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The US government has approved the continued use of ‘cyanide bombs’ to kill wild animals such as coyotes, dogs, and foxes.
The ‘bombs’, referred to as M-44s, are placed on public lands and disguised with bait. When animals bite down, sodium cyanide is released into their mouths.
It is reported that in 2018, the traps killed 6,579 animals and 13,232 in 2017, including ‘non-target’ animals such as bears, wolves, and raccoons.
In 2017, the US government was sued for more than $150,00 after an M-44 injured a child and killed his dog in Idaho.
The Environmental Protection Agency also received more than 20,00 letters from people opposing reauthorizing the use of M-44s – after several states temporarily banned its use.
‘An enemy to the enviornment’
“The Trump Administration has been such an enemy to the environment,” Collette Adkins, the carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity said to TIME Magazine.
“They really have time and time again put business interests ahead of people’s health, ahead of ecological health, it’s really more of the same.”
Adkins also stated the traps can’t be used safely by ‘anyone, anywhere’, adding: “While the EPA added some restrictions, these deadly devices have caused too much harm to remain in use. We need a permanent nationwide ban to protect people, pets and imperiled wildlife from this poison.”
