Mary Cummins Wildlife Rehabilitation Animal Advocates News Los Angeles California: texas

Showing posts with label texas. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Kaput hog poison withdrew application to poison in Texas - Mary Cummins, Animal Advocates

sid miller, wild boar hog pig, kaput, poison, warfarin, anti-coagulant, bait, mary cummins, animal advocates, wild boar meat, texas, kill, deer, vultures, cottontails, coyote,

Ever since we first heard about someone wanting to kill wild boar with anti-coagulant bait we stepped in to help shut this down. I'm very happy to announce that after pressure from lawmakers, attorneys, Wild Boar Meat Company, hunters, animal activists, environmentalists, veterinarians...the poison maker has withdrawn their application to use the poison in Texas. I'm so thankful that Republican House Representative Lynn Stucky introduced a bill to fully research the poison before using it. Stucky is also a veterinarian.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2017/04/25/hog-apocalypse-hold-poison-manufacturer-pulls-texas?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter

By coincidence just this morning I received the results of my FOIA to the EPA. There were some interesting items in their "research."

On page 93 they stated there was spillage at the bait box. They stated quite a few wild mammals and birds ate the spillage including coyotes, birds, ground squirrels, cottontails, wood rats and deer. Coyotes, deer, birds can travel great distances. No one would know if they were poisoned as their fat does not turn blue. Many people hunt deer to eat. Game mammals can't be poisoned for obvious reasons. Most birds are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

On page 93 they state one dead raccoon was found. They only checked to see if it had signs of the dye. It didn't. They should have tested the liver.

On page 93, 94 they stated they left one dead hog at the site. It was scavenged upon by coyotes, feral hogs, turkey vultures and crows besides maggots. This shows dead poisoned hogs will be scavenged upon by non-target wildlife. Here in California we're losing our vulture population because of this poison.

They also said one piglet died. They said the liver would have been too small to analyze but the piglet could not have eaten the poison directly. A piglet's liver is not too small to analyze. The state lab analyzed the livers of ground squirrels, pigeons which only weigh one pound. Newborn piglets weigh 600 to 1,000 grams. 1 lb = 453 grams. They could have easily tested the piglet's liver. They probably didn't want to because it would have been found that the baby died from consuming the mother's poisoned milk. That would make them look bad.

They stated dead poisoned hogs should be buried with at least 18 inches of dirt on top of them underground. Hogs are huge. That would be a very expensive burial. Here in CA you have to pay someone to take away a dead animal. It costs $500 to dispose of a horse. Poisoned animals are considered toxic waste. You can't put them in the trash or landfill because non-target wildlife will eat them and die. We render them here in CA but that costs money.

Here is the result of my FOIA request.

https://foiaonline.regulations.gov/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d28118e816

We can't yet relax. The poison company applied to use the poison in Louisiana and Oklahoma. We need to stop this nationally. At least the company wasn't dumb enough to try to use it in California.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

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Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate Services has been in real estate since 1983, over 35 years. She is licensed by the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers. Mary Cummins was an agent and broker licensed with the California Department of Real Estate selling residential income, commercial buildings, raw land and homes for Merrill Lynch Realty in Beverly Hills and Westside Properties in Los Angeles before concentrating on appraisals. Mary Cummins currently provides real estate appraisals, expert witness testimony, historical research, legal real estate research for mortgage brokers, banks, lawyers, factors, insurance companies, financial consultants and private individuals. Mary Cummins was born and raised in Southern California. Cummins attended Beverly Hills Good Shepherd Catholic School and Beverly Hills High School. Besides being on the Dean's list, Mary Cummins was a top ten national swimmer and competed on the men's water polo team. Mary Cummins began college at the age of 15 attending the University of Southern California on scholarship, majoring in Psychology/Sociology. http://www.animaladvocates.us http://www.facebook.com/AnimalAdvocatesUSA

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Deadly Fungus Invades Texas and is Found on a New Bat Species - BCI - Mary Cummins, Animal Advocates

BCI, Bat Conservation International, WNS, White Nose Syndrome, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, Animal Advocates, Mary Cummins, Los Angeles, California

Deadly Fungus Invades Texas and is Found on a New Bat Species

The fungus known to cause White-nose Syndrome (WNS), a disease that has decimated hibernating bat populations in the United States and Canada, has been discovered for the first time in Texas.

The fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) was detected on three species of hibernating bats in northern Texas: the cave myotis (pictured), Townsend’s big-eared bat, and the tri-colored bat. This is the first discovery of Pd on the cave myotis and the first detection of the fungus on western populations of Townsend's big-eared bats - two bat species with distributions extending further into the west.

"This is devastating news for Texas, and a serious blow for our western bat species," says Mike Daulton, Executive Director for Bat Conservation International (BCI).

Katie Gillies, Director of Imperiled Species for BCI added, "We have been surveying hibernating bats and monitoring for the arrival of Pd for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) since 2011. At this early stage of detection, we have not observed any visible signs of the disease on any bats in the state, such as white fungal growth on the nose and wings. Detecting the fungus when it first arrives gives us a chance to take action and try to minimize the impacts from White-nose Syndrome on our Texas bats."

The fungus was detected in six Texas counties from samples collected in January and February by BCI and Texas A&M University (TAMU) biologists as part of a larger national surveillance study led by University of California, Santa Cruz. The cave and bat samples were collected in Childress, Collingsworth, Cottle, Hardeman, King, and Scurry counties.

"The arrival of the fungus in Texas is not surprising. I’ve been looking for it for years, hoping I would never find it. And now that it’s here, I’m devastated because I know what WNS does to bats. After years of surveys, I feel a special responsibility to these bats. I know them – I see them every winter. And now, I fear that I might not see them for much longer. We must act now," explains Gillies.

"We need to expand our targeted surveillance to get a better understanding of the distribution of the fungus. We will also be reaching out to landowners and the community to help protect bat roosts and emphasize decontamination to reduce the likelihood of an accidental spread of the fungus to a new location."

White-nose Syndrome has been rapidly expanding westward since its discovery in New York in 2007. Millions of bats have been killed by the disease, with population declines greater than 90% in some states.

Texas, with 32 bat species, has the greatest diversity of bat fauna in the country. The state is also home to the famous roosts of Mexican free-tailed bats at the Ann. W. Richards Congress Ave Bridge in Austin and Bracken Cave, one of the largest bat colonies in the world, near San Antonio. However, Mexican free-tailed bats do not hibernate all winter and may not be highly susceptible to the disease.

"While we are cautiously optimistic that Mexican free-tailed bats will not be heavily impacted by the disease, we do have serious concerns for hibernating species, such as the cave myotis, that often share their roosts," says Winifred Frick, BCI Senior Director of Conservation Science.

Texas is the most eastern edge of the distribution for the cave myotis, with the species being found throughout southwestern USA and into Mexico. The discovery of the fungus in Texas is significant on a national scale as biologists are concerned that the spread of Pd into western states will be exacerbated as this and other western species are exposed.

"The detection of Pd in Texas comes on the heels of last week’s announcement of White-nose Syndrome being confirmed in Nebraska. This emphasizes the need for us to not only increase our surveillance but also our research efforts to identify and develop tools to improve survival for bats exposed to the fungus. Although there is no known treatment for White-nose Syndrome, we are actively working on research that may prove effective," Frick explained.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

Mary Cummins

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Mary Cummins v crazy lady in Texas appeal submitted to Second Court of Appeals in Texas

Mary Cummins v crazy lady in Texas appeal of the 352nd district court case for defamation and breach of contract was submitted to the Second Court of Appeals in Texas. The Court is expected to release their opinion by the end of the year.

Mary Cummins was sued by crazy lady in Texas for defamation and breach of contract September 2010. The trial took place June 2012. Defendant Cummins lost at trial and appealed to the Second Court of Appeals.

Cummins' appeal states that appellees did not show the elements of defamation or malice. Appellees also did not show the elements of breach of contract. Lastly appellees did not show any evidence for any damages.

Cummins' defamation case is almost identical to the appeal of Carla Main v H. Walker Royall appeal # 05–09–01503–CV. Cummins who is not an attorney wrote her appeal as a pro se. Cummins' defamation argument and citations are almost identical to those of Carla Main. Cummins never crazy lady in Texas. Because they are public figures they would also have to show malice which they did not show. They also did not show any evidence of any damage.

Two attorneys for two animal rights organizations and a freedom of speech organization Public Citizen wrote amicus briefs on behalf of Cummins. Their argument mirrored Cummins' appeal, i.e. there was no proof of defamation, malice or damages. One attorney went so far as to state that the court should have referred the case to a criminal court to file charges against crazy lady in Texas for animal cruelty. In video which was presented at the trial ...can be seen operating on a bat without pain relief when she is not a veterinarian and has not gone past the eighth grade in school.

In Cummins' appeal she proves that appellees showed no proof of defamation for the 45 alleged defamatory statements. In fact Cummins never even knew what phrases appellees considered to be defamation until after the trial in the form of the court order. Cummins noted that appellees did not even reply to the points she raised in her appeal or to the specific items. No one wrote an amicus brief on behalf of appellees.

The appeals court opinion should reverse the 352nd District Court case final order. Retired visiting Judge William Brigham oversaw the trial though Judge Bonnie Sudderth is the Judge for that court.

Below are the actual documents in the appeal.

Below are the documents for my appeal. It was submitted to the judges yesterday. They should issue an opinion in two weeks to two months.

Motion to strike court order in the trial court

http://marycummins.com/motion_strike_order.pdf

Petition for Review for Supreme Court of Texas

http://animaladvocates.us/petition_review_supreme_court.pdf

My Appellant's appeal brief

http://www.marycummins.com/mary_cummins_appeal.pdf

Appellees' reply brief

http://www.marycummins.com/appellee_reply_brief.pdf

My Appellant's reply to their reply brief

http://www.marycummins.com/marycumminsreplybrief.pdf

Amicus brief submitted on my behalf by Public Citizen attorney Paul Alan Levy

http://www.animaladvocates.us/cummins_amicus_brief.pdf

Amicus brief submitted on my behalf by The Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary and Elephants in Crisis.org attorney David Casselman

http://www.animaladvocates.us/mary_cummins_v_bat_world_sanctuary_amicus_letter.pdf

Below is ann article about Carla Main winning her appeal against H. Walker Royall.

Texas Appeals Court Rejects Developer's Defamation Claims

Jul. 26, 2011 4:10 pm

"This week a Texas appeals court threw out nearly all of Dallas developer H. Walker Royall's defamation lawsuit against Carla Main, author of Bulldozed, a 2007 book about eminent domain abuse, and her publisher, Encounter Books. Royall—who initially sued not only Main and Encounter but also a newspaperthat that published a review of the book, along with University of Chicago law professor Richard Epstein, who provided a blurb for it—did not like the way he was portrayed in Main's discussion of a marina project in Freeport, Texas, that involved seizing land from a local shrimping business. In November 2009, the trial court rejected Main and Encounter's argument that Royall's lawsuit should be dismissed because Bulldozed is protected by the First Amendment. But Texas law allows the immediate appeal of such decisions, and yesterday the Court of Appeals for the 5th District of Texas ruled that Royall had failed to specify anything in the book that defamed him. "We have examined the 79 grounds in the no-evidence motion that address statements in the book and have concluded that Royall did not raise a genuine issue of material fact regarding any of the grounds," the court said.

That conclusion is remarkable given the highly favorable standard that Royall enjoyed at this stage of the case. He would have been allowed to proceed if he had offered "more than a scintilla of evidence" on each of three points required to win: 1) that the defendant published a statement of fact, 2) that the statement was defamatory, and 3) that the defendant acted with "actual malice" regarding the truth of the statement (in a case involving a public figure). Furthermore, Royal was entitled to "every reasonable inference" and the benefit of any doubt. Yet in the appeals court's judgment, he had essentially no chance of prevailing on any of his allegations concerning the book. The only remaining issues, which were sent back to the trial court for further consideration, relate to whether Main and Encounter "aided, abetted, and ratified others' defamatory statements" about Royall.

"Walker Royall has failed in his attempt to use this frivolous defamation lawsuit as a weapon to silence his critics," says Dana Berliner, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which is representing Main and Encounter. "The appeals court has exposed the frivolity of Royall's lawsuit, holding that Royall failed to prove that a single word of Bulldozed defames him."

That is the positive spin. Here is the negative spin: In our system of justice, rich people with thin skins don't need any evidence to drag their critics into an expensive, time-consuming, anxiety-provoking legal process that lasts for years. For any journalist who has ever wondered whether he could be sued over something he wrote that reflected badly on someone (which some of us do several times a day), the answer is yes: You can be sued over anything. The suit may not be legally successful, but if the plaintiff's goal is to punish you for the offense you caused him and make you (and everyone else) think twice before writing about him again, he wins whether or not he ultimately can prevail in court.

Below is the opinion in the Carla Main, The Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc appeal

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/tx-court-of-appeals/1575305.html

Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins Animal Advocates Los Angeles California Wildlife Rehabilitation Real Estate

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Mary Cummins v crazy lady in Texas appeal of the 352nd district court case for defamation and breach of contract was submitted to the Second Court of Appeals in Texas. The Court is expected to release their opinion by the end of the year.