Predator Control
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The USDA Wildlife Services Wildlife Specialist “Mistook” it for a Coyote The Endangered Species Act affords protection against unauthorized take of the Mexican gray wolves, and makes it a criminal offense to kill one. 16 U.S.C. §1540(b). The Final Rule for the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves codifies the prohibition against killing the wolves and…
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You know that it’s bad when Fox News writes about the abuses of an agency loved and defended by conservatives. Animal torture, abuse called a ‘regular practice’ within federal wildlife agency Fox News The article talks about the “regular practice” by Wildlife Service’s agents of letting their dogs attack animals that have been caught by…
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Graphic photos published to a self-proclaimed USDA Wildlife Services employee’s Facebook page and Twitter account were recently brought to light by wildlife activists. Some of the photos, placed in a Facebook album called “work” and some from a public Twitter account, depict the employee’s dogs attacking defenseless coyotes, raccoons, and bobcats caught in a leg-hold…
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In Nevada nowadays it is all the rage to blame predators for habitat problems created by overgrazing by livestock. That is clearly illustrated in an article published in the Elko Daily News which describes the efforts that the State of Nevada has undertaken under pressure from livestock groups cleverly disguised as hunting groups. Rather than…
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The Sacramento Bee gives citizens suggestions- The Bee’s recent expose investigation of the activities of USDA-Wildlife Services predator control was read by many. Outrage is high and now more information is in the hands of the public. Earlier we covered efforts by two members of the House, bipartisan, to get a congressional investigation started. We…
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In the final installment of the 3-part series, Tom Knudson investigates how the role of USDA Wildlife Services may change in the future. Should the agency be disbanded? Should it be reformed and given different responsibilities like controlling only invasive, non-native species? Should its predator control program be defunded? There is obviously a problem with…
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This installment of Tom Knudson’s series in the Sacremento Bee investigates the efficacy of USDA Wildlife Services’ predator killing program to benefit wildlife. In short, it doesn’t, it generally causing more harm than good and could be having impacts on disease such as the plague due to the increase of rodents after control actions. In…
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Tom Knudson of the Sacremento Bee has been working on this very important and eye opening series about USDA Wildlife Services for several months. I was contacted by him in December last year and we talked about several issues related to WS and their killing. This first installment of three introduces people to the agency…