Marcy Kaptur: “Mr. Chairman, I wish to rise in opposition to this amendment, though I think it has some very good intentions, and it…”

“Mr. Chairman, I wish to rise in opposition to this amendment, though I think it has some very good intentions, and it will no doubt cause discussion inside the Wildlife Service offices across this country. Nonetheless, it is the only Federal program that we have to control damage by wild animals, not just to farm property but to individuals. I can think in my own State of Ohio, for example, this program, in cooperation with our State and local agencies, has been involved in establishing a rabies-free barrier to stop the western migration of raccoons infected with rabies. We have seen this program operate hand in hand with the Centers for Disease Control and State health departments in control of other disease such as Lyme disease and other wildlife-borne disease. According to Utah State University, their Institute for Wildlife Biology, overall in our country losses from wildlife damage approach $3 billion annually and fully one-third of that is estimated by the Federal Aviation Administration to be lost by the airline industry from birds.”