Eco-Vandalism

Acts of eco-vandalism continue to wreak havoc on our native wildlife. Allow me to relate just a few isolated incidents that our facility has dealt with, then judge for yourself how widespread this destruction must be.

Many of you remember the bobcat from the Country Estates. The cat was shot in the back in late December of 1997 and left to suffer. After several weeks of treatment at our center, the cat did not improve and was euthanized. Unfortunately, the person suspected of this violation of state humane laws will most probably never be arrested.

Earlier in 1997, we retrieved a young opossum caught in a leghold trap. In her efforts to escape, she fell over a retaining wall, but the trap didn't fall with her, it stuck to the top of the wall. She was left dangling over the wall for a minimum of 8 hours. Only when the gentleman who set the trap left for his golf game did his wife call us. She merely wanted the "offensive creature" removed from her yard. The little opossum was maimed beyond repair and euthanized. This trap was an illegal toothed trap. The young opossum suffered greatly prior to her death.

Birds of prey also fall victim to eco-vandalism. We have routinely taken hawks and owls from the jaws of leghold traps. Every single bird has had one or both legs snapped off by these monstrous contraptions. There are no survivors when birds are caught in leghold traps. It doesn't matter whether the bird is caught in the illegal toothed trap or the legal "humane" offset-jawed padded trap. It's still a dead bird. This is a federal crime, but again, rarely are these criminals apprehended.

The saddest such situation I've ever witnessed was that of a citizen who found a young red-tailed hawk on Mussey Grade Rd. The hawk was down, unable to fly and easily captured. The hawk came to us with a bandage tightly wound around his left leg. The citizen had found the bird bandaged in this way and came to us immediately. As I removed the bandage, the bird's leg fell off- one more leghold trap victim.

We deal with dozens of injured golden eagles every year. In most cases, x-rays are necessary to determine the true extent of injuries to each eagle. Every single x-ray, save one, of an injured golden eagle has shown the presence of buckshot. In some cases the buckshot is the primary injury and in others it is secondary. Someone is shooting our eagles. This too is a federal crime; unfortunately, arrests are rarely made.

Another common tragedy is the poisoning of wildlife, generally unintentional, but nevertheless, often fatal. Those of us who love our flower and vegetable gardens are always thrilled to see the swallows, phoebes and other insect -devouring birds in our area. Their presence indicates healthy, bug-free plants. Often times, those folks too impatient to wait for these birds to do their job, use insecticides and other poisons to protect the plants. When an insect-eating bird eats too many poisoned insects, the bird then becomes a victim. This act, although usually unintentional, is nevertheless another act of eco-vandalism. There are natural, non-lethal ways of controlling pests- in other words- "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature"!

Way too close to home come reports of a "local" taking great pleasure in shooting coyotes along Highland Valley and Rangeland Roads. By his own account, he's shot several dozen. We've found several carcasses that indicate this boasting to be, in fact, fact. Many residents who've heard the boasting are up in arms, knowing that they can expect a plague of rodents without our coyotes to keep the balance. We, and several folks, who live along the one mile stretch between our place and Hwy. 67, used to take great pleasure in watching the bouncing coyotes enjoy their lives as they consumed the destructive rodents. We recently found 2 carcasses in these fields and 2 more further down, past Rangeland Rd. They all had been shot, and we don't see our coyotes anymore.

And the war against coyotes continues in our neighborhood with the leghold traps. On the evening of March 20, after a 5 hour rescue attempt, we were able to capture a coyote who'd pulled a trap and its attached 18 inch metal spike from the ground. This young coyote had been dragging the contraption for about a week. In addition to the maimed foot from the trap itself, the coyote also had serious injuries as a result of the metal spike beating against his legs as he attempted to run. His injuries were beyond repair and he was euthanized. The trap used was a legal type, although improperly set. It's tough to tell a coyote that he was caught in a legal trap when he's dead.

An even more recent situation involved an act by a very irresponsible bow hunter. A young buck was discovered wandering aimlessly with an arrow through his left rear flank. The youngster was obviously suffering and California Department of Fish & Game was called to take this poor animal out of his misery. Our examination of the carcass indicated that, from the direction of the arrow, a clean kill would have been made by an experienced bow hunter. Instead, some ignorant yahoo did a flank shot and didn't finish what he started. The wound was severely infected, indicating that several days and elapsed and much suffering had occurred prior to this animal's death.

Apparently another slaughter is underway at one of our area golf courses. We've received many reports of shootings of coots and other fowl who are evidently fouling the pristine golf course. The most recent victim is a duck with a gunshot wound in her hip. She may or may not survive. The jury is still out on this one.

Do I sound angry? Darned tootin' I do! This war on our wildlife is reprehensible, and the reasons are generally either ignorance or intolerance, with a few nutcases thrown in for good measure.

Any wildlife biologist will tell you that mass slaughter of any wild species in a given area will upset the delicate balance of nature in that area.

Any responsible hunter will tell you that someone very irresponsible was responsible for the mortal arrow injury to the young deer.

Any person who knows of the maiming and killing of the fowl on our lakes and ponds should be outraged at these blatant acts of animal cruelty.

Any human being with any shred of humanity will tell you that leghold traps, whether humane or inhumane, should be outlawed in this state.

I have shared with you just a few of the incidents that we have dealt with. Incidents like these occur everyday.

If you would like to enlist on the side of the "good guys" in this war against our native wildlife, there are a few things you can do to help.

On the November 3 ballot, Californians can finally vote to ban the use of body-gripping traps and 2 extremely toxic poisons that are routinely used to kill wildlife, among other things. If you don't vote for anything else this year, vote to ban these weapons of mass destruction.

On a smaller scale keep your eyes open for problems on our area lakes and ponds. If you see someone attempting to harm any animal, contact the local California Department of Fish and Game or US Fish and Wildlife Service. Harming our wild fowl is a violation of both state and federal laws.

Try to avoid the use of any pesticide or insecticide on lawn and garden plants, seek natural alternatives - there are some good ones out there.

Report irresponsible hunters to California Department of Fish and Game. In short, don't sit there and let this happen to our native wildlife. Saving the life of even one animal will have made your efforts worthwhile.

— Cindy Traisi