Today, Doña Ana County, New Mexico, commissioners voted to adopt a new contract with federal wildlife-killing program Wildlife Services. Wildlife Services uses indiscriminate and cruel methods, including traps, poisons, and aerial gunning, to “control” (i.e., slaughter) wildlife.
The new contract imposed some new reporting requirements—which will allow the county and the public to better monitor Wildlife Services’ activities—as well as an amendment requiring Wildlife Services to attempt non-lethal control twice before resorting to lethal control. Ultimately, however, Commissioners did not fully adopt the People’s Contract for Coexistence with Wildlife, which included bans on leghold traps, M-44 cyanide bombs, and aerial gunning.
We hope future improvements to the contract will better align with the desires of Doña Ana County citizens, who have voiced their preference for the non-lethal, ethical, science-based coexistence methods articulated in the People’s Contract.
Read the press release.
