What's wrong with this agency?

[2naSalit]

This is what's wrong with this agency:

#t=91

[stuntcat]

1. K

I hope more people will see this.

[2naSalit]

2. Thanks, me too.

It's an issue all of us should know about and make a big noise in response.

[stuntcat]

3. kick, + "U.S. Wildlife Services Kills 1.5 Million Animals Each Year With No Public Accountability"

http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/03/wildlife-services-kills-millions-animals-no-accountability/

U.S. Wildlife Services Kills 1.5 Million Animals Each Year With No Public Accountability
The Center for Biological Diversity and allies petitioned the Obama Administration today to reform the federal wildlife-killing agency known as “Wildlife Services,” which kills nearly 1.5 million coyotes, bears, otters, foxes, birds and other animals each year without any requirement to disclose its activities to the public.
The secretive killing—which includes aerial gunning, traps and exploding poison caps—has gone on for decades with little public oversight or rules requiring the use of the best available science or techniques to reduce the deaths of non-target animals.

Today’s petition was filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees Wildlife Services.

“Wildlife Services is an out-of-control, rogue agency that shoots, snares and poisons more than a million native animals every year, many unintentionally—including at least 13 endangered species,” said Amy Atwood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and the primary author of the petition. “Despite calls for reform by members of Congress, scientists and the public, Wildlife Services is still operating without the kind of legally binding regulations that ensure transparency and accountability to the taxpaying American public, creating a free-for-all that should have been ended decades ago.”

The petition calls for the agency to:

-Develop regulations to ensure use of the best science when determining whether action should be taken against animals
-Avoid killing nontarget animals, including endangered species
-Ensure ethical treatment of targeted animals and exhaustion of nonlethal means
-Require release of reliable information to the public about the animals it kills

A response to the petition is required by law; any decision is subject to review by the courts.

[2naSalit]

5. Thanks for putting that up

it's good to know that others on DU are aware of this. I get quadruplicates about all these in my inbox every day... and then some.

A good web site for keeping up on that and other stuff...

http://www.thewildlifenews.com/

I know the moderators and authors of articles at the site.

[stuntcat]

7. TY! I'd never heard of them.

I followed them online now (on facebook )

[2naSalit]

8. If you want to know more

there is a book written by a former WS trapper who tells about working for them before, during and after the wolf reintroductions of 1995. He was kind of rescued from being trashed by USFWS head of the reintroductions. Now retired but he wrote a memoir called "Wolfer" was self published. You can google it. A good read. And if you google his name you'll get an eyefull of the kind of grief he gets from all sides, still.

[gejohnston]

4. the fact it exists

for several reasons:
It isn't a proper role of the federal government since none of these are federally protected/regulated species.
It really is a form of corporate welfare
No transparency
Get away with violating state game regulations and other laws

[2naSalit]

6. Indeed.

I stay in touch with some of the guys who used to work for them and hated what they did so moved to other agencies. Now retired, they work to expose this rogue agency.