Wild Things examines the US Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services (WS) program and its devastating impacts on native carnivores. Each year, WS kills thousands of predators who are viewed as threats to livestock, employing inhumane methods that are poorly grounded in science—at a substantial cost to taxpayers.
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Cetaceans can travel up to 100 miles dail Date created:
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Swing open the main gate at Senegal’s Ferlo North Wildlife Reserve and a broad avenue greets you, unfolding for more than two miles across an idyllic African landscape. Date created:
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The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine (WAM) filed a motion in federal district court in Bangor Maine today seeking a preliminary injunction (PI) to stop Maine’s early coyote and fox trapping season. Set to commence on October 18, this request for a PI is an effort to protect federally protected Canada lynx from leghold traps. Date created:
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The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine (WAM) urged the US Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today to enforce the Endangered Species Act (ESA) against the unlawful trapping of Canada lynx in traps set for other species. Lynx continue to be trapped and sometimes killed in traps set by recreational fur trappers, licensed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W), and the Service has failed thus far to stop this illegal activity. Date created:
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Incorporating animals into wedding ceremonies is a practice that spans many cultures and can involve a variety of species. Many couples, however, do not stop to consider how the animals got there, how they are treated, or what will happen to them after the party’s over. Date created:
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A national coalition of wildlife advocacy and conservation organizations representing more than 70,000 Maine citizens is calling for an end to a coyote killing tournament that is currently underway in northern Maine. Date created:
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Leading animal welfare and wildlife conservation organizations this week announced support for the reintroduction of the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act (H.R. 2016/S. 1081) in both the US House of Representatives by Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) and the US Senate by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). This bill would ban the use or possession of all body-gripping animal traps—including snares, Conibear traps, and steel-jaw leghold traps—on lands within the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS). Date created:
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The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine (WAM) sent a letter of intent to sue Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (DIFW) Commissioner Roland D. Martin today to compel the agency to comply with federal law and take immediate action to protect Canada lynx from deadly traps. Date created:
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In this discussion, it would be easy to lose sight of pikas, wildebeest, Arctic shorebirds, green sea turtles, and a vast number of other wildlife species. Wild animals just take care of themselves, right? Always have, and always will. Except, the rapidity of climatic changes is a new phenomenon, and these changes may have devastating impacts on biodiversity. These issues are laid out in a new scholarly book titled Wildlife Conservation in a Changing Climate, edited by Jedediah Brody, Eric Post, and Daniel Doak. Date created:
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Wildlife Crime: An Environmental Criminology and Crime Science Perspective is a timely and most welcomed book, but fair warning: It is not light reading! Rather, it is a rigorous university textbook, apparently intended for students enrolled in criminal justice curricula, who want to specialize in protecting wildlife from illegal exploitation. Date created:
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With the Insurance institute for highway safety reporting a record 1.5 million vehicle strikes against wildlife annually, animals are forced to circumnavigate a daily procession of cars, trucks, SUV’s and more, barreling down highways that run through habitats in man-made surroundings which in no way resemble their own. Date created:
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The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and WildEarth Guardians (Guardians) are suing USDA’s Wildlife Services program due to its lethal wildlife management activities, which violate the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) sent a required 60-day notice to sue on April 4, 2014, on behalf of the groups. Date created:
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Wildlife killing contests are organized events in which participants kill animals within a certain timeframe for cash, prizes, entertainment, or other inducements. Date created:
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Just days before an annual killing contest in which some 40 coyotes were gunned down around the town of Adin, the California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously to consider a statewide ban on wildlife killing contests. Date created:
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The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) welcomed a decision last week by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to ban wildlife-killing M-44 devices, commonly known as “cyanide bombs,” across 245 million acres of BLM-managed lands. Date created:
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Wildlife law enforcement champions from 10 countries were recognized today with the Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Award at the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Geneva. Date created:
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Rapid assessment of wild animal population abundance is problematic, particularly for rare, cryptic felid species. However, estimates of population abundance are critical for effectively targeting conservation and management actions. Traditional mark-release-recapture (MRR) methods require recapturing hundreds of animals—often necessitating the capture of thousands of animals initially (Manning et al. 1995). Date created:
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The remote borderlands between the United States and Mexico contain vast and beautiful wilderness and include the richest diversity of plant and animal species in North America. Why then, did the US government, under the Bush Administration, choose to waive the many landmark laws set in place to protect these unique areas? Date created:
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Wildlife Services is a little-known program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that uses brutal methods and taxpayer dollars to kill approximately 5 million animals each year under the guise of “managing problems caused by wildlife.” It operates with little transparency, resisting public access to records documenting many of its activities. Date created:
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Every year, the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program spends millions of dollars on lethal, ineffective predator control, including chemical poisons such as M-44 sodium cyanide devices. Date created:
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The US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program trapped, shot, and poisoned more than 430,000 native animals last year, including hundreds of wolves, bears, and mountain lions, thousands of foxes, more than 25,000 beavers, and more than 62,000 coyotes. Shocking as these numbers are, the total is actually significantly lower than the more than 1 million killed in each of the previous several years. Date created:
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A federal judge has ruled that an Arizona animal cruelty case, involving a former employee of USDA’s Wildlife Services who trapped and severely injured his neighbor's dog, can go forward. The accused, Russell Files, had sought to dismiss the case, claiming that he was immune from state prosecution because his job with the federal government permitted him to trap animals. Date created:
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