Wildlife Services, a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, spends millions of dollars each year on its wildlife killing program – what it euphemistically refers to as its “predator damage management” program. Throughout the West, this federal agency spends tax payer dollars to use harmful, lethal, and indiscriminate methods such as aerial gunning, leg hold and body-crushing traps, snares, and poisons like M-44s and Compound 1080 collars as a means of killing native wildlife such as bears, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, mountain lions, and badgers to protect livestock interests. In the course of carrying out such activities, Wildlife Services routine “incidentally” kills or captures listed species such as lynx. The Western Environmental Law Center is suing Wildlife Services in federal court to ensure that the agency takes such incidental killings into account and alters its wildlife killing methods to account for the presence of lynx.
Since we filed our complaint in 2004 Wildlife Services has taken several positive actions, so we entered into a settlement agreement, gaining much of the relief that our clients sought.
Attorney: Matt Bishop
