Dear Guardian,
In early March a young boy and his dog Casey were at play on
our public lands developing a love of the outdoors. That’s exactly why our
public lands network is so essential. Yet this time tragedy struck.
The pair came upon a cyanide bomb put there by a federal
agent to kill coyotes and other native carnivores. Paid for by your tax
dollars. No signs warned of the danger. They accidentally triggered the cyanide
bomb and the boy uncomprehendingly watched his dog die an agonizing death.
Thankfully the death toll wasn’t worse. It could have been.
Sadly, this incident is just the tip of the iceberg with tens
of thousands of coyotes and hundreds of non-target animals killed in this and
other cruel ways every year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s secretive
wildlife killing program ironically-named “Wildlife Services” slaughters native
wildlife on our public lands at the behest of agribusiness and expense of
taxpayers, public safety, ecosystem resilience and biodiversity. Last year,
Wildlife Services killed 1,594,595 native animals using the most deplorable
killing methods: aerial gunning, archaic trapping and snaring and
indiscriminate poisoning. This tragic body count translates to over three lives
extinguished every minute of every day.
Today is Tax Day. It’s the perfect day to demand that our
government stop wasting our taxpayer money on this ineffective, cruel program.
These killings occur at unfathomable proportions: 76,963 coyotes, 21,286 beavers,
14,591 black-tailed prairie dogs, 1,788 gray foxes, 997 bobcats and even 39 domestic dogs. These are
only the numbers officially reported last year and are surely underestimates.
Tell your representatives that this all-out war on wildlife and
the endangerment of the public must stop today. Help us End the War on Wildlife.
For the wild,
Bethany Cotton
Wildlife Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
bcotton@wildearthguardians.org
photo credit: Sam Parks Photography