US government called to account after agency kills 4 million animals in 2013

Critics call for more transparency over reasons for massive culls of 'damaging' species by federal Wildlife Services

Darryl Fears for the Washington Post

Guardian Weekly, Monday 16 June 2014 10.00 BST

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 it's 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". There's 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 aren't targeted.

read more at:

EXPOSED – USDA’s Secret War on Wildlife

An expose (31 min) of how predators are controlled by officials of the Wildlife Services department including the use of illegal pesticides and poisons to kill coyotes and eagles.

http://wildlifenews.co.uk/2013/exposed-usdas-secret-war-on-wildlife/

US Congress calls for investigation of US wildlife agency cruelty

USDA STATEMENT

USDA does not condone animal cruelty and holds all employees responsible for representing its standards. WS program personnel are expected to use approved and humane methods to euthanize captured or restrained animals whenever practicable, and in accordance with American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines. USDA's review of the situation is currently ongoing. As USDA officials continue to review the situation, they will also take this opportunity to reaffirm to employees their obligations to uphold professional standards as well as their responsibilities to the American public. We assure you that USDA takes this matter seriously and will complete a thorough review. 

Staff boasting about their cruel exploits
December 2012. The secretive United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ‘Wildlife Services' department has run into very hot water again. The Sacramento Bee, the highly respected newspaper, has uncovered a series of abuses by the USDA Wildlife Services involving cruelty to animals by ‘Wildlife Service' staff, who then proceeded to boast about their deeds on social media.

The case gained prominence when photos revealed that a member of the Wildlife Services, Jamie Ohlson, posted images of a coyote that was caught in a leg trap being attacked and killed by his dogs. Ohlson also posted images of himself posing with the tattered remains of the coyote. Aside from the abuse and suffering heaped on the poor coyote, to boast of this cruelty via social networking implies that Mr Ohlson is really not the right person to be doing this work.

Ohlson is not alone though. In a very similar case the Washington Post revealed that a U.S. Forest Service Employee Josh Bransford posed with a wolf that he had just shot. The wolf in question was actually caught in a leg trap, and Bransford shot the immobilized wolf before posing with the dead animal with a big grin on his face. Why why why would anyone do that?

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/wildlife-services012.html

The killing agency: Wildlife Services' brutal methods leave a trail of animal death

First of three parts

The day began with a drive across the desert, checking the snares he had placed in the sagebrush to catch coyotes.

Gary Strader, an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, stepped out of his truck near a ravine in Nevada and found something he hadn't intended to kill.

There, strangled in a neck snare, was one of the most majestic birds in America, a federally protected golden eagle.

"I called my supervisor and said, 'I just caught a golden eagle and it's dead,' " said Strader. "He said, 'Did anybody see it?' I said, 'Geez, I don't think so.'

"He said, 'If you think nobody saw it, go get a shovel and bury it and don't say nothing to anybody.' "

"That bothered me," said Strader, whose job was terminated in 2009. "It wasn't right."

Strader's employer, a branch of the federal Department of Agriculture called Wildlife Services, has long specialized in killing animals that are deemed a threat to agriculture, the public and – more recently – the environment.

Continued:  http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/28/4450678/the-killing-agency-wildlife-services.html#mi_rss=Bee%20State%20News

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/28/4450678/the-killing-agency-wildlife-services.html#mi_rss=Bee%20State%20News#storylink=cp

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U.S. "Wildlife Services"--A Tale of Unrepentant Mass Murder

Wendy Keefover-Ring

WildEarth Guardians Carnivore Protection Director

Wildlife Services Dodges Disclosure on Animal Killing

"Wildlife Services" is a secretive branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that annually kills millions of animals. Last year, it liquidated more than four million wildlife and pets, while spending $121 million--mostly tax dollars--to do the task. Their efforts purportedlyhelp those in agribusiness, but new government data demonstrate otherwise.

Never heard of "Wildlife Services"? Don't worry, you're not alone.

Although this euphemistically named agency has existed since 1885, it purposefully avoids the spotlight, and it revels in its obscurity. As my colleague, Andrew Wetzler, stated: "they're the most important wildlife agency you never heard of."

Agents and contractors employed by Wildlife Services operate on our national forests, wilderness areas, national monuments, and even on private lands. Unaccountable to the public--except those in agribusiness--these agents employ a secret arsenal that would make any mercenary army proud: helicopters, airplanes, guns, poisons, traps, snares, and wildlife-chasing hounds.

Wildlife Services admits in newly-released data that it exterminated 4.1million animals and destroyed 18,000 more in 2009. This includes 27,314 beavers; 988,577 blackbirds; and 114,522 mammalian carnivores, including 1,775 bobcats, 82,097 coyotes, 480 wolves, 571 river otters, and 443 black bears.

Last month, WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit against Wildlife Services for failing to disclose its 2008 budget expenditures under the Freedom of Information Act. In response, Wildlife Services and its parent agency, the USDA's Animal and Health Inspection Service, claim that the two entities track their expenses using two different databases, but that neither were capable of interacting with the other. Thus, Wildlife Services claims, it does not know how much it spends on its controversial aerial gunning program.

Really?

Wildlife Services cannot judge how many tax dollars it spends shooting coyotes and wolves from helicopters and airplanes? A letter from the government to WildEarth Guardians states: "Wildlife Services does not have
a managerial need for financial data at this finite level."

Good to know Wildlife Services does not have that need--but the American public certainly does. Especially when all this killing has no real benefit.

Despite tales of wolves lurking in the woods looking for little girls in red hoods or little pigs in straw houses, wolves and other native carnivores kill very few domestic livestock. According to the USDA's

National Agricultural Statistics Service, less than one percent of the entire cattle inventory, and approximately four percent of the entire sheep inventory is killed by carnivores (and this includes domestic dogs).

This is true even where wolves have been restored to the landscape.

Wildlife Services kills our native wildlife. They refuse to disclose how much they spend on their operations. They artfully dodge disclosure, even while in litigation. Time for Congress to step in and engage in oversight.
Time for this rogue agency to show some accountability to the public because it spends its money with alacrity for ill purpose.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-keefoverring/wildlife-services-sucks_b_774426.html