Every 12 seconds in 2016, the White House killed a wild animal.
If that number shocks you, you won’t want to read the reasons why. 2.7 million animals “destroyed” simply because a farmer, rancher or municipality considered them a nuisance. More than 90% of the wildlife killed were poisoned—which often also ends up killing non-targeted species instead and puts humans at risk too.
This carnage has got to stop. There are humane, non-invasive ways to manage human-wildlife encounters and the White House has a responsibility to use them.
Join our call to end the government’s wasteful, inhumane lethal removal of wildlife. Tell the White House wildlife carnage has to end.
This “poison first, ask questions later” approach costs taxpayers $120 million a year. It targets bobcats, cougars, coyotes, owls, hawks and even chipmunks. Why do we have a federal department dedicated to killing chipmunks?
The worst part? This slaughter doesn’t even work. Coyotes, for example, have been shown to increase litter sizes in response to culls. And when a predator is removed from a local ecosystem, another always moves in to fill the vacuum. The government’s insistence on “management-through-slaughter” is inefficient, expensive and ineffective.
SumOfUs members have a long, proud history of standing up for needless animal torture and death. After years of speaking out against SeaWorld’s horrendous mistreatment of killer whales and other cetaceans, SeaWorld finally agreed to end its captivity breeding program. When Cecil the lion was brutally and illegally killed by an American poacher, 260,000 of us forced US airlines to ban the transport of big game carcasses on commercial flights. Together, we can make a better, safer, more humane world for our wildlife at home.
Tell the White House: End the slaughter of 3 million wild animals every year.
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PEER.
The Dodo. 14 March 2017.