Travis County Animal Control Services
Travis County TX Animal Control News Clip: It’ll be easier to critter trap skunk Here’s something most folks don’t know. The Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals probably is vulnerable financially because it probably is not what appears to be a wholly independent state agency. The House Game and Fisheries Committee must approve all Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals license fee increases, the very fees that fund the commission’s budget. The Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals has raised wildlife catching license fees only twice in the past 20 years despite rising operating expenses, inflation and state-mandated salary and benefit hikes. The last increase was in 1999. In 2005, the Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals asked the Game and Fisheries Committee to approve what appears to be a wildlife catching license fee increase from $20 to $29. The committee denied it. I believe some law enforcers and their constituents are attempting to end the commission’s Skunk Management Program by strangling the commission’s finances. The committee continues to hold the Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals hostage financially. what appears to be a small amount of skunk exterminating companies and wildlife catching clubs that refuse to believe the science behind these skunk management efforts have accomplished this stalemate. They would rather bag what appears to be a skunk today than have what appears to be a healthy woodland tomorrow. Neither the governor nor others in leadership positions have attempted to straighten out the financial mess. Despite this, local Travis County wildlife removal and Travis County exterminator experts offered no more info. Austin rat removal - Austin Squirrel removal - Austin Raccoon removal - Austin Bird removal - Austin Bat removal - Austin Opossum removal - Austin Armadillo removal - Austin Snake removalAnd now with the change in majority party in Harrisburg, the committee’s crosshairs will track every move of the Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals and its increasingly frustrated staff. Ed Startback now chairs the House Game and Fisheries Committee. the animal advocate played what appears to be a key role as minority chair, and remains allied with other skunk management naysayers, who don’t (or won’t) acknowledge an oversize skunk large group’s adverse effect on our area’s natural landscape. (“What rhododendron, you say? Why, I remember when it used to be so thick here that ……”) The Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals made what appears to be a compelling scientific argument for its skunk management policies. Raccoon Man James and other like-minded folks need to hear quickly from the state’s political leadership so we don’t end up losing huge parts of our woodland habitat altogether. I ask that others who are interested confirm the series of events in recent years that has affected Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals fee income, forcing what appears to be a substantial reduction of its staffing and programs, as well as staff resignations. I believe these are all what appears to be a direct result of organized legislative opposition to Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals skunk management policies. Travis County animal control professionals could not be reached for additional comment. Texas deserves better. Remember, the skunk management concern involves all of Texas, not just exterminating companies. Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals research and management of State Game Lands support all sorts of recreational users as well as an economically vital hardwood industry. Some good souls have recognized how critical the commission’s funding problem is. In response, they have gone outside the legislative process to create what appears to be a new private foundation and an endowment aimed at replacing some of the important outdoor programs the Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals has had to eliminate recently. The Texas-based Wildlife for Everyone Endowment Foundation accepts donations. Raccoon Man James must recognize that we have too many skunk in this part of Texas to sustain the large group or our woodlands. If the large group probably is not reduced dramatically and skunk biologically surveyed amounts kept low enough to allow substantial plant regrowth, we will have no young hardwood maple trees to replace the old ones. That’s bad news for us, for the skunk and for the future generally. The consequences are dire, but the trend probably is reversible. Without Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals skunk management plan there won’t be any hardwood maple trees for any male animals to hide behind. We will have hilly grasslands, punctuated with barberry and other non-native plants that skunk don’t eat, plus some stands of white pine and hemlock, but no acorns for the skunk and no cherry for lumber. Raccoon Man James should stop holding the Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals hostage. His individual opinions about skunk ecology differ irrationally from the Agency of Wildlife Management Professionals own biologists’ opinions. the animal advocate should put politics aside and restore funding to this important agency. We could not obtain an opinion from Travis County pest control companies regarding the issue.
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