Wildlife Control Agreement Needs Environmental Review, Monterey County Judge Says

MONTEREY COUNTY, CA — A Monterey County Superior Court judge has ruled that the county should have conducted an environmental review of its contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year to kill wild animals that threaten human activities. Superior Court Judge Lydia Villareal, in a decision issued on Aug. 9, said Monterey County's agreement with the federal agency was subject to the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

She said that under that law, the county should have prepared an environmental impact report, a declaration of negative impact or other environmental document. The decision applies to the county's agreement with the
Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services for predator control for the year from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2017.

The plan was challenged in a lawsuit filed last year by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and four other conservation groups. Wildlife Services conducts a Wildlife Damage Management Program to protect agriculture and people from predators and other wildlife, such as coyotes, bobcats and foxes. It contracts with local counties and agencies to carry out the program.

The conservation groups said that over the past six years, Wildlife Services killed more than 3,500 animals in Monterey County with traps, snares and guns. The county argued its agreement was exempt from CEQA for several reasons, including that there was no change in the environment. But Villareal wrote, "There is no evidence to support the contention that" the agreement "could not result in significant environmental change."

Collette Adkins, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, said, "This decision is a major victory for Monterey County's coyotes, foxes and other wildlife.

"All the latest science shows predator control is expensive, ineffective and inhumane," she said.

A similar set of conservation groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Animal Legal Defense Fund, sued Wildlife Services in federal court in San Francisco in June.

That lawsuit claims the agency must conduct an environmental review of its Northern California program under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, the federal counterpart to CEQA. Adkins said preliminary settlement talks have begun in the federal case.

The federal lawsuit concerns the Wildlife Services' program in the agency's North District of California, which includes Butte, Humboldt, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Sierra, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter,
Trinity and Yuba counties.

By Bay City News

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