Second appeal: investigate alleged cruel wrongdoing

Wikimedia Commons

BACKGROUND | SOURCE PETA

According to news reports,  Jamie Olson, a Wyoming-based trapper for the Wildlife Services division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), recently posted photos online that depict illegal trapping activities and blatant animal abuse. In some photos, Olson poses with wild animals—including coyotes, raccoons, and bobcats—who are desperately ensnared in cruel steel-jaw traps. What’s worse, Olson reportedly allowed his hunting dogs to badly harass ensnared animals and at least one coyote was mauled to death! Olson also apparently failed to check his traps in a timely manner, leaving animals to languish and subject to attack, as evidenced by a photo showing a trapped coyote who was eaten, most likely while still alive, by scavengers.

Graphic photos posted by Olson can be viewed by clicking here and here. 

Wildlife Services claims that it does not condone cruelty, yet our repeated requests for an investigation into the matter and swift disciplinary action have gone unanswered. Please contact USDA officials and urge them to take appropriate action regarding this alarming matter. And please forward this message widely!


WHOM TO CONTACT

Email block:

gregory.l.parham@aphis.usda.gov , bill.clay@aphis.usda.gov , rodney.f.krischke@aphis.usda.gov


Individual:

Gregory Parham
Administrator
USDA-APHIS
gregory.l.parham@aphis.usda.gov

Bill Clay
Deputy Administrator
USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services
bill.clay@aphis.usda.gov

Rod Krischke
State Director
Wyoming Wildlife Services
USDA-APHIS
rodney.f.krischke@aphis.usda.gov

SAMPLE LETTER | SOURCE ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE

Dear Administrator Parham, Deputy Administrator Clay, and State Director Krischke:

Following up on the Animal Welfare Institute’s (AWI) letter, I, too, am writing to request your immediate investigation and subsequent termination of Jamie P. Olson, a Wildlife Services (WS) employee, based in Douglas, Wyoming, for blatant acts of animal cruelty.

As you are no doubt aware, you can view the following photos published by Mr. Olson:

http://media.sacbee.com/smedia/2012/11/01/22/24/vchnG.So.4.pdf.

As noted and sourced by AWI, they, and Project Coyote,  firmly oppose the use of steel-jaw traps for the capture of any species given their inherent cruelty.  I am further alarmed that instead of immediately killing the trapped animals, this WS employee inflicted even greater fear and pain on already-suffering animals caught in these brutal traps by allowing dogs to torment or attack the trapped animals as is depicted in several of the photographs. This is unacceptable behavior for any trapper, but such wanton cruelty and callous disregard for the welfare of these animals is particularly egregious when done by a government employee and must not be tolerated.

Furthermore, another photograph posted on Olson’s Twitter page titled “Eagles got to this adult female before i did. #3 bridger on a drag,” (also shown at this link –  http://wg.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=priorities_wildlife_war_wildlife_kill_methods_trapping_abuse&autologin=true ) demonstrates Olson’s failure to check his traps in a timely manner and his disregard for the animal’s pain and suffering.

I also note that Mr. Olson appears to be the primary organizer of several coyote contest hunts in Montana and one scheduled for January 2013 in Dickson, North Dakota ( article dated October 15, 2012, about the MT contest and the attached flyer advertising the ND contest mentioned at below link).

Click on this link for further information:  http://media.sacbee.com/smedia/2012/11/01/22/24/vchnG.So.4.pdf

Mr. Olson’s mobile phone number is included in the article. If this is a WS-issued phone, Mr. Olson’s use of it to organize and promote a coyote-killing contest is unacceptable and provides additional grounds for his termination.

As you know, WS is a highly controversial program responsible for killing millions of animals each year which is funded, in part, with taxpayer dollars. While AWI, PC, and WS disagree about the merits of WS’ lethal control practices, there should be no question that the intentional infliction of additional suffering on any trapped animal by a WS employee is entirely unacceptable and warrants immediate termination.

Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter and for expeditiously and decisively acting on these concerns. I look forward to receiving your response to this matter in writing by replying to my email address.

NAME

a monster like jamie olson,
in your ranks should not
serve,
time in a cell in prison
is what he
deserves!!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson