Online Messenger #313
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News came out last week that taxpayer-funded and woefully misnamed Wildlife Services killed five wolves in central Idaho for alleged livestock depredation—another in a long line of such wolf-killing actions by this secretive government agency.
Now is the time to push back against predator-killing activities in Idaho. In the wake of our lawsuit filed with our partners earlier this year, Wildlife Services has issued a new draft Environmental Assessment on its predator-killing activities in Idaho and is soliciting public comments until Monday, July 27th.
The proposed action not only allows for government killing of coyotes, bears, mountain lions and more, but proposes to expand operations to include poisoning ravens in the name of sage-grouse conservation, killing mountains lions in the name of protecting bighorn, and even killing native predators for the sake non-native game species!
Suggested comment points include:
- Native carnivores belong!
- Wildlife Services must consider new science that shows killing predators actually backfires and can cause more livestock depredation.
- Expanding operations to kill native predators in the name of other species, particularly non-native ones like ring-necked pheasants, is inappropriate.
- Wildlife Services must honestly consider the humaneness of its cruelest methods, including trapping and poisoning, instead of absurdly arguing that it reduces “overall” pain and suffering by being less cruel than predators killing prey in nature. It should halt the use of these methods.
- Wildlife Services must honestly examine the marginal economics of public lands livestock grazing, and admit that native predators cause a very small fraction of losses (far less than weather and disease).
It’s time to let this federally funded wildlife hit squad know that the public demands accountability!
Read the complete EA and make your voice heard by submitting comments here.
For further information see Ken Cole’s story on The Wildlife News
