A Wildlife Article from All-Creatures.org

BLM Bans M44s/Cyanide Bombs on 245 Million Acres of Public Lands

From Center for Biological Diversity
December 2023

Luring unsuspecting animals with a sweet-scented bait, M-44s spray sodium cyanide into their faces, causing a slow, agonizing death or severe injury. All done to appease ranchers. It’s outrageous that other federal and state agencies continue to use these deadly devices. We’re going to keep the pressure on until M-44s are pulled from federal lands across the country.

Fox, image from Peyman Zehtab Fard, Flickr

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management just banned M-44s, aka cyanide bombs, across the lands it manages. That’s 245 million acres.

For the past century, a federal program called Wildlife Services has used these horrifying traps to kill wolves, foxes, coyotes, and other wild canines deemed “undesirable” by Big Agriculture. Luring unsuspecting animals with a sweet-scented bait, M-44s spray sodium cyanide into their faces, causing a slow, agonizing death or severe injury.

They also accidentally kill and injure nontarget creatures, from endangered species to family dogs and even children.

“The Bureau of Land Management did the right thing to protect wildlife, people and pets from these poison-spewing traps,” said Collette Adkins, director of the Center’s Carnivore Conservation program.

“This good news is long overdue, but it’s outrageous that other federal and state agencies continue to use these deadly devices. We’re going to keep the pressure on until M-44s are pulled from federal lands across the country.”

If you’re one of the almost 45,000 supporters who’ve backed our fight against M-44s since 2019 alone, thank you. And thanks in advance for sticking with us as we battle on.

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