We agree with you.

Unfortunately, the US Wildlife Services and state wildlife entities have lost the basic premise of wildlife management, MANAGEMENT, not MASSACRE. The basic tenant of all wildlife management is that all wildlife WILL NOT go above or beyond what is called status equilibrium, meaning carrying capacity. There is a programmed number of species that can inhabit an environment and each species has a set number.

So, if something catastrophic occurs, such as environmental disaster (hurricane, flood, drought, fire), man-made disaster (oil or chemical spill) or uncaring greedy group of individuals (wildlife authorities) decide to cull a species for whatever made up reason is proposed, the species will produce even more of their kind to make up for the initial loss of their species.

Second tenant of wildlife management is that NATURE can take care of itself and if you mess with the natural course of events, it produces a snow-ball effect. For instance, the USDA Wildlife Services receives more than $126 million a year to “manage” (kill) various species including wolves, coyotes, geese, swans, and any other species that can deem as nuisance and will purposely “mislead” the general public that the species must be controlled. At this time, the USDA’s Wildlife Services indiscriminately kills more than 5,000 animals a year under the auspices of “wildlife management”. Look up USDA’s War on Predators (YouTube). By killing these species: coyote and wolves, the elk and deer population has increased so that hunters have more animals to hunt, thus more permits to be sold to the state and federal wildlife services to maintain their staff and shore decreasing budgets. The American Taxpayer is paying for this killing and the wildlife entities are causing catastrophic environmental problems resulting in the overpopulation of certain species which leads to starvation and diseases.

If we let Nature continue without interference, the predators will take care of the sick and injured in nature and we won’t have the diseases or overpopulation that is occurring because of the imbalance in nature caused by man (specifically state and federal wildlife authorities who are supposed to be managing the wildlife-not causing further problems but have now become money-making entities as the expense of wildlife and the general public).

The third tenant of wildlife management that is being ignored is that if a species is eradicated to the point of no return, then another species will step up to fill the vacuum. So, once the swans are removed, the geese or other waterfowl inhabit the environment. Thus, the hunters have more waterfowl, ducks and geese to hunt again adding to the hunting permits and wildlife budgets. It is a vicious cycle. Until the American taxpayers mandate that the Wildlife budgets be cut, the good old boy hunting philosophy be replaced by actual management protocols, then the waste of tax payer monies under the guise of wildlife management is going to continue.
We propose that an oversight committee comprised of citizens, field biologists (general and species specific), environmental and wildlife groups (ALL VOLUNTEERS NO GRANTS, etc. so that the decisions are based upon Actual Research and Non-Biased), be developed to supervise and monitor monies spent, peruse any research that is proposed as a cause for culling to ensure that it is valid and reliable research, that if culling is deemed to be necessary then HUMANE means to cull is being used, trained professionals not volunteers are used to ensure that the culling is conducted humanely and above all, THE GENERAL PUBLIC has a say on what can or cannot be culled. Since the taxpayer is paying for this nonsense, they should have a say regarding how the money is to be used, how much money and if the outcome is sustainable without repeating the process several years down the road and costing much more money.

So, yes Ele, the natural occurrence of nature mandates that MAN leaves the number of species and the kinds of species alone.

We leave with one more thought. WHO ALLOWED many of these non-native species to enter into the U.S. that we are now having to control? The U.S Wildlife Services and the state wildlife entities themselves. Case in Point:

At the International Swan Symposium held in Maryland in February 2014. The Michigan DNR representatives Luukkonen and Avers presented papers regarding the culling of the Mute Swans in Michigan. Both stated that the Mute Swan population in Michigan is stable at this time, but they want to kill more. Ms. Avers went on to explain that the Michigan DNR took great pains to get the media, general public and wildlife entities to agree upon the plan. However, after these entities agreed to the plan, and now the Mute Swan population is stable, they want to kill more. Ms. Avers was asked if the Michigan DNR was going to kill more Mute Swans without notifying these same individuals who initially bought into the program and she stated “Probably”. Ms. Avers was also asked how much the cost of the killing of the Mute Swans and reintroduction of the Trumpeter Swans cost? At first Mr. Luukkonen stated he did not know and then Ms. Avers stated “US Agriculture paid $100,000-125,000 to control the Mute Swan species. Not counting staff Michigan DNR $25,000.” No cost of reintroduction was provided. Ms. Avers also noted “that this program was going to run out of funding in the next few years.”

Detroit is bankrupt and you are spending this amount of money for a project that cannot be sustained.

Ms. Avers was also asked why they wanted to kill the Mute Swans and she stated “they wanted a native species”.

This is extremely laughable since the Prairie Chicken a native species of Michigan, Illinois, etc. is now endangered. Why, because the U.S. Wildlife Services and Michigan DNR introduced the Chinese Pheasant to Michigan in the 90’s for hunting purposes. This imported species BY MICHIGAN DNR has now almost eradicated the habitat which has caused the disappearance of the native species. WHY, because of the almighty dollar that hunters now put into the system through permits. So, native species has absolutely nothing to do with the equation, especially in this instance.

What can you do? Contact your state senators and representatives. Provide them with the above information and ask them how they in good conscious can allow this much money to be used for a program that is not sustainable. Also note, that the $100,000-$125,000 to the U.S Wildlife Services and $25,000 to Michigan DNR does not include the trips to Alaska to harvest Trumpeter Swan eggs, incubate them at the Milwaukee Zoo and reintroduce/introduce them to areas that they never inhabited in the first place, nor the yearly cost and does not consider the costs of airplane/helicopter hours, staff salaries, etc.

This program has been occurring since the 90’s. We would strongly suggest that the amount of money that was disclosed at the Swan Symposium does not even come close to the yearly costs, and that this was just a number thrown out. In fact, we know of several Michigan individuals who have sought the exact cost of the program under the Freedom of Information Act and to this date, have not received any information and have been passed from one entity to the next. THIS IS ILLEGAL and the citizens and taxpayers of Michigan have the right to know the costs of this project.

Again, please go on your social media, contact your state senators and representatives, let them know that NY passed legislation to prevent the culling based upon Non-scientific research (the same that Michigan and others are using), the cost to the taxpayers and a non-sustainable program. You can also send them a link to an interview conducted by Sheila Bolin, our CEO/President regarding the killing of the Mute Swans, please go to

http://www.21stcenturyradio.com/audioarchives/2014/index.html#SheilaABolin

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/21stCenturyRadio

You can also listen online as these same links and will also hear how this whole killing program began and how a Maryland DNR representative stated how the killing program was kept from the taxpayer and how no research was every conducted prior to the killings. The Regal Swan