Conservationists are expressing some serious disappointment over the Trump administration’s decision not to ban deadly devices otherwise known as M-44s, or “cyanide bombs,” despite their brutality, sickening death toll and the risks they continue to pose. These devices are spring-activated bait traps placed in the ground that are loaded with sodium cyanide, which is ejected […]
Tag: cyanide

Trump’s indecision on trophy hunting reignites heated debate
On November 15, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lifted a ban on the U.S. import of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. The president put a hold on the order two days later, calling trophy hunting in a tweet a “horror show.” He has yet to make a final determination regarding the USFWS order. […]

POLL: Should Wildlife Services stop its secret wildlife-killing program?
Animal advocates are celebrating a win for wildlife in Northern California that will protect numerous species from being inhumanely killed by a federal agency that’s become increasingly well-known for its war on wildlife. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services has been in the spotlight for years over its incredibly cruel and wasteful killing of […]

POLL: Should wildlife-killing “cyanide bombs” be banned?
Just weeks ago, a teenager in Idaho almost lost his life and had to watch helplessly as his dog died in front of him. That senseless tragedy was a result of the government’s war on wildlife, with its continued use of deadly devices — otherwise known as M-44s, or “cyanide bombs.” Unfortunately, and worryingly, the […]

POLL: Should Trump cut spending by disbanding wildlife “killing” services?
The recent deaths of Casey, a yellow Lab killed by a cyanide bomb in Idaho, as well as two other pet dogs who became unintended victims in Wyoming, have focused attention on the secretive government agency that planted those deadly M-44 explosives: Wildlife Services (WS), a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and […]

POLL: Should the USDA stop using cyanide bombs to control predators?
Fourteen-year-old Canyon Mansfield was out walking the family Labrador, Casey, on public land in the outskirts of Pocatello, Idaho, last month. As they roamed a hill near their home, Canyon spied a piece of metal protruding from the snowy ground that resembled the head of a garden sprinkler. When he bent down to touch it, […]

POLL: Should Trump disband USDA Wildlife “Killing” Services?
Despite persistent outrage from the public, the U.S. government killed 2.7 million wild animals in 2016 — and almost 1.6 million were native wildlife, according to data released this week. That’s roughly five animals every minute. Even after scientific investigations by a team of ecologists cast serious doubts around the necessity of these killings, Wildlife […]

POLL: Should the killing of animals by Wildlife Services be stopped?
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Wildlife Services (WS) admitted in its annual Program Data Report to having killed at least 3.2 million wild animals in 2015 alone — many of which were large predators. 1,681,283 of that total were animals native to the United States. Environmental groups are already sounding the alarm, pointing […]