Coyote on a sunny winter day
Human beings, as a whole, deny to animals any credit for the power of thought, preferring not to hear about it and ascribing everything they do to instinct. Yet most species of animals can reason, and all men have instinct. Man is the highest of living creatures, but it does not follow a corollary that Nature belongs to him, as he so fondly imagines. He belongs to it. That he should take his share of the gifts she has so bountifully provided for her children, is only right and proper; but he cannot reasonably deny the other creatures a certain portion. They have to live too.
– Grey Owl
75,326 coyotes in 2013 were “denied” their portion of Nature’s gifts when they were senselessly exterminated by USDA’s Wildlife Services and they were among the 4 million other animals in that were also killed in 2013 by Wildlife Services. Here is a link to that report but be warned, it seems that USDA Wildlife Services purposely make the report difficult to read.
Bear in mind that the actual number of Coyotes killed each year is much much higher than the USDA Wildlife Services figures due to bounties being put on them by individual states and other laws that allow the killing of them just because they are predators that “need to be controlled”.
The Wildlife Services agency is out of control, the agency is not transparent and the methods used to kill animals by their agents are not humane. Just do a Google search on Jamie Olson Wildlife Services to read about how inhumane his actions were and then understand even though what he did was disturbing, cruel and disgusting that he is still employed by Wildlife Services.
866 bobcats, 528 river otters, 24,390 beavers, 3,700 foxes, 12,186 prairie dogs, 973 red-tailed hawks, 419 black bears and at least three eagles golden eagles and 18 bald eagles were also killed by Wildlife Services. Millions of birds were also exterminated including endangered and threatened species.
On the report I linked to above Wildlife Services indicates which species are invasive by making the species name in red. If you look for House Finches the idiots have listed them as invasive even though they are native. Maybe they got them confused with invasive House Sparrows. Wonder how many other things they are confused about.
The USDA’s War on Wildlife has to be stopped. This page from Predator Defense is an excellent resources for articles from the Sacramento Bee and other news agencies, the history of Wildlife Services, the arsenal of weapons used by Wildlife Services and more.
And they aren’t just killing “wild” animals, they also kill pets and domesticated animals. They kill “feral” dogs but how do they ACTUALLY know which are feral and which might be a lost pet?
They don’t.
Those poisons and traps catch, maim and kill animals that are not targeted and I strongly suspect the number in the annual report from USDA’s Wildlife Services does not actually reflect the numbers of pets and domesticated animals that are killed each year.
Wolves, cougars and bears are exterminated by Wildlife Services. Sometimes entire packs of wolves are killed because a rancher complains about wolves near his ranch at enormous cost to taxpayers.
There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t read disturbing news on Wildlife Services.
Their war on nature needs to be stopped. The agency should be more transparent.
Better yet, I think they should end the Wildlife Services Program.
I guess the title for this post is a bit misleading but it doesn’t really say much about Nature’s Gifts but is more about how other creatures are slaughtered and denied those gifts.
They have to live too.
Mia
In 2011 Wildlife Services killed 227 coyotes a day even though scientific studies indicate when there are fewer coyotes they have more pups and the population just grows. See my post about that here.
Now I read in today’s Tribune that Utahns killed slightly fewer coyotes in the second year of the Mule Deer Preservation Act, but the $50 bounty paid for each coyote is only one piece of the state’s effort to remove the predator. 7,041 this year is less than 7,160 last year ending June 30. The state spent $140,000 to fund 14 contracts ($593 per coyote) and the year before three hired guns were paid $45,000. The average number killed before the act was 7,397.
Utah unlike other Western states is reporting an increase in mule deer numbers in recent years, although most of the credit is being given to expansive habitat-restoration efforts. What strikes me as odd is the reports of too many deer coming into subdivisions, eating plants and flowers resulting in talk of hiring a sharpshooter to reduce the number of deer! Crazy!
YES CRAZY! So if some “HUMAN” animal has a fine home that I would like to have for myself–then I can rid of the occupants and take it over free and clear?????? Hmmmm don’t think so!
Interesting post and links to explore and I agree with you completely. I did go to Wikipedia and learned that it was a woman, who he later married, that convinced Grey Owl to change his ways from trapping Beavers to becoming a conservationist and a writer.
I am so sick to my stomach after reading the 2013 Wildlife Services report of “wildlife murders” I could not even sign in properly for 3 times I was so upset!!!!! The severity of these “human” crimes is barbaric and insanity at it’s worst.
America what has become of us? Government is selling us off the planet!!
Food for thought : Interesting, isn’t it…that we say a HERD of horses (or cows), a FLOCK of turkeys (or birds), a SWARM of hornets (or bees)….and a “MURDER” of crows…..especially in UTAH….
Human beings are the ones “out of control” …too damned many of us… Being too damned destructive to our habitat, to our limited resources, to all the other creatures we should be sharing this beautiful, little planet with and , certainly, too destructive to each other. WE need to be “controlled”, but like those other lemmings, we will probably keep reproducing, using up and destroying everything….until the only way out is “over the cliff”. With our greed and shortsightedness, we’re getting closer to that cliff every day….
I had no idea it was that many. Such a barbaric gang of cowboys and thugs it seems that are murdering Mother Nature’s children en masse.
Horrendous to read about, a reminder that have these wild animals roaming around killing things ( I mean the USDA’s Wildlife Services).
It’s frightening. For centuries, people interfering in the lives of animals that only want to survive! Unable to call “a program for the nature” the mass killing of animals. This is barbarity. But government agencies always have the right. It is very sad.
It does seem that they are out of control!