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Feds Spent Millions of Public Dollars to Kill Over 1.6 Million Native Animals in 2015

Date
June 21, 2016
Contact
Bethany Cotton, (503) 327-4923, bcotton@wildearthguardians.org
In This Release
Wildlife   Black bear, Bobcat, Common raven, Coyote, Mountain lion
#EndTheWarOnWildlife, #ProtectPrairieDogEmpires
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Feds Spent Millions of Public Dollars to Kill Over 1.6 Million Native Animals in 2015

Wildlife Services’ War on Wildlife Slaughters Imperiled Species and Dogs
Contact: Bethany Cotton, (503) 327-4923, bcotton@wildearthguardians.org

Additional Contact:

Kelly Nokes, 406-209-9545, knokes@wildearthguardians.org


MISSOULA, MONT. — Today,the federal government’s secretive wildlife killing program released lastyear’s alarming kill statistics.In 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Wildlife Services” programwithin the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, spent millions of taxpayerdollars to kill 1,681,283 million native animals, largely at the behest of theagriculture and livestock industries.

The casualties include 284 cougars,384 gray wolves, 480 black bears, 731 bobcats, 20,334 black-tailed prairie dogsand the destruction of 36,480 of their burrows. The program killed 1,511 grayfoxes, 1,534 red foxes, 21,557 beavers, and one critically endangered Mexicanwolf. Coyotes suffered the highest death toll with 69,905 animals killed. Theprogram also admitted to killing 17 domestic dogs. Former Wildlife Servicesemployees estimate that fewer than half of the killings are actually reported,meaning these numbers are likely hugely under-representative of the actualcarnage.

“It is a tragedy that ourgovernment continues to needlessly slaughter America’s wildlife year to year,”said Kelly Nokes, carnivore campaign lead for WildEarth Guardians. “WildlifeServices’ cruel killing of native animals is based on disproven anti-wildlifebias and undermines the critical natural systems upon which we all depend.”

In 2015, the program used a varietyof highly contentious and cruel tools, including trapping, poisoning, andshooting from airplanes to kill over 3.2 million animals, including over 1.6million native animals. While the program’s work to address the serious threatsposed by invasive species is important, the killing of native wildlife is notbased in science and is ineffective at addressing purported conflicts. The bestscience shows that when coyotes are killed, especially the alpha males andfemales, the remaining subordinate population breeds more to compensate, whichincreases the likelihood of human-wildlife conflict. Similarly, when wolves areindiscriminately killed, the pack structure is destabilized and the likelihoodof conflicts with livestock increases. Killing these animals destabilizes theself-regulating intra and inter-pack dynamics of these species, exacerbatingrather than solving alleged problems.

Several courts have recentlystruck down Wildlife Services’ cruel and unscientific practices. In December2015, a federal court faulted the program for failing to adequately analyze theimpacts of its wolf killing activities in Washington State. In August 2015, theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals made clear that conservationists can challengeWildlife Services’ wildlife killing activities. Numerous additional cases are currentlypending challenging the program’s wildlife killing throughout the West.

“Wildlife Services’ killing ofnative wildlife is scientifically baseless, ethically bankrupt, and fiscallyfoolish,” said Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director for WildEarthGuardians. “Most Americans would be outraged to know that millions of dollarsof their hard-earned money is spent on killing wildlife using cruel traps,snares, and aerial gunning.”

Conservationists are calling on theprogram to end the killing of native animals and instead devote publicresources to aiding the resolution of human-wildlife conflicts utilizing thewide variety of effective non-lethal control techniques.

“It is long past time for the killing to end. Wecall on Congress to defund Wildlife Services’ killing of native wildlife, andfor the program to adopt sound science, not the rhetoric of the tiny minority ofanti-wildlife special interests,” said Cotton.

 

Other Contact
Kelly Nokes, 406-209-9545, knokes@wildearthguardians.org