Copyright 1999 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
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June 14, 1999, Monday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 22
LENGTH:
488 words
HEADLINE: KILLING WILDLIFE;
Tax dollars
wasted on lethal control of predator animals
SOURCE: Staff
BODY:
It is
a shame that the House voted last week to kill an amendment that would have
stripped $ 7 million from a government program that indiscriminately slaughters
natural predators like coyotes, foxes, mountain lions and black bears in the
name of livestock protection.
The Senate, which will consider a similar
measure in three or four weeks, has an opportunity to right this terrible wrong
while saving taxpayers money.
Shooting animals from the air, crushing
them with steel traps or baiting them with deadly poisons is cruel and inhumane.
It not only poses a threat to human beings, it endangers other nonpredatory
animals and creatures who trigger traps and snares or devour the remains of
poisoned animals. It has resulted in the unfortunate deaths of household pets.
The fact is that the government's decades-old practice of trying to control or
totally eliminate predatory animals has upset the ecological balance of much of
the West.
The program hasn't worked. There is ample scientific evidence
that using such lethal means of predator control is ineffective.
For
example, studies have shown that the random killing of coyotes stimulates
reproduction among surviving coyotes.
Expert panels established by
Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Carter, along with the General Accounting Office,
strongly criticized the program for its excessive reliance on lethal control of
predators.
The federally funded program to kill predators is known as
Wildlife Services and is operated by the Department of Agriculture.
Agriculture Department officials in 1997 said the program killed 146,000
animals, including 82,000 coyotes, 31,000 beavers, 7,300 raccoons and 6,800
skunks.
The good news is that there are nonlethal ways to effectively
control predators and protect livestock, and the state of Kansas is using them.
The state's extension service provides technical assistance to ranchers,
such as effective fencing, lighting, the use of guard dogs and other nonlethal
means of predator control.
The defeated House amendment by U.S. Reps.
Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Charles Bass, R-N.H., would have cut $ 7 million used
for killing predators from a $ 30 million program, leaving $ 10 million for
research and $ 21 million for operations.
The DeFazio/Bass amendment
would not stop lethal control of predators for livestock protection. It would
simply stop the use of federal dollars to do it. If private farmers and ranchers
wanted to use their own money to kill predators, they could.
Interestingly, the $ 7 million cut would have actually resulted in
making an additional $ 3 million available to control rabid wild animals and
troublesome birds at airports that pose a hazard to aircraft, according to Wayne
Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States.
The Wildlife
Services program is ineffective, inhumane and counterproductive. It's a waste of
federal tax dollars and should be stopped.
TYPE:
Editorial Opinion
LOAD-DATE: June 15, 1999
