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2 Million Animals Killed By Federal Wildlife Program In 2013

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Wildlife Services, the highly secretive arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has released new data showing that the agency killed more than 2 million native animals during the last fiscal year.

WSFI

This infamous photo of the severed heads of 11 mountain lions was taken by an outraged employee of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. These animals were among 24 lions killed by the federal agency Animal Damage Control (now called Wildlife Services) in the Galiuro mountains of Arizona, a wilderness area North of Willcox. All were killed on federal lands on the Coronado National Forest over a six-month period from December 1988-May 1989. Photo credit: Predator Defense

The new numbers reveal a 29 percent increase in the program’s killing, up almost a half-million animals since fiscal year 2012, despite an increase in public awareness.

Wildlife Services target animals deemed as pests by powerful special interests groups from the agribusiness, hunting and livestock sectors, according to Center for Biological Diversity.

“Wildlife Services has long been out of step with the values of Americans, and the new figures make clear it has no interest in changing,” said Amy Atwood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned to reform the program last December. “These appalling new numbers show that Wildlife Services is simply thumbing its nose at the growing number of Americans demanding an end to business as usual at Wildlife Services.”

The extensive list of the 2013 killings include, amongst many others:

  • more than 320 gray wolves
  • 75,326 coyotes
  • 419 black bears
  • 866 bobcats
  • 528 river otters
  • 3,706 foxes
  • 12,186 black-tailed prairie dogs (as well as destroyed more than 30,000 dens)
  • 3 golden eagles

Operating at the tax payer’s expense, the notoriously secretive Wildlife Services’ killings often include non-targeted species, and insiders allege that the program actually kills many more animals than it reports.

Native animals killed by Wildlife Services, fiscal years 1996-2013

Native animals killed by Wildlife Services, fiscal years 1996-2013

The covert killings—which includes aerial gunning, traps and exploding poison caps—has gone on for decades with little oversight and according the Center for Biological Diversity, the agency has killed more than 26 million native animals  since 1996.

“Rather than dialing back in the face of criticism, the program that has the nerve to call itself ‘Wildlife Services’ seems to be putting its foot on the pedal in its systematic slaughter of America’s wild animals,” said Atwood. “These numbers pull back the veil on a staggering killing campaign, bankrolled by taxpayers, that’s happening every day beyond the view of most Americans.”

In December 2013, along with Project Coyote, Animal Welfare Institute and Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity launched a petition calling for new rules and an immediate reform of the agency. Also in December, Predator Defense came out with a documentary featuring former federal agents-turned-whistle-blowers who exposed the Wildlife Services for being an unaccountable, out of control, wildlife killing machine that acts at the bidding of corporate agriculture and the hunting lobby. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack responded to the groups in January, stating that he would look into the issues they raised.

This article was published by EcoWatch.

The post 2 Million Animals Killed By Federal Wildlife Program In 2013 appeared first on MintPress News.


Trump Imposes Media Blackout At Federal Agencies

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0
White House press secretary Sean Spicer calls on a reporter during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Spicer answered questions about the Dakota Pipeline, infrastructure, jobs and other topics. (AP/Susan Walsh)

White House press secretary Sean Spicer calls on a reporter during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Spicer answered questions about the Dakota Pipeline, infrastructure, jobs and other topics. (AP/Susan Walsh)

(REPORT) — Though the majority of President Donald Trump’s controversial cabinet nominations have not yet been confirmed, his so-called “beachhead” teams have arrived at their respective agencies, carrying out orders that make clear that the “War on Science” has begun.

On Tuesday, BuzzFeed broke the news that scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are no longer allowed to share information about taxpayer-funded research with the public.

In an email sent Monday and obtained by the news outlet, Sharon Drumm, chief of staff for the USDA’s primary in-house research arm, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), told the department: “Starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents…This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content.”

As BuzzFeed noted,

Though some Agricultural Research Service work touches on sensitive subjects like pesticides and genetically modified food, its research is generally less politically charged than that conducted by other agencies, especially those focused on understanding climate change, such as the Environmental Protection Agency.  But under the Obama administration, the Agriculture Department funneled research money into finding ways of cutting down the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from cows.

At the same time, Trump surrogate Myron Ebell, a climate change denier who has led the transition for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has confirmed reports that the new administration has ordered a “freeze” on grants and contracts at the agency—a move that the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) warns “could seriously impede the agency’s work…protect[ing] our health and the environment from pollution.”

In a press statement, Andrew Rosenberg, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at UCS, condemned the moves, describing the as “equally short-sighted and destructive.”

“These actions don’t just threaten scientists—they threaten everyone in the country who breathes air, drinks water, and eats food,” said Rosenberg. “These agency scientists carry out research in support of policies that protect our health and safety and help farmers, and it makes no sense to put up walls between them and the public, or unilaterally halt the work they do.”

“That the administration has moved so quickly to clamp down on scientists shows that the Trump administration is more focused on lifting rules on polluters than keeping our air and water clean,” he added.

But that’s not all. It has become apparent that the Trump administration has also ordered a media blackout at the EPA, as well as at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

According to an internal EPA memo obtained by the Huffington Post, specific prohibitions include banning press releases, blog updates, new website content, or posts to the agency’s social media accounts, while all external communications and speaking engagements must be approved by the president’s “Beach Team.”

On Tuesday, the Huffington Post reported speaking to officials from several other agencies who confirmed that a similar communication lockdown had been instituted.

HuffPost‘s Sam Stein and Kate Sheppard report:

Officials at sub-agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, have been told not to send “any correspondence to public officials” according to a memo shared with HuffPost. Instead, they have been asked to refer questions to agency leadership until the leadership has had time to meet with incoming White House staff about the new administration’s policies and objectives, according to a congressional official who was also informed of the communications freeze. 

An official with the National Institutes of Health told HuffPost after the initial publication of this piece that an email had been sent to the directors of NIH institutes and centers providing guidance from HHS on how to handle new or pending regulation, policy or guidance. 

“The HHS guidance instructs HHS Operating Divisions to hold on publishing new rules or guidance in the Federal Register or other public forums and discussing them with public officials until the Administration has had an opportunity to review them,” the official said.

During his press briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said he needed to look further into the matter to offer a comment.

The clampdown comes amid growing concern that Trump and his appointees will suppress scientific innovation and research to advance their own ideological agenda.

More than 5,500 scientists have signed on to an open letter, sent to Trump in the days following his election, warning against the dangers of allowing “political or corporate influence” to override scientific fact.

“Americans recognize that science is critical to improving our quality of life, and when science is ignored or politically corrupted, it’s the American people who suffer,” said physicist Lewis Branscomb, professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, who served as vice president and chief scientist at IBM and as director of the National Bureau of Standards under President Richard Nixon.

The post Trump Imposes Media Blackout At Federal Agencies appeared first on MintPress News.

Trump Taps Conservative Talk Show Host As USDA Chief Scientist

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Sam Clovis speaks in Johnston, Iowa after quitting former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's struggling campaign. (AP/Charlie Neibergall)

Sam Clovis speaks in Johnston, Iowa after quitting former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s struggling campaign. (AP/Charlie Neibergall)

President Donald Trump is expected to pick Sam Clovis, a conservative talk show host who campaigned for Trump in Iowa, for the position of “chief scientist” at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), reported ProPublica and the Washington Post this weekend.

The 2008 Farm Bill dictates that the USDA’s chief scientist be selected “from among distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics,” observed ProPublica. Yet Clovis has no science background to speak of.

“Clovis has never taken a graduate course in science and has published almost no academic work—two bare-minimum requirements of any fledgling scientist,” Mashable noted.

Clovis is most well-known for his Iowa radio show “Impact with Sam Clovis” and a series of fiery TV ads in which he advocated for Trump during the 2016 election.

One of the Trump campaign’s first advisers, Clovis was also responsible for bringing Carter Page onto the Trump campaign team. Page later came under intelligence agency scrutiny for his close ties to Russian officials.

In addition, Clovis helped Trump come up with his “ban all Muslims” campaign promise,  the Guardian reported back in 2015.

“If the president goes forward with this nomination, it’ll be yet another example of blatant dismissal of the value of scientific expertise among his administration appointees,” said Ricardo Salvador, director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), in a statement. “Continuing to choose politics over science will give farmers and consumers little confidence that the administration has their interests at heart.”

One former USDA chief scientist also condemned the Trump administration for considering Clovis for the role, which is formally known as the USDA undersecretary for research, education, and economics.

ProPublica reports:

Catherine Woteki, who served as undersecretary for research, education, and economics in the Obama administration, compared the move to appointing someone without a medical background to lead the National Institutes of Health. The USDA post includes overseeing scientific integrity within the agency.

“This position is the chief scientist of the Department of Agriculture. It should be a person who evaluates the scientific body of evidence and moves appropriately from there,” she said in an interview.

Clovis also referred to climate change as “junk science” in a 2014 interview on Iowa Public Radio, conducted during his unsuccessful U.S. Senate run.

“I am extremely skeptical,” Clovis said when asked if he believed the science of climate change.

“I have looked at the science and I have enough of a science background to know when I’m being boofed. And a lot of the science is junk science. It’s not proven; I don’t think there’s any substantive information available to me that doesn’t raise as many questions as it does answers. So I’m a skeptic.”

“As the undersecretary, issues related to climate change would fall under Clovis’s purview,” noted the Washington Post.


This work by --- is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.This work by Common Dreams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

 

The post Trump Taps Conservative Talk Show Host As USDA Chief Scientist appeared first on MintPress News.

2 Million Animals Killed By Federal Wildlife Program In 2013

0
0

Wildlife Services, the highly secretive arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has released new data showing that the agency killed more than 2 million native animals during the last fiscal year.

WSFI

This infamous photo of the severed heads of 11 mountain lions was taken by an outraged employee of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. These animals were among 24 lions killed by the federal agency Animal Damage Control (now called Wildlife Services) in the Galiuro mountains of Arizona, a wilderness area North of Willcox. All were killed on federal lands on the Coronado National Forest over a six-month period from December 1988-May 1989. Photo credit: Predator Defense

The new numbers reveal a 29 percent increase in the program’s killing, up almost a half-million animals since fiscal year 2012, despite an increase in public awareness.

Wildlife Services target animals deemed as pests by powerful special interests groups from the agribusiness, hunting and livestock sectors, according to Center for Biological Diversity.

“Wildlife Services has long been out of step with the values of Americans, and the new figures make clear it has no interest in changing,” said Amy Atwood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned to reform the program last December. “These appalling new numbers show that Wildlife Services is simply thumbing its nose at the growing number of Americans demanding an end to business as usual at Wildlife Services.”

The extensive list of the 2013 killings include, amongst many others:

  • more than 320 gray wolves
  • 75,326 coyotes
  • 419 black bears
  • 866 bobcats
  • 528 river otters
  • 3,706 foxes
  • 12,186 black-tailed prairie dogs (as well as destroyed more than 30,000 dens)
  • 3 golden eagles

Operating at the tax payer’s expense, the notoriously secretive Wildlife Services’ killings often include non-targeted species, and insiders allege that the program actually kills many more animals than it reports.

Native animals killed by Wildlife Services, fiscal years 1996-2013

Native animals killed by Wildlife Services, fiscal years 1996-2013

The covert killings—which includes aerial gunning, traps and exploding poison caps—has gone on for decades with little oversight and according the Center for Biological Diversity, the agency has killed more than 26 million native animals  since 1996.

“Rather than dialing back in the face of criticism, the program that has the nerve to call itself ‘Wildlife Services’ seems to be putting its foot on the pedal in its systematic slaughter of America’s wild animals,” said Atwood. “These numbers pull back the veil on a staggering killing campaign, bankrolled by taxpayers, that’s happening every day beyond the view of most Americans.”

In December 2013, along with Project Coyote, Animal Welfare Institute and Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity launched a petition calling for new rules and an immediate reform of the agency. Also in December, Predator Defense came out with a documentary featuring former federal agents-turned-whistle-blowers who exposed the Wildlife Services for being an unaccountable, out of control, wildlife killing machine that acts at the bidding of corporate agriculture and the hunting lobby. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack responded to the groups in January, stating that he would look into the issues they raised.

This article was published by EcoWatch.

The post 2 Million Animals Killed By Federal Wildlife Program In 2013 appeared first on MintPress News.

Trump Imposes Media Blackout At Federal Agencies

0
0
White House press secretary Sean Spicer calls on a reporter during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Spicer answered questions about the Dakota Pipeline, infrastructure, jobs and other topics. (AP/Susan Walsh)

White House press secretary Sean Spicer calls on a reporter during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Spicer answered questions about the Dakota Pipeline, infrastructure, jobs and other topics. (AP/Susan Walsh)

(REPORT) — Though the majority of President Donald Trump’s controversial cabinet nominations have not yet been confirmed, his so-called “beachhead” teams have arrived at their respective agencies, carrying out orders that make clear that the “War on Science” has begun.

On Tuesday, BuzzFeed broke the news that scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are no longer allowed to share information about taxpayer-funded research with the public.

In an email sent Monday and obtained by the news outlet, Sharon Drumm, chief of staff for the USDA’s primary in-house research arm, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), told the department: “Starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents…This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content.”

As BuzzFeed noted,

Though some Agricultural Research Service work touches on sensitive subjects like pesticides and genetically modified food, its research is generally less politically charged than that conducted by other agencies, especially those focused on understanding climate change, such as the Environmental Protection Agency.  But under the Obama administration, the Agriculture Department funneled research money into finding ways of cutting down the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from cows.

At the same time, Trump surrogate Myron Ebell, a climate change denier who has led the transition for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has confirmed reports that the new administration has ordered a “freeze” on grants and contracts at the agency—a move that the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) warns “could seriously impede the agency’s work…protect[ing] our health and the environment from pollution.”

In a press statement, Andrew Rosenberg, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at UCS, condemned the moves, describing the as “equally short-sighted and destructive.”

“These actions don’t just threaten scientists—they threaten everyone in the country who breathes air, drinks water, and eats food,” said Rosenberg. “These agency scientists carry out research in support of policies that protect our health and safety and help farmers, and it makes no sense to put up walls between them and the public, or unilaterally halt the work they do.”

“That the administration has moved so quickly to clamp down on scientists shows that the Trump administration is more focused on lifting rules on polluters than keeping our air and water clean,” he added.

But that’s not all. It has become apparent that the Trump administration has also ordered a media blackout at the EPA, as well as at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

According to an internal EPA memo obtained by the Huffington Post, specific prohibitions include banning press releases, blog updates, new website content, or posts to the agency’s social media accounts, while all external communications and speaking engagements must be approved by the president’s “Beach Team.”

On Tuesday, the Huffington Post reported speaking to officials from several other agencies who confirmed that a similar communication lockdown had been instituted.

HuffPost‘s Sam Stein and Kate Sheppard report:

Officials at sub-agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, have been told not to send “any correspondence to public officials” according to a memo shared with HuffPost. Instead, they have been asked to refer questions to agency leadership until the leadership has had time to meet with incoming White House staff about the new administration’s policies and objectives, according to a congressional official who was also informed of the communications freeze. 

An official with the National Institutes of Health told HuffPost after the initial publication of this piece that an email had been sent to the directors of NIH institutes and centers providing guidance from HHS on how to handle new or pending regulation, policy or guidance. 

“The HHS guidance instructs HHS Operating Divisions to hold on publishing new rules or guidance in the Federal Register or other public forums and discussing them with public officials until the Administration has had an opportunity to review them,” the official said.

During his press briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said he needed to look further into the matter to offer a comment.

The clampdown comes amid growing concern that Trump and his appointees will suppress scientific innovation and research to advance their own ideological agenda.

More than 5,500 scientists have signed on to an open letter, sent to Trump in the days following his election, warning against the dangers of allowing “political or corporate influence” to override scientific fact.

“Americans recognize that science is critical to improving our quality of life, and when science is ignored or politically corrupted, it’s the American people who suffer,” said physicist Lewis Branscomb, professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, who served as vice president and chief scientist at IBM and as director of the National Bureau of Standards under President Richard Nixon.

The post Trump Imposes Media Blackout At Federal Agencies appeared first on MintPress News.

Trump Taps Conservative Talk Show Host As USDA Chief Scientist

0
0
Sam Clovis speaks in Johnston, Iowa after quitting former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's struggling campaign. (AP/Charlie Neibergall)

Sam Clovis speaks in Johnston, Iowa after quitting former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s struggling campaign. (AP/Charlie Neibergall)

President Donald Trump is expected to pick Sam Clovis, a conservative talk show host who campaigned for Trump in Iowa, for the position of “chief scientist” at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), reported ProPublica and the Washington Post this weekend.

The 2008 Farm Bill dictates that the USDA’s chief scientist be selected “from among distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics,” observed ProPublica. Yet Clovis has no science background to speak of.

“Clovis has never taken a graduate course in science and has published almost no academic work—two bare-minimum requirements of any fledgling scientist,” Mashable noted.

Clovis is most well-known for his Iowa radio show “Impact with Sam Clovis” and a series of fiery TV ads in which he advocated for Trump during the 2016 election.

One of the Trump campaign’s first advisers, Clovis was also responsible for bringing Carter Page onto the Trump campaign team. Page later came under intelligence agency scrutiny for his close ties to Russian officials.

In addition, Clovis helped Trump come up with his “ban all Muslims” campaign promise,  the Guardian reported back in 2015.

“If the president goes forward with this nomination, it’ll be yet another example of blatant dismissal of the value of scientific expertise among his administration appointees,” said Ricardo Salvador, director of the Food and Environment Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), in a statement. “Continuing to choose politics over science will give farmers and consumers little confidence that the administration has their interests at heart.”

One former USDA chief scientist also condemned the Trump administration for considering Clovis for the role, which is formally known as the USDA undersecretary for research, education, and economics.

ProPublica reports:

Catherine Woteki, who served as undersecretary for research, education, and economics in the Obama administration, compared the move to appointing someone without a medical background to lead the National Institutes of Health. The USDA post includes overseeing scientific integrity within the agency.

“This position is the chief scientist of the Department of Agriculture. It should be a person who evaluates the scientific body of evidence and moves appropriately from there,” she said in an interview.

Clovis also referred to climate change as “junk science” in a 2014 interview on Iowa Public Radio, conducted during his unsuccessful U.S. Senate run.

“I am extremely skeptical,” Clovis said when asked if he believed the science of climate change.

“I have looked at the science and I have enough of a science background to know when I’m being boofed. And a lot of the science is junk science. It’s not proven; I don’t think there’s any substantive information available to me that doesn’t raise as many questions as it does answers. So I’m a skeptic.”

“As the undersecretary, issues related to climate change would fall under Clovis’s purview,” noted the Washington Post.


This work by --- is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.This work by Common Dreams is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

 

The post Trump Taps Conservative Talk Show Host As USDA Chief Scientist appeared first on MintPress News.





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