Cyanide Bombs Banned

In a victory for wildlife, the BLM has banned the use of infamous M-44 cyanide bombs to kill predators. The little known Wildlife Services bureau within the Department has used the devices to kill tens of thousands of animals over the past decade. The devices [graphic] are indiscriminate and have even been known to injure humans and their pets like Canyon Marshal and his dog Kasey, releasing a cloud of poisonous sodium cyanide gas if triggered by an animal. The fight against M-44s has been long and difficult.

Canyon Mansfield was walking on the hillside behind his Pocatello, Idaho home with his dog in 2017 when he spotted what looked like a sprinkler head.  When he reached down to pick it up, the spring loaded device released a cloud of gas. The poison killed his dog and injured him. The agency had planted M-44s on the public land adjacent to the Mansfield property. Now, the focus of the fight shifts to other land management agencies in the federal government to ban the use of inhumane device. Oregon was the last left coast state to ban their use in 2020.