Thursday, October 16th, 2003
PAWS
Actionline
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PAWS Campaign Against Circuses That Use Performing Animals
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Progressive Animal
Welfare Society
PO Box 1037
Lynnwood WA, 98046
Endangered Species Act Under Attack
Your letters are urgently needed by October 17 to halt the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (USFWS) planned gutting of the current law that protects endangered animals. Apparently succumbing to lobbying efforts by the circus and trophy-hunting industries, the USFWS is attempting to drastically weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The USFWS recently announced its "Draft Policy for Enhancement-of-Survival Permits for Foreign Species Listed Under the Endangered Species Act," which would allow circuses and zoos to purchase exotic endangered species by merely claiming that the money spent to buy the animals will be used for "conservation" efforts. No definition of the term "conservation program" is provided, and no enforcement mechanisms are established to ensure that funds used to buy endangered animals are actually spent on conservation of that species in the wild. Any party that wants to capture and sell (or kill) an endangered animal has merely to claim that the money they pay to take an elephant, tiger, crocodile or other endangered species will be used by the range country for "conservation" purposes.
Further, the proposed policy change would allow the USFWS to issue permits to trophy hunters who wish to gun down endangered species, so long as they claim the animals they plan to kill are from a "managed population" where conservation measures are in place. It would also allow the import of endangered animal parts, such as the skins of endangered crocodiles, which could in turn be made into shoes and handbags for sale in this country. This proposed policy change represents a major attack on the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and if it is adopted, endangered animals in foreign countries will cease to be protected from harm and exploitation by commercial interests in the United States.
It is critical that animal lovers and conservation-minded citizens flood the USFWS with comments opposing this change. Please write today:
Chief, Division of Management Authority
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Rm. 700
Arlington, VA 22203
703-358-2093
703-358-2280 (fax)
ManagementAuthority@fws.gov
Reference your opposition to the "Draft Policy for Enhancement-of-Survival Permits for Foreign Species Listed Under the Endangered Species Act" 68 Fed. Reg. 49512 (August 18, 2003). Comments are due by October 17, 2003.
