‘Enough is Enough': 12 Conservation Orgs Petition USDA to Ban 'Cruel' Cyanide Bombs in Wyoming - EnviroNews | The Environmental News Specialists

‘Enough is Enough’: 12 Conservation Orgs Petition USDA to Ban ‘Cruel’ Cyanide Bombs in Wyoming

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(EnviroNews Wyoming) On June 13, 2017, a coalition of conservation groups petitioned Wildlife Services (WS) and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA), calling for the ban and removal of all M-44 cyanide devices in Wyoming. WS, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS), is a highly controversial wildlife-killing program, which terminated 1.6 million native U.S. animals in 2016 alone. M-44s are cyanide bombs that cause painful deaths. The devices are installed by WS for predator management, but are easily triggered by any living creature.

“We’re not at war with native wildlife, and it is irresponsible to allow poison landmines to be sown anywhere in Wyoming,” said Erik Molvar, Executive Director of Western Watersheds Project, in a press release. Other organizations behind the petition are the Animal Welfare Institute, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Center for Biological Diversity, Happy Endings Animal Rescue, PAWS of Jackson Hole, Predator Defense, Project Coyote, Trap Free Montana Public Lands, Inc., Wyoming Untrapped, and Wyoming Wildlife Advocates. The petition specifically calls on WS to:

    1. Cease all use and authorization by all parties of M-44 explosive cyanide devices, also known as “coyote getters” or “cyanide bombs,” on all lands in Wyoming, and
    2. Immediately remove any and all M-44s currently deployed on all lands in Wyoming.

Between 2000 and 2016, M-44s killed almost 6,000 target animals in Wyoming, 112 non-target animals including eight dogs, and 447 unclassified animals. Already in 2017, two dogs have been killed in this excruciating manner in Wyoming, and in Idaho, 14-year-old Canyon Mansfield was sprayed and hospitalized and his dog killed by an unmarked M-44 near his home. Following this incident, a coalition of environmental groups petitioned M-44s be removed and banned in Idaho and WS acceded. “Wildlife Services got rid of M-44s in Idaho, and they should do the same in Wyoming before more pets, and even people, get hurt or killed,” said Molvar.

“These incidents display the extremely dangerous and indiscriminate nature of M-44 cyanide bombs and Wildlife Services negligence,” said Michelle Lute, Wildlife Coexistence Campaigner for WildEarth Guardians.

“Cyanide bombs are indiscriminate killers that must be banned,” said Andrea Santarsiere, a Center for Biological Diversity Senior Attorney, pointing out that, “Any animal that might pull on the baited trigger is at risk, including endangered wildlife like grizzlies, as well as people and pets… Enough is enough.”

Earlier in June, Mansfield and his family were in D.C. lobbying for House Bill 1817, known as the Chemical Poisons Reduction Act of 2017 or “Canyon’s Law,” which was introduced by Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) in March. This bill seeks to make cyanide bombs as well as Compound 1080, another poison used by WS, illegal on all U.S. lands.

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