The EPA is reconsidering the use of an inhumane poison that has caused thousands of horrifically painful wildlife deaths[Editor's note: T.S. Eliot's famous 1922 poem "The Waste Land" begins with the phrase, "April is the cruellest month." But for so many non-human animals suffering at the hands of humans around the world, every month in the cruellest. 13.7 Billion Years takes Eliot's famous line as the theme for April, which is "Animal Cruelty Month." For many, it is not an easy topic to digest. But if Homo sapiens is to truly evolve, it must be dealt with now -- and vigorously.]
"After traveling more than 1,000 miles from her Montana home, a female wolf from the Mill Creek pack (known as 314F), met a horrific fate in Colorado -- illegally poisoned by the deadly Compound 1080," according to the non-profit Defenders of Wildlife.
"Plagued with convulsions, dizziness and unbearable pain, her journey ended in a terrible death on a lonely Colorado road."
It is a sad and all-too-common story. Thousands of coyotes are killed each year due to Compound 1080 (Sodium fluoroacetate) and sodium cyanide, toxins that Humane Society of the United States president and CEO Wayne Pacelle says, "simply must be eliminated."
Currently used to kill coyotes in nine states, Compound 1080 also kills non-target species like protected endangered wolves, foxes, wild dogs and even pet dogs. It is so lethal that it is classified as a chemical weapon in several nations. But the EPA approved the use of Compound 1080 in 1985.
Following a 2007 study by Australia's RSPCA that found Compound 1080 to be an "inhumane poison," RSPCA's Dr. Miranda Sherley said, "We were concerned to further investigate what level of pain and suffering was caused by 1080 on any vertebrate animal, including the target animals -- which, we should remember, are also very much able to experience pain and suffering and deserve no less compassion in the way we deal with them."
Now, after years of campaigns to ban these lethal metabolic poisons, the EPA is reconsidering their use.
As of Wednesday, Defenders of Wildlife submitted 41,106 signatures from concerned citizens to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, urging her to ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide to prevent the poisoning of wildlife.
GET INVOLVED
- Sign a Defenders of Wildlife petition urging the EPA to ban the use of Compound 1080 and sodium cyanide to prevent the poisoning of wildlife struggling to survive (signature goal = 50,000)
- Sign the Universal Declaration of Animal Welfare
- Follow 13.7 Billion Years on Twitter
- Obama Approves Bush's Wolf Plan
- Good News for America's Wolves, Maybe
- Ashley Judd on Sarah Palin: "We Will Stop Her"
- Palin's Wolf Slaughter Reaches Record Numbers
- Darker Days for Gray Wolves?
- A Second Chance for Alaska's Wolves
- Conservationists Call Palin's Wolf Program "Brutal"
- Alaska's Wolf Control Program Under Fire
- Judge Overturns Bush's Decision to Allow Wolf Killings
- Wolves Hunted After Protection Ends
- Thanks to those who signed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) petitions to end animal use in pediatrics training, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio no longer uses and kills rabbits and ferrets to train its pediatrics residents. (PCRM)
- April 16-24: World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week
- April 23: Vigil for Massacred Sled Dogs in Montreal
- April 24: World Lab Animal Day
- June 1: Solar Eclipse (2nd of 4 partial solar eclipses in 2011)
- June 8: World Oceans Day
- June 15: Lunar Eclipse (1st of 2 total lunar eclipses in 2011)
- July 1: Solar Eclipse (3rd of 4 partial solar eclipses in 2011)
- November 25: Solar Eclipse (4th of 4 partial solar eclipses in 2011)
- December 10: Lunar Eclipse (2nd of 2 total lunar eclipses in 2011)
- Help Japan
- Help children in Japan: Donate to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF's emergency appeal to help quake victims
- Help animals in Japan: Donate to HSI International Disaster Fund
- Sign the Humane Society 2011 Boycott to Save Seals
image: Manataka.org
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