Environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit to stop the use of cyanide bombs to kill predators, including grizzly bears and coyotes, on livestock ranches.
“One kind of device, called an M-44, is embedded into in the ground and looks like a lawn sprinkler but sprays cyanide when triggered by animals attracted by bait smeared on the devices,” says The Idaho Statesman. The device killed about 12,500 coyotes last year in the western U.S., but it has also killed and maimed dogs and hurt at least one 14-year old boy who came upon it unexpectedly.
“The other poison targeted in the lawsuit is a pesticide called Compound 1080 that’s placed in collars worn by livestock and ingested by attacking predators,” says the Stateseman. “The lawsuit says the collars can harm non-targeted predators as well as carrion feeders, including birds. The groups also say the collars can be lost or punctured by vegetation, leaving behind poison that can kill non-targeted wildlife.”
Both Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service are named in the lawsuit, which was signed by the Center for Biological Diversity, among others. The plaintiffs called for the government to halt use of these poisons until the EPA can assess their impact on endangered species.