Jeremiah Smith: “I am pleased that the Smith-Boxer amendment on Wildlife Services was accepted to the Agriculture appropriations bill.…”

“I am pleased that the Smith-Boxer amendment on Wildlife Services was accepted to the Agriculture appropriations bill. Our amendment will create a pilot study in four States that will examine the effectiveness of nonlethal predation control methods under Wildlife Services. Our amendment is reasonable and fair. Let me briefly talk about the lethal predator control program administered under the Wildlife Service program. With our scarce tax dollars, Wildlife Services personnel kill more than 80,000 mammalian predators a year, mainly coyotes, but also black bears, mountain lions, foxes, and bobcats. They conduct this killing by engaging in aerial gunning, poisoning, and trapping. Since 1993, there have been 18 aerial gunning crashes. In addition, the aerial gunning program has caused the deaths of seven individuals, both Federal and contract employees. Banned in 89 nations because it is so inhumane, leghold traps catch any animal unlucky enough to trigger the device. Animals caught in traps languish and suffer for days, sometimes resorting to twisting off or chewing off a leg to escape its vice grip. I am not standing before you today saying that every program that Wildlife Services executes is harmful or a waste of taxpayer money.”