Letter writing campaign to save Mich. Wildlife

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Letter writing campaign to save Mich. Wildlife

by Sharon St.Croix

Dec 31, 2008

This past November, my grandfather was issued a ticket for using corn in a spin feeder at my grandparent’s home in northern Clare County. My grandparents feed the wild turkeys. There has been a ban on feeding and baiting of deer and elk in the lower peninsula of Michigan sense the end of August after Chronic Wasting Disease was discovered in a deer at a deer farm in Kent County near Grand Rapids. After intense testing of whitetail deer (10,000), no additional cases have been discovered in either Michigan’s wild deer herd or at deer farms. Winter has arrived, and this year a lot of areas of the Lower Peninsula have experienced record or near record amounts of snow fall for the month of December. The crops have all been harvested, food sources that people have planted to help the wildlife are snow covered, and people who have for years fed and helped the wildlife out during the long winters are no longer allowed to do it. We have seen pictures of deer at the windows of people’s hom...See MoreThis past November, my grandfather was issued a ticket for using corn in a spin feeder at my grandparent’s home in northern Clare County. My grandparents feed the wild turkeys. There has been a ban on feeding and baiting of deer and elk in the lower peninsula of Michigan sense the end of August after Chronic Wasting Disease was discovered in a deer at a deer farm in Kent County near Grand Rapids. After intense testing of whitetail deer (10,000), no additional cases have been discovered in either Michigan’s wild deer herd or at deer farms. Winter has arrived, and this year a lot of areas of the Lower Peninsula have experienced record or near record amounts of snow fall for the month of December. The crops have all been harvested, food sources that people have planted to help the wildlife are snow covered, and people who have for years fed and helped the wildlife out during the long winters are no longer allowed to do it. We have seen pictures of deer at the windows of people’s homes and eating the shrubbery and plants next to people’s houses. There have been reports of turkeys dieing. One woman in the north western Lower Peninsula, who has a flock of 40+ turkeys near her home, has reported that at least half the flock has already died. There have also been reports of fawn (the baby) deer having a real hard time in the deep snow. We have waited for the end of the deer hunting season so the baiting of deer for hunting would not be an issue.

We are asking for help. Would anybody be willing to talk to their kids and to get a letter writing campaign started in their schools and ask that the feeding ban be lifted for the winter to help the wildlife? Fund raising could also be started by the kids and donations to the Michigan State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. This organization supports winter supplemental feeding and has a fund available for winter survival feeding programs. Last year there were request’s for a total of $26,000 for winter feeding, but there was only $17,500 available. The number of turkeys reported was 23,000. There is a web site; [link removed].

There are still areas in the Lower Peninsula where the feeding ban should probably be left in place, The TB zone in the north eastern lower, and in Kent County where the one case of CWD had been discovered.

Letter writing should be addressed to;

The Governor of the State of Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm P.O. Box 30013 Lansing, Mich. 48909

The Chairman of the Natural Resources Commission Keith J. Charters 126 Spring Hill rd. Traverse City, Mich. 49686

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