Help Stop "Predator Control" Districts
- Brian Posewitz
- Mar 22
- 3 min read
The Oregon Legislature will have a hearing at 8 a.m. Monday, March 24, on a bill to allow special taxing districts to raise money for killing wildlife deemed a threat to private property. Please submit written comments opposing this bill before the hearing, or at least no later than 8 a.m. Wednesday, March 26 (the deadline for written comments).
House Bill 2403 would allow formation of "predator damage control districts" to collect money from property owners for spending on "predator control." Targeted animals could include coyotes, cougars, bears, wolves, rabbits, beavers, and birds deemed destructive to agriculture. There would be no obligation to consider or use nonlethal approaches to prevent wildlife damage before resorting to lethal methods.
In practice, money raised by the districts would help pay for operation in Oregon of the federal "Wildlife Services" program - a program known for cruel and unnecessary killing of wildlife. (See 'That's a bloodbath': How a federal program kills wildlife for private interests, NPR investigation (2024); Exposed – USDA’s Secret War on Wildlife (short documentary film); The Rogue Agency, Harper’s Magazine (2016).)
In 2023, the most recent year for which we have data, Wildlife Services killed 124,826 native animals in Oregon, including 237 bears, 2,664 coyotes, 114 mountain lions, and 80 red foxes; using methods including neck and leg snares, steel-jawed leghold traps, cage traps, and aerial gunning; and 55 coyote and red fox dens, where young pups are kept, were gassed.
Legislators should not be approving programs to give Wildlife Services even more money to do even more cruel killing, especially since the science increasingly shows that killing animals such as cougars and coyotes doesn’t work to reduce problems caused by wildlife and may even make them worse. (See Evidence Does Not Support Hunting As A Way To Control Cougars: Study, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Feb. 24, 2020; Killing Coyotes Is Not As Effective As Once Thought, Researchers Say, National Public Radio (2019).)
HB 2403 has a hearing scheduled for 8 a.m. Monday, March 24. Please submit brief comments in opposition to HB 2403 before then if you can, or at least no later than 8 a.m. Wednesday, March 26, the deadline for written comments.
Your written testimony can be submitted here.
Be sure you enter your “position on the measure” as “oppose” and then click on “text testimony” to write directly in the form or “Upload a PDF.”
It's best to use your own words, but a suggested message is:
"Please oppose House Bill 2403. This bill would allow special government districts to raise money for killing wildlife only because the animals might damage private property. House Bill 2403 would not require recipients of the money to use or even consider using alternatives that don't require killing the animals. Moreover, the money raised would go to the federal "Wildlife Services" program, which is known for cruel and unnecessary killing of wildlife as its preferred method of dealing with human-wildlife conflicts. Oregon should focus instead on finding peaceful ways to co-exist with wildlife."
Please also email a similar message directly to your own state legislators and be sure to tell them you are a "constituent," meaning you live in their district. If you don't already know who they are, you can type in your address here and get their names and email addresses. (You have one state senator and one state representative - the first two names that appear in the search results.)
Thank you for helping us advocate for animals!
