Demand the End of Wildlife Poisoning on our Public Lands
- da: WildEarth Guardians
- destinatario: U.S. Congress
As you read this, an unsuspecting coyote is being lured to its death by a federal animal killer who’s working on your nickel. The coyote tugs on a bait and sodium cyanide powder sprays into its mouth. The powder mixes with its saliva and hydrogen cyanide gas slowly and painfully smothers the life from the coyote’s bright, wild eyes. The coyote’s once eerie yips and chatters are replaced by whimpers of pain as blood starts to run from its nose, ears, and mouth. The animal dies alone, in pain—unnecessarily.
Every year, agents of Wildlife Services, the federal wildlife killing program, set thousands of these baited lures, called M-44s. While the intended targets are coyotes, M-44s are indiscriminate and kill many other wild animals as well as domestic dogs. What’s even worse is that much of the killing fields are on your land. Our land. America’s public lands, which are our common heritage and our birthright.
Wildlife Services kills millions of wild animals every year, conducting their slaughter in the most cruel, inhumane ways from leg hold traps, to gunning down wildlife from helicopters, to lethal poisons including M-44s and Compound 1080. These poisons were once banned for this use, and we must insist this ban be reinstated immediately. Our Congress and the President could make this happen again with the stroke of their pens.
These types of torture and killing are not only legal, but also funded by our tax dollars. Take action today to pressure your Congressional representatives to put an end to this cruelty by reinstating the ban on sodium cyanide and Compound 1080 before another innocent animal suffers.
To whom it may concern:
I am writing today because I am part of an overwhelming majority of Americans who cherish our wildlife and believe that cruelty to our native species, especially native carnivores, is an unspeakable and unforgivable offense.
Every day, thousands of innocent wildlife suffer and die needlessly. Wildlife Services, acting under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, indiscriminately kills millions of wildlife every year through barbaric and inhumane methods in the name of resolving purported conflicts between humans and wildlife. Yet the best science shows that indiscriminate killing is more likely to increase conflict.
The cruel, slow deaths caused by poisons like sodium cyanide M-44s and Compound 1080 are extremely egregious examples of Wildlife Services' slaughter. These poisons cause their victims to hemorrhage from their ears, noses, and mouths, and then suffer violent fits of convulsions before the life is squeezed from their helpless, limp bodies.
Because of the indiscriminate nature of so many of the methods used, many non-target creatures end up in the cross hairs including imperiled species like wolves, lynx and grizzly bears, our beloved pets, and even humans. Biologists have long cited Wildlife Services' activities as unsustainable, unethical and environmentally harmful. Some have dubbed the program’s predator-control program the "sledgehammer approach" to wildlife management because of the breadth of extermination.
This persecution seeks only to benefit agribusiness. However, the government's own data show that native carnivores kill few livestock—less than 5% each year—and that far more livestock readily die from weather, disease, and birthing problems. We also know that carnivores, in particular, play a key role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and that their absence has significant negative impacts that radiate through ecosystems. The terrible deaths these wild species endure are not justifiable.
Unbelievably, the killing program is funded by our tax dollars. Change is needed now. American wildlife management must not only come into compliance with the best available science, but also honor changing American values.
I urge you to take action and promote an ethic of compassionate coexistence by introducing a bill to ban the use of these noxious poisons. In 1972, President Richard Nixon set a precedent by banning sodium cyanide and Compound 1080 for killing native wildlife with Executive Order 11643, because he recognized the extreme threat to non-targeted species, and because of the ineffectiveness of these toxins. Sadly President Reagan, under pressure from ranchers and hunters, lifted the ban on poisons.
Rather than a trail of blood, you can help end the suffering and leave a legacy of compassion that enables our, and future generations to see wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions, as well as the healthy functioning ecosystems that these animals sustain.
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Sincerely,
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