Click here for a statement from Tulsa Audubon on "The Channels"

Click Here for Information on the Threat to Mohawk Parks

Cooperative Conservation "Listening Sessions"

The Bush Administration was in Enid, OK on August 30 for a special “listening session” on “cooperative conservation and environmental partnerships.” This was a rare opportunity for Oklahoma Audubon volunteers to directly make high-level Administration officials aware of the tremendous significance of and public support for Audubon’s highest priorities, like ensuring the Endangered Species Act remains a strong safety net for species on the brink of extinction.

Click here to read more about this program at and the listening session.

John Kennington attended the meeting on behalf of Audubon members in Oklahoma. Click here for John's report on the meeting.

Unfortunately, it seems that the Administration intends to use these sessions to further its attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and other bedrock environmental laws. We need to make our voices heard to make sure they don’t get away with it. The Department of Interior is also accepting written comments on Cooperative Conservation, which can be submitted here.

According to this website, if you transmit your comments via e-mail, use 'Listening Session Comments' in the subject line of the message. Comments may also be mailed or faxed to the address provided. In any case, please let us know of your plans.

Here are some points to consider in your comments:

The Endangered Species Act is a Success

The ESA should be strengthened, not weakened or shortchanged. Full funding for listing, recovery, consultation, and cooperative conservation programs of the ESA would allow a strong and successful law to do more to save the United States’ great natural heritage.

Click here for more information on ESA. For more information about the sessions themselves, see the Department of Interior’s cooperative conservation web page.

31 charged in wild bird killings 2003-11-04 
By The Associated Press

This Associated Press Article discusses a continuing problem in Oklahoma – The use of pole traps to kill raptors by gamefowl keepers. Note the quote by James Tally, in which he says that some roosters are as valuable as a calf. That is only true if the bird is being raised for cockfighting purposes. - John Kennington

Thirty-one gamecock breeders in Oklahoma were charged Tuesday with trapping and killing predatory hawks and owls that swoop down and snatch roosters. The results of a three-month investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are a black eye for the Oklahoma cockfighting industry as it challenges a year-old ban on the bloodsport.

Federal agents were delivering violation notices to gamecock breeders and confiscating traps in 15 counties Tuesday. The Wildlife Service would not release their names until all 31 people were notified and the cases were turned over to federal prosecutors.

The breeders are accused of using steel-jawed leg traps mounted on poles that catch birds by the talons and turn them upside-down, said Julie Scully, assistant special agent in charge for the Wildlife Service's Southwest division.

"The hawk, eagle or owl is then suspended in mid air to die," Scully said. "It's very lethal."

The investigation, which included about a dozen agents who set up surveillance in rural Oklahoma, netted more violators of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act than any other in recent years, Scully said. In 1989, federal agents charged 175 people in Texas and Oklahoma with killing owls and hawks.

Gamecock breeders say flying predators are a constant threat, hawks in daytime and owls in darkness.

"You can turn a hen loose with baby chickens and a hawk will get every one of them," said James Tally, who has about 350 fowl in Cartwright. "We just hope they're out getting field mice."

Even older roosters, usually tethered by a leg so they can move in 14-foot perimeters, are sometimes attacked. Each rooster has its own house, but spends much of the day unprotected.

Tally, president of the Oklahoma Game Fowl Breeders Association, said he has used a strobe light at night to keep owls away from his birds. Other breeders hang flashing red or orange lights, or put plastic shopping bags in trees.

Breeders also can apply for permits to use non-lethal, padded traps, then call game wardens to remove the predatory birds. Problem is, they often fly right back, Tally said.

Tally said he doesn't use traps and is surprised that 31 breeders were caught with them. Still, he wishes the Wildlife Service would help breeders keep predatory birds away from their fowl instead of going after cockfighters.

"It is a little unfair that you cannot protect your own property," he said. "Some of these roosters are worth as much as calves."

The charges come at a bad time for cockfighters and breeders, who are battling a voter-approved ban on cockfighting a year ago. The 7,000-member breeders association has blocked the law's enforcement with injunctions and temporary restraining orders in about 30 of the state's 77 counties.

The group wants the Oklahoma Supreme Court to withdraw its jurisdiction and let the battle play out in county courthouses.

The breeders charged with illegal trapping live in Rogers, Sequoyah, McIntosh, Choctaw, Atoka, LeFlore, Creek, Pontotoc, Seminole, Coal, Lincoln, Pottawatomie, Murray, Grady and Jackson counties.

They face a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $15,000 fine for each violation, said Jerry Monroe, a special agent based in Edmond.

Monroe said the 31 breeders represent a small percentage of the gamecock owners in Oklahoma.

"But those who persist in illegally trapping hawks and owls are responsible for killing untold numbers of birds," Monroe said.

Richard McDonald, who oversees Wildlife Service law enforcement in the Southwest, said the investigation revealed "a callous disregard of the law and the birds it protects."

Species threatened by the traps include great horned owls, barred owls, barn owls, red-tailed hawks and red-shouldered hawks.

"Those who resort to pole trapping are destroying wild birds that are part of our natural heritage," McDonald said.