And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Wanita Sears <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> replies: >New West Research >P.O. Box 9125 Santa Fe NM 87505 >www.new-west-research-org > >For immediate release: For more information: >October 28, 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >Website Reveals Information On NM Land Owners >Who Want Wildlife Killed At Taxpayer Expense > > >The Earth isn't dying -- it is being killed. >And the people killing it have names and addresses. > Utah Phillips > > > The names and addresses of New Mexico ranchers, businesses, and other >entities >asking government agents to kill wildlife on their properties at >taxpayer expense is >being revealed for the first time today on the website of >New West Research >(www.new-west-research.org). The information can be found >under the heading “The >Hall of Shame” in the War Against Wildlife section of >the website. > The information was requested from the U.S.D.A.’s “Wildlife Services” >(aka >Animal Damage Control) program in January, 1999 by New West Research, a >public >interest research project of the Zuni Mountain Coalition. The >government’s failure >to release the documents resulted in a lawsuit filed >in >March, 1999 under the >Freedom of Information Act by attorney Richard Mietz. >U.S.D.A. had previously maintained that the information was “private.” >Requested >under FOIA were “copies of all signed agreements showing the >names and addresses of >all New Mexico ranchers and other private agribusiness >interests which have current >agreements with the government allowing agents >to go onto their deeded land or >leased land for the purpose of poisoning, >trapping, shooting, aerial gunning, >denning, or otherwise killing or >controlling wildlife.” > Over 2,000 current “agreements for control of animals” were finally >turned over >earlier this month. The only information blacked out on the >forms >were the >addresses of the government wildlife killers themselves. A database >of the >information gleaned from the documents was created and is now on the >internet, >showing each party’s name, address, telephone number, property >acreage, animal >species to be killed, and killing methods allowed to be >used. >Some agreement forms were not completely filled out, resulting in gaps in >some of the data. > The data posted on the New West Research website covers most agreements >signed >since 1990, except those that were too illegible to read. Also >excluded were dozens >of agreements that called for harassment, but not >killing, of sandhill cranes, >Canada geese, snow geese, and other migratory >birds, primarily along the Rio Grande. >A separate database showing these>non-lethal, but still very disturbing, control >activities is in the process of being created. > In FY 1997, federal agents killed an estimated 10,500 wild animals in New >Mexico, mostly on behalf of the livestock industry, at a cost of $2,256,486. >Kill numbers for FY 1998 have not yet been released by the government. > “The public has a right to know who’s asking the feds to kill our >wildlife at taxpayer expense,” said Patricia Wolff, Director of New West >Research. “This information will be especially valuable for adjacent >property owners and recreationists concerned about protecting themselves, their >children, and their pets from poisons, traps, and aerial gunning.” > > Here’s what you’ll find in “The Hall of Shame”.... > >- Hundreds of ranchers are asking the feds to trap, poison, and gun down >coyotes, black bears, mountain lions, bobcats, foxes, badgers, porcupines, >skunks, beavers, prairie dogs, and other animals on their private and public >lands. > >- Republican Congressman Joe Skeen asked the feds to kill coyotes, bobcats, >black bears, and mountain lions on his ranch near Picacho. William >Brininstool, Chairman of the New Mexico State Game Commission, asked the feds to kill >coyotes on his ranch near Jal. >Bill Humphries, a former State Land Commissioner, asked the feds to kill >coyotes and bobcats on his ranch near Lindrith. Colin McMillan, Republican >candidate for U.S. Senate in 1984, asked the feds to kill coyotes, mountain >lions, and black bears on his ranch near Tularosa. Kit Laney of the Diamond >Bar Cattle Company asked the feds to kill coyotes, black bears, and mountain >lions on his ranch near Winston. Sid Goodloe, touted as a “good rancher” by >ranching advocates, asked the feds to use aerial gunning, traps, snares, and >poisons kill coyotes on his property near Capitan. > >- The Baca Land & Cattle Co. asked the feds to kill beavers and coyotes on >its huge ranch near Jemez Springs. ABC newsman Sam Donaldson asked the feds to kill >coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, and black bears on his ranch near Hondo. Republican >Stirling Spencer, a former Land Commissioner candidate, asked the feds to kill >coyotes on his ranch near Carrizozo. State Senator Patrick Lyons asked the feds to >kill coyotes on his ranch near Cuervo. Oil company mogul Robert O. Anderson asked the >feds to kill coyotes, bobcats, gray foxes, badgers, and porcupines on his ranch near >Hondo. Ted Turner’s Ladder Ranch asked the feds to use aerial gunning, shooting, and >steel-jaw traps to kill not wildlife but feral dogs on his property near Caballo. > >- Dozens of acequia ditch associations and waterfront property owners are >asking the feds to wipe out beavers on their property. Even the Sevilleta >Wildlife Refuge, Ute Lake State Park, and Conchas Lake State Park asked the feds to >kill beavers. Those targeting prairie dogs include several elementary schools, Cannon >Air Force Base, the Belen Wildlife Refuge, and the U.S. Forest Service. >
