The Wildlife Services branch of the United States Department of Agriculture has come under scrutiny as of late due to their increased spending on curbing animal populations.
With an astonishing amount of nearly $100 million spent each year on eliminating what they deemed unnecessary and potentially dangerous animal predators, many are left wondering if the present animal control program is the best plan of action to take. Critics are calling the eradication of unwanted predators as not only counterproductive to the environment but also an utter waste of valuable tax dollars.
In addition to the negative financial aspects, there are also multiple ethical issues being raised with the current procedures. Wildlife Services is basically in charge of protecting livestock as well as other animals from predators. Therefore, they are brought in by agencies to eliminate them. The problem with this is that the ranchers and other agencies are not required to show that they have tried to use non-lethal means of getting the animal predators off of their property. This is causing some to speculate on just how efficient the Wildlife Services branch actually is due to the fact that their records are contained and confidential to the general public.
Clearly, more needs to be done to mandate exactly how the Wildlife Services branch operates. If the public is unable to gain documents on just how their procedures are run, it makes it incredibly hard to understand just how their processes work. Perhaps, petitions are in order so that their branch can be better checked.