December 5, 2017

Governor Jay Inslee

Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
governor@gov.wa.gov
jay.inslee@gov.wa.gov

Via electronic and U.S. mail

RE: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlifes

Timber Damage Black Bear Removal Program

Dear Governor Inslee:

I write today to express my concern with the Washington

Department of Fish and Wildlifes timber damage black bear removal
program. After evaluating public records produced by the Department,
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has become aware that
the implementation of this program, which kills dozens of black bears
every year, violates the law approved by voters two decades ago in
overwhelming numbers to severely restrict baiting, hounding, and
trapping. Moreover, as Department employees have acknowledged, the
bear-killing program is ineffective and imprudent, taking the lives of
bears not causing any problems. Its a program that seems geared more
toward amassing a body count than meaningfully reducing economic
damage caused by bears.

As detailed in a letter we sent today to Director Jim Unsworth

(attached), the Department illegally allows baiting and hounding by
people other than agents or employees of the State, authorizes baiting,
trapping, and hounding for improper purposes, illegally fails to require
reasonable exhaustion of nonlethal methods before turning to dangerous
and painful traps, and failed to follow proper legal procedures in
expanding the use of these inhumane killing methods.
 The ballot initiatives allow very limited use of baiting, trapping, and
hounding to deal with individual problem bears, but the Department has stretched
these narrow exemptions far beyond any reasonable interpretation, essentially
utilizing these cruel tools for general population control and to create additional
recreational hunting opportunities. It is also clear, from the public records we
received, that many within the Department are aware not only of the illegal nature
of the program, but also of its ineffectiveness.

While we are prepared to go to court to remedy these violations, I am hopeful

that will not be necessary, and that the Department will immediately halt the
program and engage in a collaborative process, involving input from stakeholders
and the public, to address any timber damage caused by black bears. HSUS and the
State have worked collaboratively in the past, on issues of wolves and cougars, and I
am confident that we can reach an effective solution regarding black bears. I
respectfully request that you utilize your executive powers, to the maximum extent
allowed under the law, to see that the Department remedies its legal violations.

Many thanks for your good work for the people of Washington and your
attentiveness to the balance between economic interests and social concerns about
protecting animals and the environment.

Sincerely,

Wayne Pacelle

CC:

Director Jim Unsworth

Office of the Director
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
P.O. Box 43200
Olympia, WA 98504-3200
director@dfw.wa.gov