USDA Wildlife Services M-44 Cyanide Device Sprays Boy and Kills Family Dog

USDA Wildlife Services issued a statement that doesn’t acknowledge that a child was injured.

The East Idaho News is reporting that a boy and a 3-year-old lab encountered an M-44 cyanide device on a ridge near Pocatello, Idaho on Thursday. The dog was killed by the device and the boy was covered with the cyanide powder but was not seriously injured. The Bannock County Sheriff’s Office responded to the a call from the father who told them of the incident. Deputies who responded determined that the device was placed by USDA Wildlife Services.

On Friday, USDA Wildlife Services issued a statement that didn’t even acknowledge that a child was involved but acknowledged the “unintentional lethal take of a dog in Idaho.”

Read more here Update: Gov’t agency issues statement after family dog killed by ‘cyanide bomb’ – East Idaho News

The Idaho Statesman has published another article here Wildlife Services acknowledges dog’s accidental death by cyanide | Idaho Statesman

22 thoughts on “USDA Wildlife Services M-44 Cyanide Device Sprays Boy and Kills Family Dog

  1. Now if Trump really wants to defund useless programs he could start with Wildlife Services.

    1. Accolades Ted. Basic problem is that Trump can’t see a useless program because he has no element of empathy. That being absent he only views things through a cloud of dollar signs and self inflation. “So sad”.

  2. It’s time these horrible things stopped being used. I’m dismayed at the ‘collateral damage’ attitude too. It doesn’t seem to hinder the government from continuing the irresponsible use of these very dangerous and inhumane poisons.

      1. AL, that’s often the case I’m afraid, but I think it often does care. However, I agree that Wildlife Services doesn’t. They are a bunch of monomaniacs and kept that way by their ties to public land ranching.

    1. Emailed this article to a friend, who lives part time out here in the west (as do many – second homes/property etc.) and she was horrified to hear about this incident.

      She said they can’t put fertilizers on their lawns back there (in her area of Florida) without putting up signs, notifying the neighbors.

      So how fricken twisted is it that some trapper, loosely (or otherwise?) affiliated with Wildlife Services, can install “death with a tug” devices, so haphazardly?

      “The trapper ***that set those for the federal government*** did show up, we were able to interview him and he has disarmed those that are in that area, and hopefully the rest of the county,” Nielsen said”

      And then this:

      “The Bannock County Sheriff’s Office believes the incident happened on Bureau of Land Management land south of the Mansfield’s property. However, the BLM said Friday the incident did not happen on its land”

      Another sad example of “passing the buck” when it comes to managing wildlife, for the sake of humanity.

      1. i think what strikes me even more is that one of the most deadly substances known to man is moving thru Pocatello by the buckets full, has for years and years, and the county Mountey does not have a clue, but the local rag just let everyone in the country know where to come and get some.

        1. if I’m correct then local sheriff in Salmon ID promised to protect the wolf/coyote derby from environmentalists who would like to protest the event.
          It just shows that police is not impartial

  3. With Trump and the Republicans “in charge” expect more of this kind of thing. One just knows he’s going to be “bigly” on the rancher’s team. Any and all exploitation and abuse is Making America Great!

    1. This program has been running for years. This is not a trump initiative. He is also getting rid of or cutting back agencies that Obama supported like bureau of land management. This was not a farmer or rancher that put this out. Quit blaming every Obama failing on trump by educating yourself.

      1. yes LA Trump is a peach of a guy, its just those damn agencies screwing everything up with those pesky regulations that protect wildlife, people, and the environment. I mean who do we think we are wanting clean air and water and leaving a legacy for our children and families? And those scientists talking all that fake news trash like climate change. Shit yeah Trump is putting us on the right track after Obama. It is so comforting to see Trump reverse protections for rivers and streams and to reverse the order preventing Alaska from slaughtering wolves and bears using helicopters, snares and traps. Damn that Obama for protecting those animals. Ughhh the insanity is bewildering.

    2. This didn’t start with Trump – use of these devices has been going on for decades – Trump will stop it – it isn’t in anyone’s favor. Trump said he will give states rights back to the states where they belong, just give him a freaking chance – he’s only been in office for a short time and DEMOCRATS could have solved this the past eight years? Why hasn’t this been brought up before??? Because it was your ruler leading it – that’s why

      1. I feel quite certain Trump is not going to do anything to help predators or wildlife. The Trump sons are trophy hunters, they helped to install Ryan Zinke who really is under the influence/ in the pocket etc.. of the livestock industries and groups like the safari club international and NRA. These people are the least environmentally and wildlife friendly I can remember. I think perhaps the only predators Trump may want to protect are those in his extractive industry, science denying, environmentally destructive cabinet and administration. But your fairy tale would be nice if he did stop cyanide devices. I think you might want to do some reading about who he put into his cabinet and what they plan for public lands and the wildlife that live there.

  4. I don’t think this is a matter of presidential politics at all. The Wildlife Services agency operates out of sight of almost everyone. That is how they have protected themselves for generations from public oversight. Presidents think the agency is so minor that they don’t monitor it. I doubt Trump and maybe Obama have never heard of it. In fact, most Secretaries of Agriculture have ignored it even though it is inside the USDA.

  5. This is an outrage.One more reason why states should manage their own public lands and keep the clueless Feds back in D.C.

    1. Jake Rock,

      It seem might that way, but Wildlife Services is anything but clueless. They know who their clientele is (livestock interests), and they are devoted to it to the exclusion of almost everything else. They get almost no direction from D.C., and already operate like they were unaccountable state agencies.

      1. and Jake the states often hire this agency to assist in sanitizing areas of predators. This agency was hired to eliminate wolves in federal wilderness areas of Idaho under state direction in a misdirected but all too common action to boost elk herds.

  6. Let us not forget under whose administration wolves were delisted, without remedy of judicial review. Wolverines not listed, sage grouse not listed, grizzly bears hovering on being delisted. Something that Republicans had wanted to do for years, but only under a Democratic administration was it done, in lockstep.

    Let us not forget who addressed gun and hunting groups, saying they would uphold the great tradition of hunting. Let us not forget under whose administrations guns were allowed to be brought in to the national National Parks. Let us not forget that there are at least three holdover Democrats who still want to have wolves delisted in MN and WI, respectively.

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