Target: William Clay, Deputy Administrator of Wildlife Services
Goal: Revise the Wildlife Services policy of using lethal force on animals.
The federal Wildlife Services program was created to control predatory animals that harm crops or livestock. However, this program has killed thousands of animals that pose no threat, including endangered species, livestock, and family pets. Non-lethal methods of control are rarely used, and more often than not Wildlife Services tries to cover up the deaths of these harmless animals.
In the past decade, Wildlife Services has accidentally killed more than 50,000 non-predatory animals, including family dogs and federally protected golden eagles. The exact number of animal deaths is difficult to estimate because employees who discover non-predatory animals in their traps are encouraged to bury the animals without reporting the accidental deaths. Additionally, the traps set by Wildlife Services have injured many people and exposed the public to high doses of cyanide meant for coyotes.
The high rates of animal deaths do not only affect non-predatory animals, but also the predators targeted by Wildlife Services. However, these animals may not be as threatening as the program assumes. Non-lethal protections like electric fences and guard dogs ensure that livestock are less likely to die from a predator’s attack than from disease. Despite this, Wildlife Services has killed millions of animals deemed dangerous predators in the last ten years. The large number of animals killed seriously affects the natural order of wildlife across the United States. Wildlife Services is actually harming wildlife by killing off so many natural predators with little reason. The use of lethal force to stop predators is clearly excessive.
Wildlife Services does not need to kill as many animals as they do. Non-lethal deterrents will stop predators from harming livestock while still maintaining the natural order of wildlife. There are times when lethal force will need to be used on an animal causing serious harm, but these rare incidents do not justify the kill-first mentality held by Wildlife Services. Tell Wildlife Services to change their policies so that non-lethal deterrents will be primarily used to protect livestock.
Dear Mr. Clay,
The Wildlife Services program claims to protect livestock by warding wild animals away from them. However, the program actually uses lethal force to stop wild animals, and ends up killing millions of animals that do not need to die, including family pets and federally protected golden eagles. The lethal force used to stop predators is clearly too great, and is affecting many more animals than those that actually pose any threat to livestock.
I ask you to stop the policy of using lethal force on animals before non-lethal deterrents. Too many animals are killed using current methods when it has been proven that non-lethal deterrents will work just as well to protect livestock. Current methods are destroying local ecosystems by killing too many natural predators. Changing them will help save wildlife and other harmless animals that are killed by Wildlife Services’s deadly traps.
[Your Name Here]