Click here to sign a petition to save 50 Acorn Woodpeckers from being shot as part of an unethical culling program in Walnut Creek.  Investigating, understanding and calling attention to this atrocity is what I focused on my first week at WildCare. 

Below is an excerpt from an email send out to WildCare's member base.  Please add you name to this petition that WildCare will be presenting to the Homeowner's Association of Rossmoor.  We can make a difference.   

The Story

Rossmoor is a senior adult community in the Tice Valley area of Walnut Creek. This scenic valley features oak woodlands and other habitats well populated by songbirds, including Acorn Woodpeckers.

Conflict between humans and woodpeckers arose when Rossmoor built two housing units very close to the woodland edge. This construction was done against the guidance of an environmental impact report which said the buildings were being built too close to wildlife habitat. In addition, the buildings' exteriors featured a low-grade substitute for stucco which the woodpeckers, having lost their granary trees to the building construction, found easy to drill.

Only Solution is Extermination?

Residents complained about the woodpeckers' noise and the unsightly holes in their buildings' walls. Exclusion techniques were improperly implemented and not carried out in entirety. Professional wildlife exclusion companies and other wildlife experts were not consulted. The homeowners association of Rossmoor decided that the only solution was to exterminate the Acorn Woodpeckers.

In 2007 Rossmoor was issued the necessary permits and twenty Acorn Woodpeckers were shot by a sharpshooter supplied by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA.) This year they received approved permits to kill fifty more birds.

This is unacceptable, unethical and immoral....a crime against nature. 

I'm asking everyone I know out there to please sign this...and then pass the petition on. 

Be the change you want to see in the world.