fur Protection Act of 2000

HSUS Undercover Investigation

The facts on fur labeling

Congress enacted the Fur Products Labeling Act in 1951 in response to rampant false advertising and false labeling of animal fur garments.

The Fur Products Labeling Act requires that animal fur products be labeled with the name of the species used, the manufacturer, country of origin, and other information and prohibits the sale and advertising of fur products that have been falsely or deceptively advertised.

Violations of the Fur Products Labeling Act carry up to a $5,000 fine and up to a year in prison.

The Federal Trade Commission is tasked with enforcing the Fur Products Labeling Act and protecting consumers from deception.

Fur

2010- Congress passed and President Obama signed the Truth in Fur Labeling Act to strengthen the Fur Products Labeling Act and close a loophole that previously allowed some fur trimmed garments to be sold without labels (IF VALUED AT $150 OR LESS). The new law will help prevent false advertising by requiring

retailers to affix clear labels to the garments themselves. 

Truth in Fur Labeling Act

HSUS Files False Advertising Suit Against Retailers for Deceptive Labeling Practices

November 2011

HSUS Fur Free Action Guide

What Can You Do?

Protect the Seals

Oil and blubber

1928 – U.S. banned commercial whaling

1946 International Whale Commission – kind of a self regulation

Northern Seas – 100s of years

But whaling was still allowed for “scientific purposes.”

Some internal battle within IWC as to what the role should be – pro-conservation or pro-whaling

1986 – IWC banned commercial whaling

Born Free, USA

For More Information