News came out last week that taxpayer-funded and woefully misnamed Wildlife

Services killed five wild wolves in central Idaho for alleged livestock depredation—another in a long line of such wolf-killing actions by this secretive government agency.

Wildlife Services, which Congressman Peter DeFazio calls “one of the most opaque and least accountable agencies” in the federal government, is currently seeking public comments on a new Environmental Assessment (EA) which considers continuing and expanding its “predator damage management” activities in Idaho. This, of course, is a euphemism for “killing.” This half-hearted attempt to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed earlier this year by groups including Western Watersheds Project, which alleged that Wildlife Services’ existing analyses were stale and incomplete.

The EA not only allows for continued government killing of coyotes, bears, mountain lions, and more—but audaciously proposes to expand operations to support the wishes of Idaho Department Fish and Game! This expanded killing could include poisoning ravens in the name of sage-grouse, killing mountain lions in the name of bighorn sheep, and even killing predators in the name of non-native species such as ring-necked pheasants.

It’s time we demand WS end its destructive lethal predator control practices, which channel our federal taxpayer dollars to benefit a handful of private interests. The new EA fails for the following reasons, among others:

Wildlife Services is Killing Idaho’s Wildlife:

Idaho WS killed 116,891 animals in 2014 to further its mission of “provid[ing] Federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist.” Here’s how the 2014 numbers break down:

• 113,780 starlings were poisoned with DRC-1339
• 1,434 coyotes and 1 wolf were gunned from fixed-wing aircraft
• 12 coyote dens were destroyed with gas cartridges, which kill animals via asphyxiation
• 92 coyotes and 24 wolves were gunned from helicopters
• 105 coyotes were poisoned by cyanide capsules from M-44 traps (a baited device that provides a facial blast of sodium cyanide, causing convulsions, paralysis, and death)
• 2 domestic animals were unintentionally poisoned using M-44s.
• 168 coyotes and 8 beavers were killed using neck snares (a steel cable catching the animal by the neck, tightening as the animal tries to free itself)
• 5 beavers were intentionally killed by body-grip traps
• Foothold trap kills include the following. Foothold traps use steel jaws to clamp animals by the leg, holding it in place until agents can kill it. Sometimes, however,traps are not checked for long periods of time, resulting in slow and excruciating deaths from exposure.