Lawsuit Launched to Save Lynx, Wolves, Condors, Other Endangered Animals From Deadly Pesticides

Conservation and animal-welfare groups today filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect imperiled mammals and birds from two deadly pesticides used to kill coyotes and other predators. The suit seeks common-sense mitigation measures to prevent exposure of the poisons to nontarget predatory and scavenging animals, including grizzly bears, Canada lynx, wolves and California condors. “We hope our lawsuit spurs reform of these barbaric tactics used to poison wildlife,” said Collette Adkins, an attorney and biologist at the Center. “These dangerous pesticides need to be banned, but until then, they shouldn’t be used where they risk killing wolves and other endangered wildlife.” The EPA has registered the pesticides at issue — sodium cyanide and Compound 1080 — for use by “Wildlife Services,” the predator-control arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as well as by state predator-control agencies in South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico and Texas. M-44 devices propel lethal doses of sodium cyanide into the mouths of animals lured by bait, while Compound 1080 is used in “livestock protection collars” strapped onto the necks of sheep and goats that often graze on public lands. The collars contain bladders filled with liquid poison intended to kill coyotes. ..more