Liberty Belle
Well-known member
Killing wildlife to protect stock always has bad outcome for nature
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.09.2006
Federal hunters in a small plane last month buzzed the Coronado National Forest in Southern Arizona, shooting coyotes from the air. The Star's Tony Davis reported that about 200 coyotes were killed.
The government began a systematic wildlife-killing program in 1915, ostensibly to protect livestock. In November 1917, the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey trapped two Mexican gray wolves in the Canelo Hills, the first lobos it killed in Arizona.
In December 1918, the Biological Survey killed a jaguar on Mount Wrightson in the Santa Ritas, also a first, and like the wolf pair, hardly the last.
By the early 1930s it had trapped and poisoned every wolf in Arizona and New Mexico, though they (as well as jaguars) continued to migrate across the border from Mexico for decades to come.
Over the years, the Biological Survey's name changed nine times as it sought to obscure its actions. In 1928, in response to complaints from wildlife biologists, it replaced its standard word "extermination" with the less inflammatory "control," and pledged not to wipe out any species.
In 1945, under the name U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it killed its last remaining U.S. wolf, along the Colorado/New Mexico border.
In 1950, the agency began exporting American-produced poison and sending its salaried personnel to Mexico to wipe out lobos there.
(It almost succeeded, but after passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, the last five Mexican wolves were captured alive for an emergency captive breeding program, and beginning in 1998 their progeny were reintroduced to Arizona and New Mexico.)
In 1985, the Fish and Wildlife Service became a separate, weaker agency with responsibility for recovering endangered species, while the killing function, along with much more autonomy, resided with the agency today called Wildlife Services.
Whatever name it goes by, and whatever excuse it offers, Wildlife Services has always served the livestock industry and always finds a reason to kill more animals.
Its funding derives from a combination of federal, state and county appropriations, as well as from the livestock industry itself.
After wolves were wiped out, the agency elevated coyotes to its No. 1 one target to keep its coffers full, and shortly after World War II it adopted the military's use of aircraft to kill coyotes. When coyotes decreased precipitously, the agency focused on killing rodents — the coyotes' natural prey. As a result, prairie dogs declined and the blackfooted ferret, which eats prairie dogs, also disappeared from the wild. (It, too, was saved through captive breeding and reintroduction.)
The Endangered Species Act limited the government's use of poison and allowed coyotes to rebound.
But Wildlife Services has a long history of surreptitiously killing protected animals.
Were endangered Mexican wolves "accidentally" shot last month in the course of killing coyotes? We will never know.
Killing coyotes induces others to fill newly vacant habitat. These new and often younger coyotes, unfamiliar with local rodent distribution, are more likely to depredate livestock.
In contrast, ranchers who stay close during calving, and those who use guard dogs or llamas, suffer fewer losses than those relying on the federal killers.
Systematic wildlife killing has destabilized predator/prey relations with little benefit to agriculture. The Coronado National Forest and its wildlife deserve better.
Michael J. Robinson works for the Center for Biological Diversity in Pinos Altos, N.M. Contact him at [email protected].
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/115035
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.09.2006
Federal hunters in a small plane last month buzzed the Coronado National Forest in Southern Arizona, shooting coyotes from the air. The Star's Tony Davis reported that about 200 coyotes were killed.
The government began a systematic wildlife-killing program in 1915, ostensibly to protect livestock. In November 1917, the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey trapped two Mexican gray wolves in the Canelo Hills, the first lobos it killed in Arizona.
In December 1918, the Biological Survey killed a jaguar on Mount Wrightson in the Santa Ritas, also a first, and like the wolf pair, hardly the last.
By the early 1930s it had trapped and poisoned every wolf in Arizona and New Mexico, though they (as well as jaguars) continued to migrate across the border from Mexico for decades to come.
Over the years, the Biological Survey's name changed nine times as it sought to obscure its actions. In 1928, in response to complaints from wildlife biologists, it replaced its standard word "extermination" with the less inflammatory "control," and pledged not to wipe out any species.
In 1945, under the name U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it killed its last remaining U.S. wolf, along the Colorado/New Mexico border.
In 1950, the agency began exporting American-produced poison and sending its salaried personnel to Mexico to wipe out lobos there.
(It almost succeeded, but after passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, the last five Mexican wolves were captured alive for an emergency captive breeding program, and beginning in 1998 their progeny were reintroduced to Arizona and New Mexico.)
In 1985, the Fish and Wildlife Service became a separate, weaker agency with responsibility for recovering endangered species, while the killing function, along with much more autonomy, resided with the agency today called Wildlife Services.
Whatever name it goes by, and whatever excuse it offers, Wildlife Services has always served the livestock industry and always finds a reason to kill more animals.
Its funding derives from a combination of federal, state and county appropriations, as well as from the livestock industry itself.
After wolves were wiped out, the agency elevated coyotes to its No. 1 one target to keep its coffers full, and shortly after World War II it adopted the military's use of aircraft to kill coyotes. When coyotes decreased precipitously, the agency focused on killing rodents — the coyotes' natural prey. As a result, prairie dogs declined and the blackfooted ferret, which eats prairie dogs, also disappeared from the wild. (It, too, was saved through captive breeding and reintroduction.)
The Endangered Species Act limited the government's use of poison and allowed coyotes to rebound.
But Wildlife Services has a long history of surreptitiously killing protected animals.
Were endangered Mexican wolves "accidentally" shot last month in the course of killing coyotes? We will never know.
Killing coyotes induces others to fill newly vacant habitat. These new and often younger coyotes, unfamiliar with local rodent distribution, are more likely to depredate livestock.
In contrast, ranchers who stay close during calving, and those who use guard dogs or llamas, suffer fewer losses than those relying on the federal killers.
Systematic wildlife killing has destabilized predator/prey relations with little benefit to agriculture. The Coronado National Forest and its wildlife deserve better.
Michael J. Robinson works for the Center for Biological Diversity in Pinos Altos, N.M. Contact him at [email protected].
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/115035
