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Bangor, ME
— The Animal Welfare
Institute (AWI) and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine (WAM) sent a
letter of
intent to sue Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (DIFW)
Commissioner Roland D. Martin today to compel the agency to comply with federal
law and take immediate action to protect Canada lynx from deadly traps. The
letter, which was also sent to Governor Baldacci and Attorney General Steven
Rowe, reveals that at least 8 Canada Lynx – a species listed as threatened under
the Endangered Species Act - were caught in traps set for other species in a one
month time period between October 15, 2007 and November 13, 2007.
“The state has failed to protect
Canada lynx from indiscriminate traps and is therefore in violation
of the Endangered Species Act every time a lynx gets caught,” said
Camilla Fox, Wildlife Consultant for AWI. “With eight lynx trapped
in just 29 days, this means that on average at least one lynx is
trapped every four days during the trapping season,” said Fox. “And
that’s just the reported number.”
A similar lawsuit filed by the
Animal Protection Institute last year led to a consent decree
settlement with the state that required DIFW to restrict certain
traps in specific regions inhabited by lynx. “Unfortunately those
restrictions were woefully inadequate,” said Daryl DeJoy, Founding
Executive Director of WAM. “More lynx have been trapped after the
settlement was implemented than in previous years so we will be
forced to go to court if DIFW fails to take immediate action to
better protect lynx from non-selective traps.”
The state has attempted to obtain
an incidental take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(FWS) which would remove the legal burden from the state if trappers
incidentally trap lynx and would require the state to implement
protective measures to minimize and mitigate lynx trapping. However,
three drafts have been rejected by the FWS to date and each time the
federal agency has told DIFW that it must do better to protect lynx
from traps set for other furbearers.
Maine’s resident lynx population is
estimated at only 200-500 individuals. However, the FWS has stated
that the population may be in decline and snow shoe hare
populations- the main source of prey for lynx - are in severe
decline. “It is biologically reckless for the DIFW to continue to
allow trappers to use traps that pose a danger to lynx at a time
when lynx populations and their main source of prey are likely in
decline,” said Fox.
The Animal Welfare Institute is a non-profit charitable organization founded in
1951 to reduce the sum total of pain and fear inflicted on animals by humans.
More information is available at
www.awionline.org.
The Wildlife Alliance of Maine is a non-profit organization dedicating to
advocating on behalf of Maine’s wildlife and to promoting a conservation ethic
that represents non-consumptive wildlife users.
More information is available at
www.wildlifealliancemaine.org.
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Contact:
Camilla Fox, Animal Welfare Institute, 415-690-0338 (mobile)/
415-945-3232 (office)
Daryl DeJoy, Wildlife Alliance of Maine, 207 299 2291 (mobile)/ 207
941 9453 (office)
Photos available
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