We need your help. Every year, millions of taxpayer dollars are spent on lethal animal control. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services (“WS”) program killed 2.65 million animals – among them, thousands of non-target animals including imperiled wildlife and beloved companion animals. One particularly cruel method WS uses is poison, which can cause agonizing, slow deaths for the unlucky animals who happen to ingest them. These poisons are also ineffective, expensive, and obsolete.
The Chemical Poisons Reduction Act, or Canyon’s Law, has been reintroduced in both the U.S House of Representatives (H.R. 2471, sponsored by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-OR) and the Senate (S. 1301, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-OR) to outlaw WS’s use of two extremely dangerous poisons: the sodium cyanide found in M-44 devices, and sodium fluoroacetate, known as Compound 1080, which is used in “livestock protection collars.” Canyon’s law is named after Canyon Mansfield, a boy who was hospitalized and whose dog Casey was killed by an M-44 “cyanide bomb.”
We need your voice to end the use of these ecologically destructive and ethically indefensible devices.
Please ask your lawmakers to co-sponsor Canyon’s Law!
Click here to find your two senators and your representative. Next, call and email each lawmaker.
You can simply say, “As your constituent, I urge you to co-sponsor the Chemical Poisons Reduction Act, H.R. 2471/ S. 1301, also known as Canyon’s Law. This legislation would end the use of cruel and dangerous poisons to kill wildlife. Please protect the health and safety of our children, wild animals, and the environment.” For maximum impact, please personalize your message. Additional talking points below.
Talking Points:
- Mass Killing: Wildlife Services’ lethal control program kills thousands of target and non-target animals including imperiled species and beloved companion animals. In 2018, for example, Wildlife Services used M-44 “sodium cyanide bombs” to kill 6,579 animals. Of these, at least 200 were non-target animals. Because of poor reporting, this count is likely much lower than the actual number of animals killed.
- Indiscriminate and Dangerous: Compound 1080 and M-44 cyanide capsules are indiscriminate killers, and thousands of non-target animals die each year, including pets. In 2017, a boy was seriously injured and his dog was killed when an unmarked M-44 cyanide bomb detonated near his backyard in Idaho. Canyon Mansfield watched horrified as his dog Casey seized in front of his eyes. Between FY 2006 and FY 2016, Wildlife Services acknowledged that 376 dogs has been killed by a particularly deadly device called an M-44, or “cyanide bomb.” Again, the real numbers are likely higher, but reporting is incomplete.
- Cruel and Senseless: These poisons cause their victims painful, slow deaths. Death by Compound 1080 is horrific, painful, and lengthy (usually between 3 and 15 hours). Exposure can result in cardiac failure, progressive failure of the central nervous system, or respiratory arrest followed by severe prolonged convulsions. There is no antidote to Compound 1080 exposure, and carcasses contaminated by 1080 must be handled as hazardous waste. Sodium cyanide morphs into hydrogen cyanide gas, which is easily absorbed by the lungs, and the exposed animal suffocates.
- Terrorism Threats: Wildlife Services has refused to acknowledge the danger of these poisons—yet the FBI has listed both poisons sodium cyanide and Compound 1080 as potential terrorist threats, calling them “super poisons”! After 9/11, the FBI listed Compound 1080 as “a highly toxic pesticide judged most likely to be used by terrorists or for malicious intent.” The FBI, the EPA, and the World Health Organization classify Compound 1080 as an “extremely hazardous toxic pesticide.” The FBI and Canadian Security Intelligence Service have listed Compound 1080 as a substance that may be sought for use as a possible chemical warfare agent in public water supplies.”
- Humane Alternatives: Safer, more humane, and cheaper methods are available to prevent and resolve problems with wildlife. Learn more here.
Thank you for acting to protect animals and children!
For Wild Nature,
Camilla H. Fox
Founder & Executive Director