Many Americans don’t realize that housed within the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is a semi-secretive, taxpayer-funded program called “Wildlife Services.”
Ironically, in spite of its name, Wildlife Services doesn’t serve wildlife. Instead, it’s the federal government’s multimillion-dollar program that kills tens of thousands of native animals annually, much of it at the request of the livestock industry.
In fact, in just 2023, Wildlife Services killed 375,000 native animals—including coyotes, wolves, grizzly bears, and mountain lions—across the country by various brutal means, including snares, traps, chemical poisons, and aerial gunning. Some of the slaughter even took place in Wilderness areas! Fortunately, right now we have a chance to rein in Wildlife Services’ killing program across Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas in Idaho. The program has released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) “evaluating alternatives to address predator damage management” in Idaho.
Wildlife Services is accepting public comments on the DEIS through Tuesday, November 12, and we need you to speak up for Wilderness and wildlife in Idaho.
While the proposed action does prohibit aerial gunning in Wilderness, aerial gunning of wildlife in Wilderness Study Areas would continue. Plus, the proposal would allow Wildlife Services to continue killing coyotes, wolves, and grizzly bears in Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas through trapping, snaring, chasing by dogs, and calling. |
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Help us protect Wilderness and its wildlife. |
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