Wildlife Services' Predator Control Program is the government's top wildlife killing machine; a program that operates with a kill-first mentality, and usually without a second thought to resolving conflicts using proven non-lethal techniques.
Their brutal, scientifically unfounded and outdated predator control program results in the killing of thousands of wild animals each year — including accidental deaths of imperiled species and household pets!
This agency should know better. Its own researchers have identified non-lethal alternatives that protect livestock and ranch animals without the unnecessary killing.
Wildlife Services has gone too far for too long, and they need to be held accountable!
Please take action and urge the USDA to take immediate action and perform an audit of the Wildlife Services Predator Control Program.
Dear Inspector General Fong,
On behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, and myself, I am writing to support the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) planned audits of Wildlife Services' (WS) Predator Control activities, and I request that immediate action be taken to do so.
WS' Predator Control Program has recently been the subject of public scrutiny regarding unprofessional behavior, the deaths of non-target species including an endangered Mexican gray wolf, wrongfully blaming predators for unrelated livestock deaths, and failure to implement non-lethal management. The program's practices are clearly inefficient, ineffective and scientifically unfounded.
I support the request of Congressmen DeFazio and Campbell for a thorough audit of Wildlife Services' programs and policies by the USDA Office of Inspector General. In particular, its lethal predator control program has been under heavy criticism for unnecessarily killing wild animals, lacking transparency and accountability, and allowing and encouraging inhumane methods.
I highly encourage an audit of WS' predator control program as a critically important step in providing the necessary guidance and oversight WS requires in order to fulfill its mission, vision, and to apply an integrated approach to wildlife damage management. I strongly encourage OIG to prioritize this audit, which is warranted by the program's private contractor mentality; inefficiencies; lack of transparency and accountability; and finally, mission creep.
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Thank you for your consideration.
