Residents with wildlife problems – in both rural and urban parts of San Benito – no longer have county support for dealing with the pests.
On Oct. 31, the San Benito County Agricultural Commissioner’s office had to nix a contract they had with the USDA Wildlife Services for Animal Damage Control due to budgetary constraints.
In June, Ross had informed supervisors that to meet the budget target set for his department he would likely have to make cuts to the wildlife services program.
“The largest non-mandated service is wildlife services,” he said. “It removes wildlife from situations that are a nuisance, creates loss of livestock or health issues, or is a risk to public safety.”
Ross had negotiated to cut the services from $73,000 a year to $56,000 by having the wildlife services officer in the county three-quarters of the time. But his department had still come up short about $47,800 based on the cuts recommended by the county administrative officer.
Ross noted that two mountain lions were removed from the county last year. At the time of the budget hearings, Supervisor Jerry Muenzer was supportive of keeping the program in some capacity.
But with further budget cuts to the department, Ross said it became imperative to cut the program entirely. He notified supervisors at the Nov. 6 meeting that the program had been closed.
“I understand we don’t have the money for wildlife services, but I’d like to direct the staff to continue to seek funding,” Muenzer said.
Ross said his staff has been doing that, but had come up short.
“Since the budget hearings the board directed us to find an alternate (source of funding,)” he said. “We tried public health or environmental health and struck out. The Farm Bureau and Cattlemen’s Association raised $8,000 but it was not enough to keep it going through the rest of the year.”
Supervisor Anthony Botelho said he regretted the program shutting down. He asked if Ross could with Animal Control or the sheriff’s department to develop a list of private contractors who could deal with wildlife such as skunks, raccoons or others.
“I will develop a list of companies that offer the services for a fee,” Ross said. “I’m not sure what the timing or cost would be.”
