Ending the War on Wildlife

Protect the Environment Fund
November 13, 2015

WildEarth Guardians

Few taxpayers realize that they help to fund a program called "Wildlife Services," a program in the U.S. Department of Agriculture that wages a cruel war on America's wildlife. Last year alone, Wildlife Services killed over two million native animals using taxpayer dollars. The program uses a variety of inhumane tactics to kill wildlife including trapping, aerial gunning, and poisoning. Sadly, many of these methods cannot discriminate amongst species; meaning non-target animals are at serious risk as well. Both non-target wildlife species and domestic companion animals have fallen victim to Wildlife Services’ devices.

Between 2004 and 2010, Wildlife Services spent upwards of $1 billion to kill nearly 23 million animals in the American West. The program's actions are supposed to protect agriculture and other private interests as part of a grossly ineffective and wasteful program. Despite all the industry rhetoric, less than 1% of the U.S. cattle and sheep inventory was killed by native carnivores and domestic dogs.

Guardians is dedicated to ending this "War on Wildlife". We will continue to fight on the frontlines with the goal of pressuring Congress to defund the agency and end the needless slaughter.

We are working to create a future where wildlife and humans share the world by pressuring the courts to suspend this decades-old killing program. We will leverage our recent milestone win in Nevada to create a larger awareness in the courts in every western state. We will make sure the underlying data is supported by good science – science that clearly states that the biggest source of mortality to livestock actually comes from disease, illness, birthing problems, and weather, not from native carnivores such as mountain lions.

At WildEarth Guardians, we are working to curb the media’s broadcasting of inaccurate or exaggerated statements by the livestock industry or sportsmen’s groups about the supposed negative effects of carnivores on livestock or native ungulate populations.

The facts are that wolves and other apex carnivores contribute significantly to increased biological diversity—from beetles to birds and grizzly bears—and that they need more protected refuges to support their protection, such as the designation of wilderness area. Public land refuges promote the persistence of rare native carnivores such as wolves, wolverines, and mountain lions.

We seek to rid the west of traps, poisons, and other cruel methods of killing animals and strip the legal authority of the federal agency that kills millions of animals every year.

In July, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Wildlife Services’ reliance on a twenty year old analysis, which itself relies on forty year old science, is not immune from environmental review. The court held conservationists are injured by the program’s wildlife killing activities and can challenge them in court. This ruling is a game changer for wildlife across the American West setting a precedent that can be used to force Wildlife Services to stop the killing. They can run, but they can no longer hide.

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