Grim Anniversary: Eighty Years of the ADC Act

Guest Commentary by Camilla Fox
Reprinted with permission from the Animal Welfare Institute

The Animal Damage Control Act (ADC Act) was signed into law in 1931. The 80th anniversary of its passage this past March was hardly a cause for celebration; rather, it is an anniversary of mourning for each one of the millions of coyotes, foxes, wolves, bears, mountain lions, bobcats, badgers, Canada geese, cormorants, black birds and other animals labeled as “pests” who have been killed since this Act came into force.

The ADC Act authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to “conduct campaigns for the destruction or control” of animals considered threats to agriculture/ranching operations. Eighty years ago, this Act codified the federal government’s willingness to engage in predator control in the service of private economic interests. Under this arcane law, government agents continue to trap, snare, poison, and shoot any animal who “may” harm livestock, aquaculture, or agricultural crops.

Given the green light by the Act, the USDA’s euphemistically named Wildlife Services (WS) program conducts a quiet, relentless war against North America’s wildlife. Few Americans have heard of the WS program. Even fewer know that that their tax dollars pay federal agents to shoot wolves, coyotes and other predators from low-flying aircraft and to set poison bait and snares to trap and kill them.

In 2009 alone, WS killed more than 4 million animals in the U.S., including 115,000 mammalian carnivores; close to 90,000 were coyotes. Much of this killing takes place on public lands throughout the West. Each year, roughly $120 million are spent on this senseless and ecologically reckless program. State and county governments are provided incentives to contract with WS through matching cooperative funding agreements.

The WS program has even been used to bypass state wildlife protection laws. A recent case in point: California law bans the use of poison, and severely restricts the use of snares, leghold or metal-jawed traps. Nevertheless, the California Department of Fish & Game (DFG) is paying the USDA $600,000 under a three-year contract to use such methods to capture and kill mountain lions who prey on endangered bighorn as well as domestic sheep. Even though USDA is doing the bidding of the state agency, DFG and USDA assert that the federal agents are not bound by California law.

When reports filtered in that WS agents were killing mountain lions inhumanely and indiscriminately, without regard to actual threat, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) – a national non-profit alliance of local, state and federal scientists, law enforcement officers, land managers, and others dedicated to upholding environmental laws – blew the whistle. In addition, PEER’s Legislative Council issued a legal opinion concluding that federal employees in this case are bound by state law. (This opinion was requested of California State Senate Natural Resources Chairwoman Fran Pavley. The opinion carries no weight of authority, however, and it is unclear as of this writing whether it will influence mountain lion killing under the DFG/USDA contract.)

An Alternative Approach

Not all jurisdictions have elected to continue employing WS “help” controlling predators. A dozen years ago, Marin County, California, was spending $60,000 a year on a lethal coyote control program on behalf of sheep ranchers in the county.

When citizens began to protest the indiscriminate use of traps and the use of dangerous poisons such as Compound 1080, the Marin County Board of Supervisors voted to cease contracting with the federal agency and instead adopt a community-based program known as the Marin County Strategic Plan for Protection of Livestock and Wildlife – the first of its kind in the nation and a plan still in place today. The cost-share program relies solely on non-lethal predator deterrent methods, including livestock guard dogs and llamas, improved fencing, and night corrals.

In 2007, Marin County Agricultural Commissioner Stacy Carlsen, who oversaw implementation of the plan, told Bay Nature magazine that during the first six years of the program, sheep losses fell and the program cost the county over $10,000 a year less than the old one. This innovative model sets a precedent for encompassing a wider range of community needs and values, where both agriculture and protection of wildlife are deemed important by the community.

A New Paradigm

Greater understanding of the ecological importance of native carnivores and increasing public opposition to lethal “control” have led to growing demand for humane and ecologically sound conservation practices. Despite shifting public attitudes and values, however, traditional predator/wildlife management techniques persist, leading to increasing tension between conservationists and management institutions. This tension is reflected in increased litigation, legislation, and public ballot initiatives.

On this 80th anniversary of the Animal Damage Control Act, it’s time for Congress and the Obama administration to reform the Act – or do away with it altogether. We need a new paradigm in the way we coexist with native carnivores and other wildlife – one that recognizes their important ecological roles and right to exist.

MORE ABOUT CAMILLA FOX

For over 15 years, Camilla Fox has worked to protect wildlife and wildlands in the U.S. and internationally. She has served in leadership positions with the Animal Protection Institute, Fur-Bearer Defenders, and Rainforest Action Network and has spearheaded campaigns aimed at protecting native carnivores and fostering humane and ecologically sound solutions to human-wildlife conflicts.

As the Executive Director of Project Coyote and a wildlife consultant, Camilla assists communities, agencies, wildlife managers, and non-governmental organizations in creating innovative solutions to help people and wildlife coexist. A frequent speaker on these issues, Camilla has authored more than 60 publications and is co-author of Coyotes in Our Midst: Coexisting with an Adaptable and Resilient Carnivore and co-editor and lead author of the book, Cull of the Wild: A Contemporary Analysis of Trapping in the United States. Her work on behalf of wildlife has been featured in several national and international media outlets including the German documentary, Coyote: The Hunted Hunter, two North American documentaries: American Coyote — Still Wild at Heart, and On Nature’s Terms, as well as The New York Times, the BBC, NPR, Orion, USA Today magazine, and Bay Nature magazine.

Camilla holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies with a focus in Wildlife Conservation, Policy, and Ecology from Prescott College and a Bachelor’s degree from Boston University where she graduated magna cum laude in 1991. She has served as an appointed member on the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee and currently serves on several national and local advisory boards. In 2006, Camilla received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Marin Humane Society and the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award from the Animal Welfare Institute.

MORE ABOUT THE ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE

Since 1951, the Animal Welfare Institute has been dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. They seek better treatment of animals everywhere — in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild.

The Institute kindly granted the Mountain Lion Foundation permission to reprint this article, which appeared in their Spring 2011 Quarterly