Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Joel Sartore, National Geographic photographer, Defenders board member, and concerned Nebraskan.

Not only is Defenders board member Joel Sartore a world-renowned wildlife photographer, but he’s also a consummate activist. Read the column below that was published today in the Lincoln Journal Star opposing a  terrible piece of legislation in Nebraska that would expand counties’ authority to poison prairie dogs.

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Local View: Oppose LB473: Protect our wildlife and property rights

By Joel Sartore

For more than 20 years, I’ve had the privilege to photograph wildlife all around the world for National Geographic Magazine.

And in every place I’ve visited, there’s at least one plant or animal that is considered a “keystone” species for the outsized role it plays in maintaining nature’s balance. In parts of Africa, it’s elephants. In our oceans, it’s sharks and sea otters. For Nebraska, it’s the black-tailed prairie dog, though it’s an animal already so reduced in numbers you would be hard-pressed to find one if you drove this state from one end to the other.

So it’s hard to imagine why some of our elected leaders seem hell-bent on getting rid of as many of the remaining prairie dogs as possible, even forcing landowners to poison them against their wishes. Right now, a bill (LB473, “The Black-tailed Prairie Dog Management Act”) is working its way through the Legislature that would allow county governments to force the poisoning of prairie dogs on private land should any cross a property line. To add insult to injury, the bill would allow the county to come on your property without asking, and then send you the tab for killing native wildlife.

Forget about the prairie dogs for a minute and think about this with me. What if a deer beds on one landowner’s property but eats crops on a neighbor’s land? Should the landowner where the deer sleeps be held responsible? Of course not. Nobody owns wildlife, so why would anyone be liable for a species that moves from one parcel of land to the next?

In an era where every new government mandate is met with great outrage (remember Obamacare?), how is this any different? This bill is an effort by the government to force individuals to pay for something they do not want; trespassers and poisoning at the landowner’s expense.

So this leaves just one question: How did this thing ever get out of committee? This not only is an affront to property rights, but to personal liberties and freedoms as well. Beyond that, is it even constitutional to force private citizens to eradicate a native species at their expense and against their will?

The fact that few senators have spoken out against this actually speaks volumes about the Unicameral at this point in time. Nebraska Game and Parks remains silent as well, even though they’re the agency designated to protect our nongame wildlife.

If individual landowners want to poison prairie dogs on their own dime, that’s their business. But this bill is similar to a 1901 Kansas law that still is being enforced against the wishes of private landowners.

This new bill would similarly set Nebraska back to an outdated mind-set when healthy wildlife and healthy lands were not valued. And this clear violation of property rights stands to have major impact on not only prairie dogs, but on all the other imperiled species that rely on them, from burrowing owls to salamanders.

In a crowded world worn increasingly ragged, we should be doing everything we can to protect these vital animals and restore the ecosystems that depend upon them, not making it easier for counties to wipe them out.

It’s time for our elected leaders to stand up for both Nebraska’s wildlife and our property rights by rejecting this bill. Contact your state senator now. They will vote on this within days, and it will take only a simple majority, 25 out of our state’s 49 lawmakers, to allow this terrible idea to become law.

One of the most endangered mammals in North America, the black-footed ferret, and the prairie dogs on which they feed, will have one less hazard to worry about this winter.  Defenders won a court victory barring the use of Rozol Prairie Dog Bait in the states of Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Rozol, which contains the blood thinner chlorophacinone, causes death by internal bleeding and hemorrhaging.  Dead and dying prairie dogs can be scavenged by ferrets and raptors, which in turn become poisoned themselves.  Defenders sued the EPA for approving the use of Rozol and ignoring federal safeguards under the Endangered Species Act, the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

In a recent decision, a district court in the District of Columbia sided with Defenders, ruling that EPA had indeed violated the ESA by approving Rozol without first consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the potential impacts of Rozol on ferrets and other threatened and endangered species.

The final order in the case bars use of Rozol in those four states, requires that Rozol’s manufacturer Liphatech, Inc., notify its distributors not to sell the product in those areas, and prohibits Liphatech from selling or distributing existing stocks in its possession without relabeling it to reflect the ban in those four states.  EPA has also agreed to complete consultation with FWS over Rozol use in 10 states to prevent accidental injury to other listed species in the West.

Wildlife Services use poisons to kill coyotes, but protected wildlife can also fall victim. Take action today to end the use of Compound 1080 and other deadly poisons.

She had traveled to four states and logged more than 1,000 miles from her home in Montana.  But a female wolf from the Mill Creek pack (known as 314F), met a horrific fate in Colorado—illegally poisoned by the deadly Compound 1080.

Take action now! Urge the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide—deadly toxins that can kill protected wildlife.

Compound 1080—so dangerous, it is classified as a chemical weapon in several countries—is now legally used by the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services to kill coyotes in nine states.

Compound 1080 and other deadly toxins don’t always reach their intended victims. Sodium cyanide—another highly toxic poison—kills hundreds of non-target animals each year. Protected wolves, rare swift foxes and even hundreds of pet dogs have been killed by baited traps that are left unattended.

EPA is currently deciding whether to continue to allow the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide by Wildlife Services to kill native wildlife. And we need your help to ban these deadly chemicals.

Act now! Urge federal officials to ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide to kill wildlife—and prevent the poisoning of animals struggling to survive.

Non-lethal alternatives like improved fencing, guard animals, range riders and other methods can safely and effectively keep predators away from domestic animals—without the use of deadly poisons.

It’s too late for 314F. But with your help, we can fight to end the use of the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide—and prevent the poisoning of wildlife struggling to survive.

Act now to end the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide—a terrible way for wildlife to die.

A “newer generation” of incredibly toxic rat poisons have been responsible for killing hundreds of owls and other wildlife in the United States, Canada and Europe, according to a host of studies on both continents. These pesticides can kill with just one dose, but death isn’t swift or clean – the animals may “stagger about, dazed but not yet dead,” for days, writes reporter Robert McClure in an in-depth series of articles written for Environmental Health News and Investigate West.

The poisons prevent blood from clotting, causing the targeted rodents – and any other animals that feed upon them – to slowly bleed to death.

The poisons prevent blood from clotting, causing the targeted rodents – and any other animals that feed upon them – to slowly bleed to death. Wildlife ranging from coyotes to foxes, from owls to kestrels, and even songbirds, squirrels and deer, have been impacted by careless applications of these poisons. And humans are impacted as well – McClure reports that more than 10,000 kids get hold of these “super-toxic rat poisons” every year, sending many to the emergency room with dangerous bleeding or other symptoms. Some new restrictions on sales and applications of these poisons are scheduled to come on line next year.

Prairie Dog

But one poison of this type, known as Rozol, is currently approved to kill wild prairie dogs. Rozol also threatens the many wildlife species that depend on prairie dogs, including already endangered black-footed ferrets, swift foxes, owls, eagles and other raptors. Defenders has gone to court to persuade the Environmental Protection Agency to bar use of Rozol on prairie dogs. And this year, Defenders and other organizations helped save a large prairie dog colony in Wyoming from poisoning by relocating them to a protected area within Thunder Basin National Grassland.

A horrific, excruciating death awaits wolves, swift foxes or any wild animal that comes in contact with deadly sodium cyanide or Compound 1080.

Did you know that each year the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services kills more than 10,000 wild animals with highly toxic sodium cyanide and sodium monofluoroacetate (known as Compound 1080)?

You can help stop the use of these toxic chemicals on our wildlife. Act now to urge the Environmental Protection Agency to ban these deadly poisons.

These poisons don’t just threaten their intended targets. They can also poison any threatened or endangered species, people or pets that happen to come into contact with them.

Domesticated dogs and a whole host of other non-target species, including kit foxes, ringtails, javelinas, and swift foxes have been killed by sodium cyanide used in M-44 trigger traps.  M-44s have also killed California condors and wolves.

For the lucky few, death comes within minutes—but far too often, it’s a slow and agonizing spiral that can take hours.

Take action today. Send a message to EPA and urge them to end the use of these terrible poisons for killing wildlife.

It’s an awful way to die. The last moments of life are cursed with dizziness, convulsions or excruciating pain. For the lucky few, death comes within minutes—but far too often, it’s a slow and agonizing spiral that can take hours.

Take action now. Urge EPA officials to end the use of these deadly poisons on our wildlife and help us reach our goal of sending 50,000 messages.