Predator control looks a lot different on the ground
May 6th, 2008 by admin
High Country News
Predator control looks a lot different on the ground
Writers on the Range - by Bonnie Kline
The extremists who are on a mission to eliminate the Department of
Agriculture’s Wildlife Services would do well to spend time with ranchers
who live and work on our Western landscape. There, they might gain an
on-the-ground perspective other than their narrowly defined agenda. As the
old Greek shepherds — echoing the ancient Greek philosophers — say,
“Everything in moderation.” Yet the campaign to end Wildlife Services is
anything but moderate; it’s fraught with melodrama and spin-doctoring.
Since biblical times, domestic livestock and crops have needed protection
from predators and scavengers. Domestic livestock and agriculture have
enabled mankind to explore and establish settlements, and have played a
major role in providing the comforts we expect today. These days, though,
most Americans are several generations removed from production agriculture,
and most don’t realize what’s required to put a meal on their table.
Wildlife Services fulfills a critical role in protecting American
agriculture, yet it is portrayed by extremists as “slaughtering and
persecuting” wildlife.
It’s true that Wildlife Services kills over a million animals a year, but
the vast majority are birds that cause crop and feedlot damage. Is this an
unpleasant thought? Of course, but is it necessary? Yes. Does Wildlife
Services kill native carnivores? Yes, but is it necessary? Yes. Does it
harm the viability of the overall wildlife population? Biologists will tell
you it absolutely does not.
Do you want your home occupied by mice, or it is all right to kill them?
Prairie dogs might be considered cute, unless they destroy your property
and pose the risk of bubonic plague to your family. Wolves are wild and
beautiful, but less so if they kill your horse, a beloved family pet or
take a significant bite out of your paycheck by killing your livestock.
As with all situations in life, there are many sides to an issue. Defining
the predator-control issue in a one-sided campaign is an insult to everyone
who doesn’t know the facts. It implies that the average American is not
smart enough to make the “right” decision when presented with a
comprehensive overview of the issue. On the other hand, I believe that when
presented with all the facts, most Americans understand that managing
wildlife is necessary if we are to maintain viable farms and ranches.
Leading the charge to eliminate Wildlife Services are groups such as
WildEarth Guardians. They charge that the federal agency’s job is “to
eradicate and bring down wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, prairie
dogs, and other animals. Help stop the slaughter today.” This statement is
false. It has been decades since there was a federal policy aimed at
eradicating wolves, and nowhere in the current Wildlife Services program is
there language directing the agency to eradicate any of the species listed
above.
It is true that Wildlife Services does occasionally kill entire packs of
wolves that have repeatedly caused damage to livestock; that was part of
the federal tradeoff that got wolves restored to the West. Wildlife
Services also spends money to target the removal of depredating coyotes,
bears, and lions. However, the agency is not engaged in the wholesale
slaughter of predators or other wildlife; its mission is to protect
agriculture. Wildlife Services is a major component of predator control for
the livestock industry, and livestock losses would be significantly higher
without an agency constantly removing depredating animals.
The campaign to eliminate Wildlife Services includes a recent petition to
the EPA to ban M44s, devices used to kill coyotes. The petition — filed by
Sinapu and Forest Guardians, now known as WildEarth Guardians — is riddled
with inconsistencies and omissions. For instance, the petition states that
from 1996-2006, Wildlife Services violated federal regulations 17 times
when setting M44s. Yet it fails to mention that during the same time frame,
244,000 M44s were set, and 33,000 of the M44s were fired. Statistically
speaking, this means that only .0000696 violations occurred as a percentage
of overall M44s set in the field; and only .000515 violations occurred as a
percentage of M44s actually fired in the field.
Americans enjoy the luxury of spending only approximately 10 percent of
their income on food, compared to the up to 45 percent that people in other
countries must pay. Stripping away management tools that assist agriculture
undermines the U.S. economy and heads us down the road to rapid dependency
on foreign countries for our food. As the rhetoric to eliminate Wildlife
Services escalates, remember the Greek shepherds’ philosophy of “Everything
in moderation.”
Bonnie Kline is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High
Country News (hcn.org). She is executive director of the Colorado Wool
Growers Association in Denver, Colorado.
For the fourth time this week a coyote has endangered humans in California. The latest two incidents involved toddlers. In one case a coyote came into the yard of a family and was activly dragging a two year old off by the throat to dine upon. Had it not been for the arrival of the childs mother, there would have been a search for scattered bits of clothing and bits of bone. In the latest, a coyote followed the family dog into the house through the doggy door. The baby sitter was able to drive the offending “yote” out by throwing pillows at it. A second dog was een just outside.
If nothing but human carnage will fill the bill as an “attack” in the lexicon of the wolf lovers, surely this behavior has to be a claxon call to folks that possess that ever dwindling commodity, “common sence”.
In California the forces of “green” now hold so much sway that the lion population has burgoned to huge proportions, bear encounters are common and coyotes in town are a daily happening.
The bunny huggers will tell you that this is due to humans invading the bush. While urban sprawl is a fact. It is also a fact that the meat eaters are seeing the human residents as food!
If the wolf were in California, he would be just as habituated as the local meat eaters.
There is a lesson here for those of us here in the rural west. It will not be long before we face the same depredations here. It is high time and past to bring back “common sence”, be that through the legislative process, the courts, or independent action.