Banning the cyanide bombs - (used by the FedGov in the US)

[MechAg94]

Secretive Federal Agency’s Days of Killing Pets With Poison Bombs May Finally Be Ending
Banning the cyanide bombs — planted throughout the American West in service of the livestock industry — has been the Mansfield family’s mission.
https://theintercept.com/2023/07/27/cyanide-bombs-poison-wildlife-services/

The weapons, known as M-44s, are placed by an under-the-radar federal agency called Wildlife Services. The agency was created to protect the livestock industry’s bottom line by killing off the competition: namely, wild predators. The so-called cyanide bombs do kill predators, but they can also kill anyone else unlucky enough to stumble upon them. And they have a hair trigger.

I am not sure I caught the part of the article explaining how the cyanide bombs might get banned, but this was something I hadn't heard of.  The whole idea of gas bombs placed out in the wild just strikes me as terribly dangerous.  I am a bit shocked that is even allowed.  I have heard of poisoned meat and things like that, but not gas bombs.  That is just asking for something bad to happen.  I am sure a few of you probably know more about this than I do. 

[French G.]

I call hysteria. They use them in my part of Virginia. Coyotes are out of control.

[AZRedhawk44]

I call hysteria. They use them in my part of Virginia. Coyotes are out of control.

There are a lot of cultural divides in the United States.  A lot of reasons why east and west, and north and south, should separate and respect each other from a distance.

This type of agency and a practice like this is one of those divides.  Probably makes perfect sense in a state like VA where all land is private and controlling valued livestock and/or people around such a device is simple.  And it's appalling to those of us with enormous tracts of public land and miles and miles in any direction with no land owner in sight.

[230RN]

^ Like.

Trappers and pest controllers have to be alert to the possible effects on non-target species.  I say this as a matter of principle, but it is also a matter of law.

Trappers are well aware that placement is critical to successful trapping and are usually required to check the traps frequently.

If Poopsie is killed by one of these traps, the question arises as to what Poopsie was doing running around loose on game trails,  OR, why was the trap set where Poopsie legitimately roamed?

I recall a case back in the 2000 decade where there was a big imbroglio about whether a critter (wolf?) killed by a cyanide "bomb" < see the PR effect? --was legitimately killed or was a protected species from a neighboring  area, or was an interbred mixture of the two colonies.

That dangerous explosive device <see the PR effect? -- was set by a private party, not the government agents.  I lost interest in the case when they talked about doing an expensive genetic analysis of the critter's remains to see which it was:  proper target species, or an improper (protected) breed from a nearby colony, or a genetic mix of the two.

I had other things to do and mentally dismissed the whole thing as being simply "the breaks of the game"  and didn't follow it beyond that point but it was a BFD in the agencies involved and with the citizen-farmer who was liable for criminal procedures in terms of the "protected species" aspect.

Well, I figured at least it was a relatively fast and painless death compared to nature's own natural deaths.  Cleanup involved a certain amount  of caution, of course.

Terry, 230RN

[K Frame]

"Probably makes perfect sense in a state like VA where all land is private..."

Say what, now?

The Feds own nearly 4,000 square miles of Virginia.

That puts us 19th for total land owned by the Gub.

I don't, however, know what the breakdown is between Federally owned, publicly accessible land vs say, Federal owned land like military bases, etc.

Another 3.7 million acres in Virginia are state owned and managed for public benefit.

[Ben]

It's been a few years I think, but there was some hoopla about these bombs killing family dogs in Eastern Idaho. They just seem like a terrible idea on public land.

[K Frame]

I'm just shocked that there hasn't been a dead kid.

[WLJ]

Wow, didn't know they were doing this. Seems just a wee bit reckless.

[HankB]

I'm just shocked that there hasn't been a dead kid.

Texas has a law on the books that prohibits setting lethal mechanisms (don't set an anti-burglar gun trap in your home) but I'm not sure if this would restrict the Feds.

Cyanide bombs seem to be an exceptionally bad idea if set where people - including children - may trigger them.

[Ben]

We actually talked here about the Idaho case:

https://armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=54230.0

[MechAg94]

We actually talked here about the Idaho case:

https://armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=54230.0

That is one of the cases highlighted.  Sounds like it took the kid a while to recover from the effects.  It highlighted a man who was exposed and had chronic effects that he eventually died from. 

IMO, poison bombs probably should be illegal. The bombs talked about in the article are indiscriminate for anyone who might be close by or downwind.  They might as well be explosive mines or Claymores.  If we distributed these in Afghanistan, everyone would be after us for war crimes (no matter what the intended target was). 

There should be full liability for the individuals who set them and supplied them regardless of who they worked for.  Also for the agency involved. 

[French G.]

A fair bit of my Virginia county is National forest or state game land. I don’t see a cultural divide except for city people and those raising livestock for a living. At one time me and my idiot dog lived within a mile of where these traps were being used. If he ate one I had to accept that just the same as if he got into someone’s lambs and got shot. I’d prefer they call me first but I know the rules. Keep your animals at home.

[Pb]

Shotgun booby traps are illegal, and for good reason.

Cyanide booby traps should be illegal also... for the same reason.

[Ben]

Keep your animals at home.

Devils Advocate: Keep your cattle on private property. I mean, I live in cattle country, but some of this stuff "for the sake of the cattle" is ridiculous. If I'm on the county road and a neighbor's bull crashes a fence and runs in front of me and dies, I have to pay for it.

Also, as mentioned, little kids, being downwind, etc. Why should cattle have more rights on public land than anything else?

[JTHunter]

I call hysteria. They use them in my part of Virginia. Coyotes are out of control.

That's partly because you're not allowed to hunt them with guns.  "Dead 'yotes don't breed."