San Francisco Court Approves Ban on Killing of Native Wildlife

https://worldanimalnews.com/breaking-california-federal-court-approves-ban-to-stop-u-s-wildlife-services-from-poisoning-trapping-coyotes-bobcats-mountian-lions-many-other-species/

The San Francisco Federal Court approved a ban against the United States Fish & Wildlife Services from killing wildlife until they come up with a comprehensive plan as to how these killings affect the ecosystems. The ban stems from a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and Project Coyote, who filed the lawsuit in August of 2019. 

Wildlife in the area have been victims of horrific traps that include snares, strangulation traps, and rodenticides that have left many non-target animals poisoned to death. The lawsuit claims that there are non-lethal means in dealing with human-animal conflicts and that the current methods are killing far too many animals which ultimately disrupts the natural balance. In fact, most of the animals that were reported killed were natural predators which as we know, completely disrupts entire ecosystems. Of the 26, 441 animals reported killed under the program for 2018, the bulk of them were coyotes, black bears, mountain lions, and foxes. By slaughtering all of these natural predators, you leave ecosystems at risk of becoming overburdened by herbivores which will undoubtedly have negative effects on the local plant life. This in turn will prompt governments to deal with the herbivores in the very same way, through trapping, culling, or other lethal means. It's a vicious cycle created by human interference.

In almost all cases, predators are killed because of their interference with humans despite the fact that it is our continued growth and development that intrudes on their natural habitat. By continuing to grow and develop, we take away much needed land for wild animals which forces them to get too close to us in search for food. This in turn spurs an unfortunate chain of events that leads to so many animals being killed when we are in fact to blame for their interactions with us. How can we blame these animals for their natural instincts when we are aware of what our growth and development does to an ecosystem?

With the ban on future killings until a plan is put in place, my hopes are that non-lethal methods will be preferred when dealing with predators. Secondly, I also hope that the development ceases in order to analyze what space is needed for these animals to naturally roam and procreate without humans invading and taking their land away from them. It's common sense, if we stop taking more and more space away from them, they will stop ending up in our backyards putting our children and pets at risk. I mean, if you leave garbage out unattended, you can't blame the rats and skunks from finding food right? That same logic applies here, we can't keep going around killing everything. It's shameful when we have other options that are non-lethal.

Congratulations California, I truly hope a respectable and appropriate plan is put into place by the United States Fish and Wildlife Services to manage the predator population.

HAPPY VEG