Date: Sat, 10 May 2003 06:54:56 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Norm Saunders Subject: An Important Bird Conservation Issue MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Bird Conservation Supporter, We urgently need your help to stop a proposal that will lead to the killing of unlimited numbers of Double-crested Cormorants in 24 states across the country. Every email is essential in this campaign so please act now at www.saveourbirds.org Without your help, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will allow the killing of hundreds of thousands of Double-crested Cormorants, resulting from the misguided belief that these birds deplete sport fishing resources and aquaculture stocks. This proposal goes against the reasoned science provided by leading biologists and conservationists which clearly demonstrates that the birds are being made the scapegoats for fishery declines that are in fact caused by over-fishing, pollution, habitat destruction and dams. This new rule would not only be potentially devastating to the cormorants but would also set a dangerous precedent for the potential slaughter of other birds such as Caspian Terns, Great Blue Herons, mergansers and even kingfishers. This has already begun in the Pacific Northwest, where Caspian Terns have been erroneously blamed for salmon declines and shot under FWS permits. You can help by acting now. So far, a few corporate and fishing interests have overwhelmed scientists and conservationists in commenting on the FWS proposal. Your voice will help shift the balance back in favor of reasoned science and environmental protection. Without your intervention NOW, this killing could escalate and other species will be next. Please take a moment to send an automatic message via email to the public comment docket saying NO to the proposed depredation order. Comments are due by May 16, so please don't hesitate. Go to www.saveourbirds.org and send an automatic message voicing opposition to the proposed slaughter. Thank you for your help. Birds and wildlife need your voice. George Fenwick President, American Bird Conservancy BirdWire is the email news and action alert system of American Bird Conservancy (www.abcbirds.org). We aim to bring you the latest news on bird conservation throughout the Americas and inform you how you can help preserve our unique avian biodiversity. To unsubscribe, please go to http://lists.abcbirds.org/mailman/listinfo/birdwire and click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the page. ============================ Norman C. Saunders Colesville, Montgomery County, MD marshhawk@att.net ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================