#USgovernment #calledtoaccount after #agency #kills4millionanimalsin2013 #Criticscall for more #transparency over #reasons for #massiveculls of #damagingspecies by #federalWildlifeServices Share 26 Tweet this Email Darryl Fears for the Washington Post Guardian Weekly, Monday 16 June 2014 10.00 BST Jump to comments (2) Coyote pups get a howling lesson from their mum, Minnesota, America - 29 Jul 2013 In 2013, US Wildlife Services killed 75,326 coyotes from a total cull of 4.3m animals, of which around 2m were native speices. Photograph: Debbie DiCarlo / Rex Features For years, the massive toll of wild animals exterminated by the US federal government as a service to everything from airports to ranches has bounced up and down like a yo-yo. Near the turn of the century, the number of kills reached 4 million. Two years later, in 2001, it fell to about 1.5 million and stayed relatively low for six years. But in 2008, the figure rocketed to 5 million before trending downward to 3 million over the next four years. Now its back up, past 4 million in the most recent count, and critics are pressing the US Department of Agriculture outfit that does the killing to do a better job of explaining why. Over 15 years, at least 40 million animals have been shot, poisoned, snared and trapped by Wildlife Services, which says only that the exterminations are a service to those who experience damage from wildlife each year. Theres little data showing the cause for each killing, the exact methods used and the reasons behind mistakes that lead to massive kills of animals that arent targeted. Wildlife Services primary purpose is to eradicate invasive creatures introduced from other parts of the world. They include greedy feral hogs, giant swamp rats called nutria or coypu, big aggressive Argentine lizards called tegus and swarms of hungry starlings that destroy the habitats of animals native to the United States. But Wildlife Services also kills native animals en masse, sometimes based solely on a homeowners or farm owners perception of a threat. 2013s toll of 2 million native American animals 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. 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 says that the numbers are high because it responds to requests by government agencies nationwide and works to resolve human/wildlife conflicts in a strategic way. As wildlife damage increases, requests for assistance also increase, said a spokeswoman, Carol Bannerman. Ranchers and farmers pay half the agencys costs of killing animals that they view as a threat. USDA toll graphic1 Graphic showing toll taken by USDA Wildlife Services. Photograph: Patterson Clark/Washington Post/Sources: USDA, Centre for Biological Diversity But the agency provided no explanation for why the kill total can be 1.5 million in one year, and 5 million the next. Birds that invade airports and swipe cattle feed at farms contribute to the high totals. Non-native European starlings, sparrows, pigeons and such accounted for 87% of animals killed. Birds in general are singled out as a nuisance. In spite of growing scrutiny and protest, the number of exterminated animals rose significantly last year. We think its a clear demonstration of the attitude of this agency ... that they increased the killing of native animals in spite of feeling this heat, said Amy Atwood, a lawyer at the Centre for Biological Diversity. These increases are a response to special interests, especially livestock raising in the American West, Atwood said, reiterating the centres call to reform Wildlife Services procedures. Last December, the centre filed a petition demanding that the agency explain the exact reasons why it makes each kill of a native animal, for whose benefit and the methods used. The petition called Wildlife Services a rogue agency that was out of control. At the time, a Wildlife Services spokeswoman, Lyndsay Cole, responded that it kills birds at 800 airports nationwide so they wont gum up the works of airplanes. Cole said the department kills some animals that are a threat to endangered animals. Other animals, such as raccoons, are eliminated as part of the National Rabies Management Programme. Cole said the agency is guided by a science-based decision-making model. For example, wolves are killed to lessen the negative impacts of expanding wolf populations, even though those populations are still recovering from earlier government programmes that aimed to exterminate them. Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio has railed against the secret methods of Wildlife Services, at one time calling it the most opaque and obstinate departments Ive dealt with. DeFazio has asked to know what goes into poisons used by the agency that are a danger to people and harmless animals but hasnt got an answer. Were really not sure what theyre doing. USDA toll graphic3 Examples from more than 600 native species killed. Photograph: Patterson Clark/Washington Post/Sources: USDA, Centre for Biological Diversity Wildlife Services has been around under different government names for more than a century. It essentially cleared away wildlife for Americas westward expansion. In a 2012 report, Wildlife Services relied on a National Agricultural Statistics Service survey to show that wildlife caused $944m in agricultural damage in 2001. Atwood dismissed the science-based model Cole mentioned as a document that basically says they can use whatever methods at their disposal whenever they want. Her organisations petition called on the USDA and the Obama administration to develop a policy based on ecological science, showing how removing animals from the wild affects the natural balance of the habitats. In the North East, for example, the elimination of red wolves led to a proliferation of coyotes, which the wolves rarely tolerate in their range. Coyotes push away foxes, which prey on deer mice, which spread ticks. The execution of wolves and other predators, such as bears, allows deer to proliferate across the country, destroying trees that serve as habitat for other animals. Atwood described Wildlife Services work as a staggering killing campaign, bankrolled by taxpayers and happening beyond the view of most Americans. theguardian/environment/2014/jun/16/us-wildlife-animal-kill-data?guni=Network%20front:network-front%20main-3%20Main%20trailblock:Network%20front%20-%20main%20trailblock:Position11
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 11:44:07 +0000
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