Wildlife Services: 2005 Kill List

May 3, 2007

USDA – Wildlife Services
2005 Kill List

By Tony Heath

The following is a list of wildlife killed in 2005 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through their Wildlife Services unit. It was brought to my attention by the Tucson Weekly (“Death Count,” April 12, 2007). The information is available on Wildlife Service’s web site, or if absent, with the assistance of a Freedom of Information Act request. The Tucson Weekly gathered the information with the assistance of Wendy Keefover-Ring of Sinapu, a carnivore protection organization; and from Forest Guardians, a New Mexico-based conservation group. Keefer-Ring says, “they are definitely a rogue agency, and they don’t want anybody to know what they're doing.” So be prepared if you want to verify the information yourself. These officials are and should be on the defensive, because their work is in my opinion a crime against nature and they must know it deep down.

One would think a government agency named “Wildlife Services” would have a more helpful role such as servicing wildlife? Not so. Since 1915, with an approximate budget of $100 million, the agency has exterminated innocent wildlife at the request of ranchers, farmers and sportsmen. In 2005, the professional killers from Wildlife Services killed 1.7 million animals, including collaterally, and with legal impunity, endangered species. These are the same species other government agencies receive taxpayer money to protect.

In 2005, their work included gunning down 200 coyotes in the San Rafael Valley near Sonoita, Arizona. This is only several miles from Birdland Ranch Conservation Area.

Get involved. Write your congressman. Support the caring organizations that are spearheading the fight to end taxpayer sponsored lethal-extermination of innocent wildlife.