Conservationists Sue Federal Wildlife Service

The killer group inside the Department of Agriculture, Federal Wildlife Service, has been sued by conservationists as it seeks to resume killing predators on federal land in Nevada. [photo]  The program to kill predators to "benefit agribusiness" as been in place since 1931 and costs taxpayers millions every year.  The federal suit was filed in Reno by WildEarth Guardians and the Western Watersheds Project on Monday.  The suit says the agency's environmental review of resuming aerial slaughter of predators, mostly coyotes which are the most numerous, has not considered the recent development of science regarding the role of predators in an ecosystem.  The suit says the agency's management practices are "antiquated". Each year some 1.3 native species are killed across the United States.

After a suit by Wilderness Guardians in 2012, the agency agreed to stop predator removal in federal wilderness areas in 2016. In its updated 2020 environmental assessment, the agency made a new claim that predator removal would benefit sage grouse, and endangered species. Conservations say that is an improper use of the Animal Damage Control Act since the assessment fails to establish that coyotes and ravens, which eat chicks and eggs, are depressing sage grouse numbers. Loss of habitat due to livestock grazing is a major contributor to the decline of the sage grouse. Analarming report from the United States Geological Survey shows that sage-grouse populations have declined 80 percent since 1965. Conservations also claim that the agency is sanctioning an impossible commercial purpose on wilderness lands, while failing to consider non lethal management techniques to prevent serious harm to livestock. Nevada still allows coyote killing constests. The assessment deficiencies affect 9700 sq. miles of federal lands.