US government kills coyotes from the air for Oregon ranch

[n2doc]

By Tom Knudson / January 5, 2016

While Oregon ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond have been battling the U.S. government over arson charges, another federal agency quietly has helped them kill predators.

Internal government records obtained by Reveal show that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services has gunned down coyotes from the air over Steven Hammond’s ranch as part of a far-flung aerial gunning program targeting predators for ranchers across the West.

In recent months, the Hammonds have become folk heroes to anti-government protesters, serving as the inspiration for the armed group that seized control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge visitor center in Oregon over the weekend. (The Hammonds haven’t taken a position on the occupation.)

…

And the Hammonds have gotten help from Wildlife Services, a division of the USDA that has long specialized in killing animals deemed a threat to ranchers in ways that can be inhumane, excessive, at odds with science and sometimes illegal.

The aerial gunning of predators takes place on private and public land across more than a dozen Western states. Federal data show that more than 350,000 coyotes and other animals have been killed over the past 15 years. The document shows that the government killed five coyotes by air for the Hammonds between 2009 and 2011.

more

https://www.revealnews.org/blog/u-s-government-killed-coyotes-from-the-air-for-hammond-ranch/

[handmade34]

1. and more....

taxpayers support many ranchers


http://www.salon.com/2015/03/27/american_billionaires_on_welfare_cliven_bundy_ted_turner_and_other_ranchers_stealing_your_tax_dollars/