Jeers to the Trump Administration, who, along with the Bureau of Land Management, lifted a ban on the use of “cyanide bombs” on public lands.

Heinously cruel, M-44 devices (most known as cyanide bombs) are spring-activated devices that indiscriminately deliver a deadly dose of sodium cyanide to any animal who sniffs one out—whether the victim is a protected wolf, coyote, fox, or family pet out on a hike—as Friends of Animals reported in its Winter 2021 Action Line cover story. They’re one of the most vicious killing devices in Wildlife Services’ arsenal, and their use on all 245 million acres of BLM lands was banned by the Biden Administration in 2023.

In a press release announcing the ban, BLM cited safety concerns. They pointed to a tragic 2017 incident involving 14-year-old Canyon Mansfield, who was walking his dog, Kasey, just 350 feet away from his family’s home, near Pocatello, Idaho. Canyon recognized what he thought was a sprinkler’s head sticking out of the ground. But before he knew it, the M-44 triggered in front of him, sending a plume of cyanide powder five feet into the air.

Canyon was injured but survived. If not for the wind direction, he could have been killed. Kasey, however, died in front of Canyon, and this tragedy was, unfortunately, no anomaly: M-44’s killed hundreds of dogs from 1997-2016, and countless since then.

And now, they’re back.

M-44s are designed to bait and kill, and their existence poses a threat to all who happen upon it. Furthermore, the poison bombs cater to ranchers and the meat industry; they target coyotes, primarily, as well as other animals that may prey on cows, sheep, goats, and other farmed animals—who often venture onto public lands to graze.

However, according to the EPA, at least 50% of all animals killed by M-44s are non-target wildlife. And this figure only covers the known deaths.

Between 2014-2022, M-44s killed over 88,000 animals. In 2023 alone, of the 68,562 coyotes slaughtered by Wildlife Services, 6,148 of those deaths came at the hands of M-44s. In the same year, cyanide bombs also killed 325 gray foxes, 48 red foxes, 11 raccoons, 4 striped skunks, 2 dogs, 2 kit foxes, 2 opossums, and 1 pig. That we know of.

The federal government shouldn’t act as hired guns for the meat industry, and it’s unjustified in “managing” wild predators. Especially so with the use of obscene poison bombs that indiscriminately kill.