Activists say US government funding killing of endangered species
The US has been accused of funding state-organized hunts of endangered predator species increasing the chances of their extinction.
A coalition of more than 35 animal welfare and Indigenous groups says the United States Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Service uses traps, snares, poisons, and aerial gunning to inhumanely slaughter wildlife, also threatening public safety, they have said.
They say the federal government claims to protect the endangered species but actually is involved in the killing of large, endangered predators, like gray wolves and grizzly bears.
The group says it presented a formal petition to the US Department of the Interior in late 2021 to develop rules to withhold money from state agencies that fund these “slaughters", but the department has not yet responded.
The slaughter is carried out across various states of the US, with the government claiming that the hunts are conducted to boost thinned herds of caribou, moose, elk and other prey hunted by large predators.
“Federal money cannot be used to purchase bullets or guns for the hunts, which are paid for with state money,” Jeff Ruch, an attorney with the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), a non-profit organization, told British daily The Guardian.
In 2021, the US government was reportedly responsible for killing more than 1.75 million animals across the country.
A wide variety of animals including alligators, armadillos, doves, owls, otters, porcupines, snakes, European starlings and turtles were slaughtered in 2021, according to The Guardian.
Wildlife populations have plummeted by more than two-thirds in the last 50 years.
Experts say with huge damage already done to the environment, the United States is contributing directly to the massive loss of wildlife all while using public money to fund the killing.
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