The Government Program That Kills Wild Animals

By Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov

03 May 12

A little-known office within the U.S. Department of Agriculture has come under scrutiny for killing thousands of animals in the name of helping ranchers and the environment.

Over the past dozen years, Wildlife Services, which has an annual budget of $127 million, has eradicated nearly a million coyotes, millions of birds and members of 300 other species, including black bears, beavers, porcupines, river otters, mountain lions and wolves.

According to an investigation by the Sacramento Bee, many of the killings were found to be “indiscriminate, at odds with science, inhumane and sometimes illegal.”

At least 50,000 animals destroyed since 2000 were not a threat to anyone. Among those needlessly slaughtered were bald eagles and more than 1,100 dogs, including family pets.

Wildlife Services’ actions also have exposed employees and members of the public to cyanide through the use of cartridges laced with poison meant to kill coyotes.

In addition, the agency’s animal-control strategies have altered ecosystems “in ways that diminish biodiversity, degrade habitat and invite disease,” wrote Tom Knudson in the Bee.

For instance, killing too many coyotes has resulted in more “disease-carrying rodents, meadow-munching rabbits, bird-eating feral cats” in some areas, causing more problems for the environment and local residents.

On Monday, the group WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit asking that Wildlife Services be shut down because it has refused to conduct environmental assessments to justify its killings.

Among the 3,752,356 animals killed by Wildlife Services in FY 2011 were:

1,500,463 European starlings

678,673 blackbirds

83,242 coyotes

32,573 wild swine

27,842 beavers

9.266 rabbits

5,647 deer

4,820 laughing gulls

4,817 house finches

3,989 ducks

1,913 chickens

1,795 swans

1,277 cats

890 parakeets

574 black bears

534 house mice

405 dogs

402 mountain lions

365 wolves

360 porcupines

345 armadillos

335 turtles

225 monkeys

187 owls

68 woodpeckers

48 chipmunks

31 minks

14 pelicans

13 alligators

12 frogs

3 wild sheep

2 moose

and

1 bald eagle