In an article published By Mountain Journal “Ultra-lethal ‘Cyanide Bombs’ Used To Kill Public Wildlife Banned For Now In Wyoming” August 20, 2019
UNDER PRESSURE, EPA ALSO REVERSES COURSE NATIONALLY, REVOKES APPROVAL FOR DEADLY M-44S TO KILL PREDATORS THAT MIGHT EAT LIVESTOCK ON PUBLIC LAND
Most Americans are probably unfamiliar with the federal government’s taxpayer-subsidized killing campaign carried out every year against public wildlife on public lands, most of them located in the West.
Most are probably unaware that their hard-earned money, paid in taxes to Uncle Sam, helps to operate a federal agency known as Wildlife Services, a branch of the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
One of Wildlife Service’s primary missions is functioning essentially as a protective hit squad for privately-owned cattle and sheep producers allowed to graze their animals on public land grass at rates that haven’t risen much in over half a century.
While most citizens are outraged when they learn what Wildlife Services does, they are incredulous even more when they discover that one of the weapons Wildlife Services and its state affiliates have used to wipe landscapes free of predators is ultra-lethal sodium cyanide “bombs” known as “M-44s.” They possess enough poison that can kill a human or pet if they accidentally come in contact with them.
In fact, a teenage boy from Pocatello, Idaho nearly died a few winters ago after he and his pet dog wandered into an M-44 placed by a Wildlife Services trapper near their suburban home. The dog bumbled into the M-44, a dose of cyanide exploded in his face and then died, foaming at the mouth, in the boys’ arms, leaving 14-year-old Canyon Mansfield understandably traumatized. (Read this piece that appeared in National Geographic.). Continue reading full story by clicking here.
Graphic is from The Revelator
Reblogged this on Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin Films and commented:
Most Americans are probably unfamiliar with the federal government’s taxpayer-subsidized killing campaign carried out every year against public wildlife on public lands, most of them located in the West.
Most are probably unaware that their hard-earned money, paid in taxes to Uncle Sam, helps to operate a federal agency known as Wildlife Services, a branch of the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
One of Wildlife Service’s primary missions is functioning essentially as a protective hit squad for privately-owned cattle and sheep producers allowed to graze their animals on public land grass at rates that haven’t risen much in over half a century.