They failed to make killing cats legal but WI still killing Swans with Gov Doyle's approval

Julie has left a new comment on your post "SAVE OUR SWANS: DNR Keeps Killing at Taxpayer's E...": and here.

we live in Kenosha county where the DNR is also setting their sights on the complete eradication of the mute swan. The next trophy bird in WI will be the trumpeter swan which the DNR has so "successfully" reintroduced. October 20th there is a meeting in Madison at DNR headquarters to discuss taking the trumpeters off the endangered list. You know what that means! The DNR will make a mint selling hunting licenses for the shooting of these swans. We would like all swans to be on the protected list. Obviously, the trumpeters didn't have any problem bouncing back with the presence of the mutes, did they? Stop the wasteful spending and the insanity. We could balance the budget (almost) if the Feds would keep closer tabs on DNR spending...

Note from Greenconsciousness: Julie we need petitions - do you know about The Petition Site? Didn't the Humane Society submit a petition to Gov Doyle? On my previous post I have their comments.

So, little do we know that when we designate a portion of our taxes to the Endangered Resource Fund that we are underwriting future HUNTING of that "resource"..........
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October 20 - Pursuant to §§ 29.604 and 227.11, Stats., interpreting § 29.064, Stats., the Department of Natural Resources will hold a public hearing on the repeal of s. NR 27.03(3)(b)2. and (3)(b)8., Wis. Adm. Code, relating to the trumpeter swan and osprey at 4 p.m. in Room G09, Natural Resources State Office Building, 101 South Webster St., Madison (Entrance at the Webster Street door only) The proposed rule will delete trumpeter swan from the Wisconsin endangered species list and the osprey from the Wisconsin threatened species list.

The proposed rule changes are based solely on the biological recovery of these species in Wisconsin. The Department has made a preliminary determination that this action does not involve significant adverse environmental effects and does not need an environmental analysis under ch. NR 150, Wis. Adm. Code.

The proposed rule and fiscal estimate may be reviewed and comments electronically submitted through the Wisconsin Administrative Rules Web site (exit DNR). Written comments on the proposed rule may be submitted until October 29, 2008 via U.S. mail to Sumner Matteson, Bureau of Endangered Resources, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707.

Written comments whether submitted electronically or by U.S. mail will have the same weight and effect as oral statements presented at the public hearings. For more information or a copy of the proposed rule and fiscal estimate contact Sumner Matteson at (608) 266-1571.

and here's a hearing on the "migratory bird hunt"

October 17 - Pursuant to §§ 29.014, 227.11 and 227.14, Stats., interpreting §§ 29.014, 29.041 and 29.885, Stats., the Department of Natural Resources will hold a public hearing on Natural Resources Board Emergency Order No. WM-18-08(E) pertaining to the 2008 migratory game bird season at 2 p.m. in Room 408, Natural Resources State Office Building, 101 South Webster St., Madison (Entrance at the Webster Street doors only).

This emergency order took effect on August 30, 2008. This rule order establishes the season length and bag limits for the 2008 Wisconsin migratory game bird seasons.

For ducks, the state is divided into two zones each with 60-day seasons. The season begins at 9 a.m. September 27 and continues for 60 consecutive days in the north, closing on November 25.

In the South, the season begins at 9 a.m. on October 4 and continues through October 12, followed by a 5-day split, and then reopens on October 18 and continues through December 7.

The special season for hunters age 12 through 15 will occur on September 20 and 21. The daily bag limit is 6 ducks including no more than: 4 mallards, of which only one may be a hen, one black duck, one pintail, 3 wood ducks and 2 redheads.

The daily bag limit may include 1 scaup except that from Oct. 18 to Nov. 6 in the north zone and Nov. 1 to Nov. 20 in the south zone the daily bag may include 2 scaup. The USFWS has reduced the daily bag limit on scaup from 2 for the entire season to 1 for a portion of the season in response to a declining population trend from the 1970’s until about 2001.

Scaup are, however, still the third most abundant duck in continental surveys at 3.7 million. The Mississippi Flyway was given a scaup season of 60 days with 40 days at a 1 bird daily bag and 20 days at a 2 bird daily bag. Wisconsin had the option to pick where the 20 days with a 2 bird bag fall during the season.

This rule order does not allow the harvest of canvasback ducks which is a stipulation of the federal framework.

For Canada geese, the state is apportioned into 3 goose hunting zones: Horicon, Collins and Exterior. Other special goose management subzones within the Exterior Zone include Brown County, Burnett County, Rock Prairie and the Mississippi River.

Season lengths are: Collins Zone - 67 days (three hunting periods, September 16 – October 5, October 6 – 26, October 27 – November 21); Horicon Zone - 92 days (2 hunting periods, first period beginning September 16 and the second on November 3); Exterior Zone in the northern duck zone - 85 days (Sept. 20 – Dec. 13); Exterior Zone in the southern duck zone – 85 days (Sept. 20 – Oct. 12 and Oct. 18 – Dec. 18) and Mississippi River subzone - 85 days (Oct. 4 – Oct. 12 and Oct. 18 – Jan. 1). The Burnett County subzone is closed to Canada goose hunting.

The statewide daily bag limit for Canada geese in all zones is 2 birds per day during the open seasons within the zones. This rule order adds ten days to the mourning dove season so that it extends to November 9 which is consistent with a new opportunity offered in the federal hunting season framework. Finally, this rule corrects an inconsistency between the section that establishes shooting hours and the section that establishes when the hunting season begins.

Both should indicate a 9 a.m. start on the first day of the duck season but the section on shooting hours incorrectly describes a noon start.

Written comments on the emergency rule may be submitted to Kent Van Horn, Bureau of Wildlife Management, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707 no later than October 21, 2008. Written comments will have the same weight and effect as oral statements presented at the hearing. For more information or a copy of the emergency rule may contact Kent Van Horn at (608) 266 8841.

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/news/hearmeet.html

oh, and you'll love the photo on this site: equal opportunity...
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/nrboard/congress/calendar/

WHAT THE DNR SOULD BE DOING INSTEAD OF KILLING BIRDS
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5345480

http://www.birddigiscoping.com/2008/09/bill-introduced-to-help-disappearing.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/july-dec07/birds_07-31.html

ELIZABETH BRACKETT, NewsHour Correspondent:
They don't call themselves bird watchers; instead, they are citizen scientists, carefully counting the birds they find. The National Audubon Society has just completed an analysis of 40 years of bird population data collected by citizen scientists, and the findings were very disturbing.

Judy Pollack heads up bird conservation for the Audubon Society's Chicago region.

JUDY POLLACK, Audubon Society, Chicago Region: The declines were staggering in some of them, you know? So some of our most common birds have, in the last 40 years, declined, some of them 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: In Illinois, Pollack worries the most about grassland birds like the meadowlark and the bobolink.

JUDY POLLACK: The bobolink, that we've lost 97 percent in 40 years? I mean, that's just astonishing. You know, the meadowlark shocked me. You know, meadowlark, it's sort of the common birds of the farms. And we've lost 87 percent of them in the last 40 years is really, I think, astonishing.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT: The biggest reason for the steep declines is the loss of the bird's habitat, says Chicago region Audubon director Stephen Packard.

STEPHEN PACKARD, Audubon Society, Chicago Region: These are birds that depend on a quality habitat of some kind, a quality woodland, a quality savannah or shrub land, quality prairie. Those are the ones going the fastest.......MORE HERE

Yes it IS loss of habitat but it is also the kids with BB guns and parents who encourage indiscriminate shooting of birds .. Fathers who force their children to go hunting as young as four or five make them handle and carry dead birds and encourage them to love to kill. Then they buy them a BB gun and purposely don't supervise them. And a DNR whose blood lust is without limit, especially cooing about the "beauty" of the animals they kill making the kill into a sexual thrill.

Here in WI our Democrat governor, an Obama supporter, allows bear baiting. Bear baiting is the use of live bears to train dogs. A chained bear in a penned area is allowed to be attacked over and over by large packs of dogs to train new dogs to hunt bears. The new dogs learn from the old dogs not to be afraid of the bear. This continues all days with fresh dog packs. Other animals are used as well. Called junk animals, coyotes, raccoons, foxes and many others are forced out of a pen and the dog pack tears them apart, a new animal every hour, 17 hours a day.

Additionally, our governor is allowing the DNR to classify Mute Swans as an Invasive species. This is what the Humane Society said.

"The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently announced plans to classify mute swans as a "prohibited invasive species." The adoption of these proposed regulations would remove any remaining protections these birds have under existing regulations making it that much easier for the DNR to issue permits for the unnecessary and inhumane killing of these beautiful birds. Please urge the DNR to reconsider these plans.

The DNR claims that mute swans are not native to North America, and therefore, should be listed as an “invasive species.” However, there is conflicting evidence about whether mute swans are native to the North American continent, and regardless, the birds are now a naturalized part of the environment. Mute swans do not pose a threat to Wisconsin’s aquatic ecosystems and any perceived conflicts with these birds can be resolved using effective, humane methods."

DRAW THE LINE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE TOO DESENSITIZED TO KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG.

SAY NO TO THE KILLING OF SWANS!