Nature & Environment
Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services Killed Over 4 Million Animals in 2013
Thomas Carannante
First Posted: Jun 10, 2014 10:47 AM EDT
Each year the federal government shoots, traps, poisons, or snares various animals that are overpopulated, pose a threat to other wildlife, or pose a threat to the human population. In 2013, the USDA Wildlife Services killed over 4 million animals.
The number varies each year, depending on the requests and needs. Ranchers and farmers pay the USDA Wildlife Services to kill animals that they view as a threat to their farm or the animals that they herd. Additionally, invasive creatures make their way into certain areas of the U.S. in any given year, and they must be exterminated.
For example, in 2013 the USDA was tasked with eliminating large numbers of greedy feral hogs (Europe), giant swamp rats called nutria (South America), tegus lizards (Argentina), and hungry starlings (birds from Europe, Asia, and Africa). Sometimes populations of invasive species are introduced artificially, and other times, in the case of the tegu lizard, people buy them as pets and eventually release them into the wild, allowing them to reproduce.
But no matter the scrutiny against the USDA Wildlife Services for their increase in animal exterminations for 2013, their main job is to protect America's native species, farmland, and people. The services provide "Federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts that threaten public health and safety" as well as "natural resources, threatened and endangered species, and various habitats," as the services describe in their annual report.
In 2013, the Federal government killed 75,326 coyotes, 12,186 prairie dogs, 3,700 foxes 973 red-tailed hawks, 866 bobcats, 528 river otters, 419 black bears, and at least three eagles. The agency says that it's guided by a science-based decision-making model for determining whether or not to kill a number of animals in a given year. They also take into account annual costs: in 2001 it was found that wildlife caused $944 million in agricultural damage, forcing the agency to respond in 2002.
The decision-making model and other methods are executed by National Wildlife Research Center scientists who are experienced in pharmacology, environmental fate, chemical synthesis, toxicology, chemical ecology, computer modeling, and formulation chemistry. All of these disciplines are responsible for determining what animals to exterminate and in what manner (through drugs, repellants, toxicants, and other tools).
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First Posted: Jun 10, 2014 10:47 AM EDT
Each year the federal government shoots, traps, poisons, or snares various animals that are overpopulated, pose a threat to other wildlife, or pose a threat to the human population. In 2013, the USDA Wildlife Services killed over 4 million animals.
The number varies each year, depending on the requests and needs. Ranchers and farmers pay the USDA Wildlife Services to kill animals that they view as a threat to their farm or the animals that they herd. Additionally, invasive creatures make their way into certain areas of the U.S. in any given year, and they must be exterminated.
For example, in 2013 the USDA was tasked with eliminating large numbers of greedy feral hogs (Europe), giant swamp rats called nutria (South America), tegus lizards (Argentina), and hungry starlings (birds from Europe, Asia, and Africa). Sometimes populations of invasive species are introduced artificially, and other times, in the case of the tegu lizard, people buy them as pets and eventually release them into the wild, allowing them to reproduce.
But no matter the scrutiny against the USDA Wildlife Services for their increase in animal exterminations for 2013, their main job is to protect America's native species, farmland, and people. The services provide "Federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts that threaten public health and safety" as well as "natural resources, threatened and endangered species, and various habitats," as the services describe in their annual report.
In 2013, the Federal government killed 75,326 coyotes, 12,186 prairie dogs, 3,700 foxes 973 red-tailed hawks, 866 bobcats, 528 river otters, 419 black bears, and at least three eagles. The agency says that it's guided by a science-based decision-making model for determining whether or not to kill a number of animals in a given year. They also take into account annual costs: in 2001 it was found that wildlife caused $944 million in agricultural damage, forcing the agency to respond in 2002.
The decision-making model and other methods are executed by National Wildlife Research Center scientists who are experienced in pharmacology, environmental fate, chemical synthesis, toxicology, chemical ecology, computer modeling, and formulation chemistry. All of these disciplines are responsible for determining what animals to exterminate and in what manner (through drugs, repellants, toxicants, and other tools).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone