FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, March 2, 1998
CONTACT:
Michael Markarian, 301-585-2591, mmarkarian@fund.org
Bill Dollinger, 202-296-2172, foa@igc.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, from 12:00 to 1:00 P.M., wildlife protection advocates rallied at the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters, on the corner of 14th Street and Independence Avenue, S.W., to protest the agency's continued use of millions of federal tax dollars to kill predators and other wildlife.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's misnamed "Wildlife Services" program (formerly known as "Animal Damage Control") annually spends millions of dollars to kill wolves, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, blackbirds, geese, beavers, raccoons, rabbits, and other animals at the request of the special interest ranching industry. The agency spent $37 million in Fiscal Year 1997, on programs that included the use of steel-jaw leghold traps, wire neck snares, poisons, and aerial gunning.
Says Michael Markarian, Campaign Director for The Fund for Animals, "The Wildlife Services program is certainly not a service, and it is certainly not for wildlife. It is corporate fat at its worst, and it should be eliminated from the federal budget."
Adds Bill Dollinger, Wildlife Campaign Coordinator for Friends of Animals, "Ranchers can use humane mitigation measures to reduce depredation on their livestock, such as fencing, guard dogs, pyrotechnics, and other scare devices. The Department of Agriculture should educate ranchers about these available techniques, rather than spend millions of our tax dollars on a cruel killing spree."
The D.C. protest is sponsored by The Fund for Animals, Friends of Animals, and Compassion Over Killing, and is part of a nationwide day of protest against the federal government's war on wildlife. Wildlife protection activists around the country are also holding protests in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Texas.