08-13-2015, 03:02 PM
This is just another example of killing people without good cause. It's not like they spray painted a church or tipped over somebody's outhouse or something. I knew Cormorant people when I was in 'The Home" and while I'll admit they kind of stink they are mostly good folks. And...11,000 of them! That's way over the top. Hey, kill a couple, leave the bodies out in the heat a couple of days and they will get the hint. This is an outrange. I'm going to write to Donald Trump about this.
[b]Groups challenge 11,000 cormorant killings[/b]
By Gosia Wozniacka
The Associated Press
PORTLAND — Conservation groups opposed to the ongoing killing of cormorants on the Columbia River to protect steelhead and salmon say they have documents showing a federal agency ignored a finding by its own biologists that the measure would not help the fish.
The Audubon Society of Portland and several other groups made the documents public Wednesday. They were obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under a court order.
The groups had challenged the killing in a federal lawsuit. In May, a judge declined to block the plan to shoot the cormorants, but the lawsuit is ongoing.
One of the newly disclosed documents is an analysis by U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists concluding that killing double-breasted cormorants would not benefit Snake River steelhead — which are most affected by cormorant predation — because fish not eaten by the birds would be eaten by other predators.
“As a consequence, efforts to reduce cormorant predation on steelhead are expected to have no effect on Snake River steelhead population productivity or adult abundance,” the analysis says. It adds that killing cormorants is “similarly unlikely to benefit the productivity of... other salmonid populations.”
[b]Groups challenge 11,000 cormorant killings[/b]
By Gosia Wozniacka
The Associated Press
PORTLAND — Conservation groups opposed to the ongoing killing of cormorants on the Columbia River to protect steelhead and salmon say they have documents showing a federal agency ignored a finding by its own biologists that the measure would not help the fish.
The Audubon Society of Portland and several other groups made the documents public Wednesday. They were obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under a court order.
The groups had challenged the killing in a federal lawsuit. In May, a judge declined to block the plan to shoot the cormorants, but the lawsuit is ongoing.
One of the newly disclosed documents is an analysis by U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists concluding that killing double-breasted cormorants would not benefit Snake River steelhead — which are most affected by cormorant predation — because fish not eaten by the birds would be eaten by other predators.
“As a consequence, efforts to reduce cormorant predation on steelhead are expected to have no effect on Snake River steelhead population productivity or adult abundance,” the analysis says. It adds that killing cormorants is “similarly unlikely to benefit the productivity of... other salmonid populations.”