In response to a lawsuit by Guardians and allies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must analyze how two deadly pesticides it uses affect endangered wildlife. The analysis will force the government to take a long-overdue look at the damage the chemicals cause, revealing their danger and, hopefully, curbing the unintended deaths to which they give rise.
The pesticides in question include sodium cyanide and Compound 1080, both wielded by federal wildlife-killing agency Wildlife Services. Sodium cyanide is used in M-44s, also known as “cyanide bombs,” which propel the poison into the mouths of animals. Compound 1080 is used in “livestock protection” collars strapped onto sheep and goats.
Endangered animals such as grizzly bears, Canada lynx, and wolves can trigger the devices and succumb to pesticides, and secondary exposure to Compound 1080-poisoned carcasses can kill imperiled scavengers like California condors and bald eagles. The poisons also threaten humans and companion animals; last year, cyanide bombs temporarily blinded a child and killed three family dogs in two separate incidents in Idaho and Wyoming.
Read the press release.
