America's national forests and public lands should be safe havens for wildlife, not to mention families and children. Yet Wildlife Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is spreading dangerous toxic poisons across these wildlands -- and creating a serious health threat to both animals and people. At the behest of private farmers and ranchers, Wildlife Services agents deploy the poisons with the aim of killing predators that may pose a threat to livestock. Yet deaths from sodium cyanide, which is administered using a spring-loaded device called an M-44, are not only long and painful, they are indiscriminate. An M-44 that targets one kind of predator may kill a host of other animals, including wolves, bears, bobcats – and even dogs.
Another poison the government is using, called Compound 1080, is an equally vicious killer. A single teaspoon may kill up to 100 humans and it can take up to 15 excruciating hours to die from exposure. Compound 1080 is so lethal that many countries have banned its use -- and the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service once described it as “too dangerous for distribution.” In 2008 alone, more than 12,000 mammals were poisoned by M-44s and Compound 1080, along with millions of birds. In response, we are building pressure on Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who oversees Wildlife Services, to halt this senseless killing and use less destructive alternatives to limit conflicts between predators and livestock.
