The USDA Killed 4 Million Animals in 2013, But It's Not Clear Why

[Potoooooooo]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...cc4-11e3-b98c-72cef4a00499_story.html?hpid=z4

The more than 4 million animals shot, poisoned, snared and trapped by the Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in fiscal year 2013 included 75,326 coyotes, 866 bobcats, 528 river otters, 3,700 foxes, 12,186 prairie dogs, 973 red-tailed hawks, 419 black bears and at least three eagles, golden and bald.

But while there's a list of animals killed, there's little data showing the cause for each killing, the methods used and the reasons behind mistakes that lead to massive kills of animals that aren't targeted.

At least two members of Congress have called Wildlife Services secret and opaque for failing to provide more information, and there are mounting calls for an investigation into how it operates.
Wildlife Services is ostensibly meant to eradicate the nation of invasive species, but that doesn't explain the thousands of native animals they killed as well - sometimes just because a farmer complained.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

OK, this year can you kill more Canada Geese? They're annoying little rodents but because they have the word "Canada" in their name so everyone gets in a huff up here if you want them to die.

 

[ZiprHead]

I watched a program, probably more than a year ago and I don't remember what it was called, about bears in a northern California community. They had a bear that became a nuisance, breaking into cabins and homes foraging for food, and largely undeterred by human presence. The animal finally had to be hunted down and killed. The person who did the killing broke down and cried afterwards. They felt they failed in their efforts to deter the bear from damaging activities (which included trapping and relocating). I too cried my eyes out watching. I really doubt, after watching that program, that authorities are killing these animals without good reason.

 

[travc]

I'm all for more transparency, but that list (and those numbers) don't seem unreasonable.
BTW: Cowbirds are evil... they seriously screw over songbirds and our fragmenting of forests has pretty much made a perfect environment for them.

Maybe some of the outrage is due to people just not knowing the facts on the ground. Some species quickly grow to the point that they are 'pests', often due to human activity. Sometimes it is unintended like with cowbirds, but pretty often it is due to successful conservation programmes. For example, wild turkeys are pretty close to being a pest here, but they were downright rare only a couple of decades ago. Other times, culling is part of conservation... I don't know if it is the case for these particular numbers, but I can easily imagine that lots of black-tailed prairie dogs may be killed to protecting the overall population from plague.

 

[Nexus]

They felt they failed in their efforts to deter the bear from damaging activities (which included trapping and relocating).

In some places they harass bears with beanbag rounds, tazers and pepper spray to make them fear humans. Compared to that trapping and relocating would seem to be too benign for their own good.

 

[Duke Leto]

They killed one flying squirrel? US Secretary of Agriculture Boris Badunov will presumably be going after the moose next.

 

[Under the Rose]

I cannot speak to the USDA activities but I can speak from the perspective of a long time Yukon resident who also was co-chair of the Yukon Fish & Wildlife Management Board when we reviewed the proposed wolf management strategy in the early 90's. It was a contentious issue and I was receiving threats from Europe on our fax which seriously distressed my husband. One of the helicopters was slightly damaged by a protestor.

The problem is caused by people displacing these animals from their habitat, not only for their places of residence, but then they want to go roaring off in the back country on their ATV's or snowmobiles, depending on the season.

People get outraged when a fox, coyote or wolf snags one of their pets and after feeding wildlife (which is against the law but does not deter these fools) if a fox snatches a kids lunch bag and the child has a scrape, they want every fox within miles shot and tested for rabies.

Personally, I am all for an idiot reduction program but I suppose that the animals will continue to pay the price for people that want to enjoy a 'pristine wilderness experience' devoid of any potentially dangerous predators.

I reiterate that most animals get killed because of conflicts with human activities. Humans are the problem.

 

[ZiprHead]

They felt they failed in their efforts to deter the bear from damaging activities (which included trapping and relocating).

In some places they harass bears with beanbag rounds, tazers and pepper spray to make them fear humans. Compared to that trapping and relocating would seem to be too benign for their own good.

They actually tried those tactics. It didn't work for this bear. It was very sad.