WildEarth Guardians

A Force for Nature

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Photo Credit: Cavallapazza

Wildlife Services, the federal wildlife killing agency, must be fundamentally reformed!

End the War on Wildlife

Few Americans realize that as taxpayers we help fund a program called “Wildlife Services,” a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. This ironically named program doesn’t serve wildlife. It wages a clandestine war on America’s wildlife. Every year, the Wildlife Services killing machine poisons, traps, and guns down millions of our nation’s most majestic animals—from imperiled swift foxes to bald eagles—at the request of a minority of ranching and agricultural interests.

Wildlife Services’ policies are not driven by modern scientific evidence that recognizes the crucial role carnivores play in ensuring healthy ecosystems. Instead, they are motivated by archaic prejudices against iconic species like cougars, coyotes, bears, and wolves.

At WildEarth Guardians, we recognize and advocate for native species’ inherent right to exist and thrive. Why? Because it’s their birthright—this is their home and their last refuge. We are working to end Wildlife Services’ trapping, poisoning, and aerial gunning of native species on our public lands and shift the paradigm to coexistence between humans and wildlife. 

Stand up for Wildlife

You can be a voice for wildlife across the West. Visit our action center to see the ways you can protect endangered and vulnerable species.

TAKE ACTION

 

What We’re Doing

Native wildlife deserves to exist and thrive in their home, the iconic landscapes of the American West. We are building a groundswell of support to end the cruel and outdated killing methods of Wildlife Services.

Removing Tools of Cruelty

Stopping poisoning, trapping, snaring, aerial gunning, and the other inhumane practices Wildlife Services employs.

Reforming Wildlife Services

We are holding Wildlife Services accountable and advocating for policy reforms at all levels of government.

Cultivating Coexistence

Ethics and compassion guide us in working toward a model in which people and wildlife coexist.

Wildlife Services: A Killing Machine

Between 2009 and 2019, Wildlife Services spent over $1 billion to kill over 37 million animals. The ironically named “Wildlife Services,” created in 1931, doesn’t serve wildlife—it was created to serve the ranching and agricultural interests of a few.

Read our 2019 Report

Photo Credit: Dick Randall, courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States