Attention VA Residents

[ER12]

Greetings,

We are writing to notify you of a new effort to identify issues and potential recommendations about dangerous and exotic animals in Virginia. This effort will involve a wide variety of participants and we look forward to your potential involvement.

Governor McDonnell has asked the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) to review Virginia’s policies and regulations on dangerous and exotic animals. DGIF and other state agencies that are involved in animal regulation have asked the Institute for Environmental Negotiation at the University of Virginia to help facilitate a process for engaging multiple, diverse stakeholders in this effort.

You have been suggested as someone who is familiar with the issues surrounding the keeping and care of dangerous, exotic and wild animals in Virginia. We would like to invite you to join our notification list so that we can keep you updated on this process.

If you would like to receive these updates, you do not need to do anything further to stay on this list.

If you would prefer not to receive these updates, you can opt out by clicking "UNSUBSCRIBE" at the bottom of this email.

If you know of anyone else who should be included on this notification list, you can forward them the message using the "FORWARD" link below, or you can invite them to send us an email at animals@virginia.edu to subscribe.

Over the next few months there will be several opportunities to engage with this process, hear different perspectives, and share information. We will use this notification list to announce all of these opportunities. We will send another email in the near future with resources and ways to share your ideas. Thank you for your interest in joining this conversation, and for your patience as we develop a process for discussing these issues together.

Sincerely,

David K. Whitehurst
Director, Bureau of Wildlife Resources
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries

Christine Muehlman Gyovai
UVa Institute for Environmental Negotiation
animals@virginia.edu | 434-982-6464

[Dragoon]

Guess there is always more to do.