WASHINGTON— The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services poisoned 202 animals using M-44 cyanide bombs last year, according to data recently released by the program. That reflects a 20-fold decrease from 2024, when the program used the devices to kill 4,664 animals.

The federal wildlife-killing program targets wild animals like coyotes and wolves primarily to benefit the agriculture industry in Colorado, Texas, Wyoming and other states.

In 2024 the Bureau of Land Management banned Wildlife Services from using these dangerous devices on the public lands it manages. But earlier this year the agency reversed course and lifted the Biden-era ban.

“Americans and wildlife are safer without deadly cyanide bombs scattered across our public lands,” said Collette Adkins, carnivore conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The fact that cyanide bombs can and do kill endangered animals and family pets proves that they’re too dangerous to be used anywhere. I can’t understand why anyone thought it was a good idea to lift the ban on these indiscriminate and deadly devices.”

In 2025 Wildlife Services reported killing a total of 375,616 native animals, which is a similar total to the last three years. Last year’s death toll includes 324 gray wolves, 61,266 coyotes, 391 black bears, 164 mountain lions, 517 bobcats, 2,155 red and gray foxes and 23,421 beavers.

“This government program should focus on helping ranchers and others use coexistence measures that prevent conflicts instead of spending millions every year to kill wildlife,” said Adkins. “Ranchers can stop attracting bears and wolves and creating conflicts if they would properly dispose of livestock carcasses. But these livestock operations have little incentive to avoid conflict with wildlife when they can just call Wildlife Services to use taxpayer dollars to kill them.”

According to the new data, the wildlife-killing program unintentionally killed more than 2,458 animals in 2025, including 518 river otters and 258 turtles, as well as several dogs and cats. Agents accidentally shot two endangered gray wolves in southern Oregon, including a collared male wolf dispersing from California. Federally protected bald and golden eagles also died in traps set for other species.

In the last decade, litigation and community opposition curtailed Wildlife Services operations in numerous states, including California, Idaho, Minnesota, Texas and Washington as well as localities such as Humboldt County and Minneapolis.