Emails, Wendy Keefover, carnivore protection manager, Wildlife Department, the Humane Society of the United States, April 30 and May 4, 2017

2:05 p.m.

April 30, 2017

The link below are where the data come from. Click on 2016, then find “PDR G” for animals killed by WS for that year.

Attached please find my analysis of WS’s 2016 data related to mortalities from sodium cyanide M-44s.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/wildlifedamage/sa_reports/sa_pdrs/ct_pdr_home_2016

6:33 p.m.

May 4, 2017

It doesn’t look to me like the USDA compiles the deaths information so you can easily compare state counts.

If you click on the pie chart “PDR G,” you can look at WS’ mortality data by state. Look at the drop down menu for “filter by state.”

Did the Humane Society compile the figures presented? For how many years has Texas ranked No. 1? Given the state’s size, is that simply logical?

I compiled the data and I am the Carnivore Protection Manager for the HSUS. One can go back through their data by year to see if Texas has been ranked first for M-44 usage. I haven’t done it for other years, but I would not be surprised that TX is ranked number one each year—given the spread of those numbers. I don’t think size has figured into this as much as tradition/attitude.

In TX, there’s been a lot of accidents with sodium cyanide for predator control, including a mortality in the 1960s—from a “humane coyote getter”—a device that was the predecessor to the M-44. It is no longer legal. Instead of the piston mechanism in the M-44, the coyote getter used a .38 cartridge.  

• In 1966, Raymond Medford, a surveyor for an oil company in Texas was killed by cyanide from a “coyote getter” when it discharged into his hand (Olsen 1971, p. 11-22), driving the poison under the skin.

Texas M-44 incidents. We got these data from the Environmental Protection Agency via a FOIA. (The EPA, under federal law “FIFRA”, regulates sodium cyanide for predator control use. It has 26 use restrictions.)

• In 1998, in Texas, Bill Guerra Addington. He wrote a 2008 letter to Congressman DeFazio, documenting his encounter: "I noticed what appeared to be a rusted rod sticking out of the ground about 15 ft from the watering tank.... I bent over to pull the rod out of the ground. After I grabbed the top and moved the 'metal rod' back and forth to remove it from the ground, it exploded in my hand... I looked at my hand and saw it was all cut up and burned, and there was yellow powder all over it. The yellow powder was even burnt into the burns and cuts on my hand. My hand was bleeding and was starting to swell from the explosion trauma... I was puzzled why a 'coyote getter' would be on our private land...The pain was really bad for about 2 hours. My hand healed slowly. I had a yellow palm for five or six months" (EPA FOIA 2017).
• On May 17, 2007, a Texas man spraying mosquitoes in an oil field “kicked or stepped” on an M-44 and cyanide was “ejected into his eyes” and he suffered “irritation” and “burning” and was admitted to a hospital. In his Brazoria County Sheriff report, Officer Shanks reports that the victim drove himself to a small business where a woman found him disoriented and asking for help. Officer Shank was ordered to “go home immediately and take a shower”; he writes: “I informed everyone on the scene who came into contact with the victim to shower immediately also.” (Oo and Recore 2010).
• February 16, 2011, a border patrol agent in Texas kicked an M-44 and then pulled it with his gloved hand, which discharged the device. The agent then read a “nearby M-44 individual device warning sign” and called an ambulance and went to hospital but “did not suffer any damage or harm” (EPA FOIA).
• February 28, 2011, a Texas rancher repairing his fence discharged an M-44 into his cheek.  He rinsed his eye and went to hospital (EPA FOIA).

I am curious too what you make of this USDA document. Is it accurate?

M-44s are anything but safe. They are effective. They kill lots of animals.

…

Wendy Keefover

Carnivore Protection Manager, Wildlife Dept

7:12 p.m.

May 4, 2017

From the Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, Tom Knudson, who investigated WS back in 2012. He has several articles—in addition to the three from this link--that are pretty eye opening.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/wildlife-investigation/article2574599.html

Here’s Todd Wilkinson’s recent Nat Geo article on M-44s too: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/wildlife-watch-wildlife-services-cyanide-idaho-predator-control/