February 9, 2018
CapitalPress.com
5
Animal rights advocates square off over horse birth control
One group opposes use of contraceptive
while another supports treatments
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
An animal rights group
will be allowed to defend
birth control for wild horses
against a lawsuit by another
animal rights group that op-
poses it.
Last year, the Friends of
Animals nonprofit filed a
complaint seeking to halt
birth control treatments of
wild horses with a contra-
ceptive known as porcine
zona pellucida, or PZP.
The lawsuit claims the
U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency violated federal
pesticide law by registering
PZP for wild horses without
fully examining adverse ef-
fects on the animals or their
environment.
The Humane Society of
the United States, an animal
rights group that registered
PZP birth control with the
EPA, has now received per-
mission from a federal judge
to intervene in the case as a
defendant.
The group said it’s com-
mitted to birth control
treatments because they’re
a more humane tool than
“roundups, long-term main-
Larisa Bogardus/BLM
A 2015 gathering of wild horses from the Beaty Butte Management
Area, adjacent to the Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in
southern Oregon. An animal rights organization has filed a lawsuit
seeking to stop birth control treatments of wild horses on public
land. Wild horses compete with cattle for grazing resources on
rangeland.
tenance in holding facilities,
euthanasia or slaughter.”
Simply removing wild
horses from the range
doesn’t stop high popula-
tion growth rates while us-
ing PZP reduces the need for
roundups over time, accord-
ing to HSUS.
On
Maryland’s As-
sateague Island, for exam-
ple, the hazardous horse
gatherings have been ended
entirely due to birth control,
the group said.
Friends of Animals, on
the other hand, claims that
PZP raises the odds that fe-
males will give birth during
the wrong season by disrupt-
ing their reproductive cycle,
which endangers foals due to
inadequate food sources.
Repeated use of the con-
traceptive may also lead
to permanent infertility in
mares, according to Friends
of Animals.
The plaintiff wants EPA to
suspend registration of PZP
— effectively ceasing its use
— until the substance’s tox-
icity and ecological effects
are better understood.
Friends of Animals al-
leges that studies submitted
to the federal government by
HSUS weren’t sufficiently
thorough.
U.S. Magistrate Judge
Patricia Sullivan in Pend-
leton, Ore., has ruled that
HSUS has a “protectable
interest” in the lawsuit, as it
would be negatively affected
by PZP’s cancellation or the
need for additional scientific
review.
Also, since the EPA’s in-
terests in the case may di-
verge from those of HSUS,
the nonprofit should be al-
lowed to intervene in the
case, Sullivan said.
WSU Bread Lab receives $1.5 million endowment
Organic grain
research funded
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
Chairman Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, listens to testimony Jan. 31
in Olympia on a bill to redistribute wolves within the state. Blake
opposes relocating wolves to unoccupied regions, but let the bill
through his committee, saying current state policy is unfair to
northeast Washington.
House committee OKs
bill to move wolves
‘No’ votes from
rural lawmakers
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Legislation
directing the Washington De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife
to move wolves from east to
west passed the House Agri-
culture and Natural Resources
Committee Feb. 1.
The bill, sponsored by
northeast Washington Rep.
Joel Kretz, was supported by
urban lawmakers, but was op-
posed by Western Washington
legislators whose rural dis-
tricts would be candidates for
receiving wolves.
“This is a difficult one for
me. I may be a lone wolf on
this one and be a ‘no’ vote.
I understand why the bill is
needed. and I think it’s going
to pass here today, and so let’s
call the roll,” said committee
chairman Brian Blake, D-Ab-
erdeen.
The committee voted 12-3
to recommend the House ap-
prove the bill. Two Republi-
cans who also represent rural
southwest Washington cast
the other “no” votes.
House Bill 2771 declares
that the eastern one-third of
Washington has a host of
thriving wolfpacks and ur-
gently needs relief. Under the
bill, WDFW would start a sci-
entific review to move wolves
to suitable regions unoccu-
pied by wolves.
A review could take sev-
eral years. The department
would be required to report to
the Legislature on its progress
by the end of 2020.
Wolves are well estab-
lished in northeast Washing-
ton and are showing signs of
migrating toward the North
Cascades. Wildlife managers
also expect wolves to colonize
the South Cascades, though
WDFW has yet to document
a pack in that region.
Wolves are a state-protect-
ed species and under current
law will be until they are re-
producing at least as far west
as the Cascades.
Redistributing
wolves
within the state is an option
to spur recovery, according to
the state’s wolf plan. WDFW,
however, says it expects
wolves will disperse without
help.
Kretz, whose expansive
district has a majority of the
state’s wolves, said he was
more concerned about im-
mediately taking pressure off
his constituents, particularly
ranchers.
“I appreciate people work-
ing with me on this,” he said.
Although against relocat-
ing wolves, Blake said the
state’s wolf policy is unfair
to northeast Washington. “We
do have to deal with this,” he
said.
The vote itself was highly
unusual. Committee chairmen
rarely allow votes on bills
they oppose.
The Washington Farm
Bureau and Washington Cat-
tlemen’s Association sup-
ported the bill at an earlier
hearing.
“It is an urgent, dire situ-
ation in northeast Washing-
ton,” the Farm Bureau’s di-
rector of government relations
Tom Davis said, testifying on
behalf of both organizations.
WDFW has culled wolf-
packs five times since 2012 to
stop chronic attacks on live-
stock.
Washington State Univer-
sity’s Bread Lab in Mount
Vernon has received a $1.5
million endowment from Clif
Bar & Company, King Ar-
thur Flour Co. and 11 other
donors to fund research on
growing organic grains.
The endowment will gen-
erate at least $60,000 a year,
the lab’s director, Stephen
Jones, said.
“We already have organic
research. This helps support
that,” he said. “This allows
us to have a stable funding
source. After I’m gone, the
money is still there.”
The Bread Lab conducts
research on breeding wheat,
barley, buckwheat and other
small grains for baking and
malting. The lab includes the
King Arthur Flour Baking
School.
Clif Bar contributed
$850,000 and King Arthur
Flour contributed $500,000
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Fruit and vegetable growers and others interested in
learning about produce safety, the Food Safety
Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, Good
Agricultural Practices (GAPs), and co-management of
natural resources and food safety. The PSA Grower
Training Course is one way to satisfy the FSMA
Produce Safety Rule training requirement.
Ontario, Oregon • February 23, 2018
Cost to attend: $25
To register, visit: producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu
or contact Sue Davis at sdavis@oda.state.or.us
503-807-5864
Funding for these trainings was made possible by
Grant Number 1U18FD005889-01 from the FDA.
Presented in partnership with Oregon
State University Extension Services and
the National Young Farmers Coalition
ROP-5-3-2/110
to the endowment. Nine in-
dividuals and two organiza-
tions contributed $150,000.
“The Bread Lab serves as
a model for other regions of
rural America to replicate,”
said Matthew Dillon, Clif
Bar senior director of agri-
cultural policy and programs,
in a written statement.
Jones said the money will
help the lab assist farmers in-
terested in growing organic
grains.
“In general, there is not
enough organic wheat to fill
the demand in the country,”
Jones said.
Western Washington is
well positioned to supply or-
ganic grains, he said. Grains
grow well in the moist soil
and can be planted in rotation
with other crops, he said.
USDA delays federal milk marketing order for California
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
California dairymen will have to wait
even longer to see where things stand on
joining the federal milk marketing order
system.
USDA has announced it is pausing
those proceedings while it awaits the
outcome of an unrelated U.S. Supreme
Court case, which could call into ques-
tion the appointment of USDA’s admin-
istrative law judge presiding over the
FMMO proceedings.
That case, Lucia v. Securities and
Exchange Commission, will determine
whether administrative law judges ap-
pointed by federal agencies are employ-
ees of the agencies or “inferior officers”
of the government. Inferior officers are
subject to the appointment clause in the
Constitution and must be appointed by
the president, a department head or a
court.
USDA has worked under the assump-
tion that its administrative law judges are
employees. Depending on the court’s de-
cision, the agency might be required to
make some changes. It is delaying the
process to preserve the integrity of the
proceedings, said a spokesman for the
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.
The court is expected to render a de-
cision on or before the end of its term on
June 30.
The news is a double whammy for
California dairy farmers, who were just
Saturday
Feb. 24th • 9-4
Upcoming
Produce Safety
Alliance
Grower
Training
Washington State University
Kim Binczewski, managing director of the Bread Lab at Washington State University’s research
station in Mount Vernon, makes whole wheat scones. The Bread Lab has received a $1.5 million
endowment to conduct research on organic grain.
Sunday
Capital Press File
Cows are milked at VanderWoude Dairy
near Merced, Calif. The USDA has
delayed a federal milk marketing order
for California pending the outcome of an
unrelated court case.
denied a hearing on increasing milk pric-
es by the California Department of Food
and Agriculture, which cited the pending
federal order.
Producers have been awaiting a fi-
nal decision by USDA on a California
FMMO, hoping to bring their milk prices
up to par with other major milk-produc-
ing states.
“We need to get USDA’s final deci-
sion for a California FMMO out and its
fate into the hands of producers who are
suffering under the uncertainty the delay
in this process is creating,” said Annie
AcMoody, director of economic policy
for Western United Dairymen.
“This delay is very disappointing
because it seems neither government
agency will be able (USDA) or willing
(CDFA) to assist struggling California
y
l
i
F
un
m
a
F
dairy families soon,” she said.
California Dairy Campaign and Milk
Producers Council are likewise disap-
pointed by the delay.
“We’re really disheartened by it; we
thought we were pretty close to getting
a final decision,” said Lynne McBride,
CDC executive director.
Dairy producers want to move ahead
with the process. It’s disappointing that
the industry will now have to sit back un-
til an unrelated court case is decided, giv-
en the current economic situation. Milk
prices are $13 a hundredweight, and cost
of production is $18, she said.
“Dairymen are incurring really sig-
nificant losses and questioning how long
they can stay in business,” she said.
Geoff Vandenhuevel, MPC board
member and economic consultant, said
he thinks USDA is being overly cautious
in delaying the process.
“It’s a disappointment. We’re ready
to go, and I think USDA is ready to go.
You hate to see the lawyers hold it up,”
he said.
He doesn’t see any similarity between
the court case and USDA’s process. In
that case, the SEC administrative law
judge levied an enforcement action and
the other side is trying to get out of it with
the appointment issue, he said.
It’s hard to imagine how that applies
to the California FMMO, where the ad-
ministrative law judge only gathered
information and doesn’t make any deci-
sions, he said.
Adults: $5 CASH
ONLY
Under 18: FREE
FREE PARKING
Feb. 25th • 10-4
Polk County Fairgrounds
and Event Center
520 S. Pacific Hwy West
Rickreall, OR 97371
Proceeds to Benefit
Local 4H & FFA
• Farmer’s Bounty Market • Local Ag Seminars • Ag Tech
• Artisan Vendors • 4-H Petting Zoo • Free Face Painting
6-3/109