File :-(, x, )
Ban poisons used on farm animal predators? Anonymous
EPA and Congress weigh use of chemicals; accidents, terrorism cited

WASHINGTON - Dennis Slaugh and his brother were riding all-terrain vehicles when they noticed what looked like a survey stake marking federal land in Utah's rugged Cowboy Canyon.

Curious, Slaugh touched the stake, and it exploded, spewing a cloud of sodium cyanide in his face and chest. Slaugh, 65, said he suffers long-term health effects from the 2003 incident. He has difficulty breathing, vomits almost daily and can no longer work driving heavy equipment because he is too weak.

The cyanide device, called an M-44, is one of two poisons used by the federal government to kill coyotes and other wild animals that threaten sheep and other livestock. M-44 and sodium fluoroacetate, more commonly known as Compound 1080, are distributed by the Wildlife Services agency, an arm of the Agriculture Department. The poisons killed more than 14,000 wild animals in 2006, including coyotes, foxes and wolves, the agency reported.

The Agriculture Department says the devices are a relatively humane way to kill predatory animals, adding that because the poison is contained in specific delivery devices, the risk to non-target animals is reduced.

Compound 1080 is used in "livestock protection collars" strapped onto sheep or goats, while sodium cyanide is used in an ejector that has bait designed to attract predators but not livestock. It releases poison into the wild animal's mouth.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22785636/
>> Anonymous
So they're on land they do not own, touching things that do not belong to them?
>> Anonymous
>>204636
wanker
>> Anonymous
>>204650
He's right, it's his own damn fault. Curiosity killed the cat, that guy should keep his hands to his damn self.
I'm guessing his mom didn't tell him "Don't touch that" enough times as a kid to get through to him.
>> Anonymous
Well my first thought on seeing that picture was: "It's a mine"
>> Anonymous
>>204651
do you think the same when your 5 year old child find some thing like that, playing in the woods?
IT IS a MINE, only difference is it kills with poison and not with explosivs.
Planting somthing pevertet like this in the woods/openfields is inhuman as it can be!
>> Anonymous
>>204661
I would ask myself what my 5-year-old was doing in the woods by herself and how the fuck she managed to get close enough to farms with livestock.

And then they would take her away, because I'm obviously an unfit parent if I've allowed her to be in the woods unsupervised and without having been taught not to touch things that she doesn't know, especially in a place where poisonous plants are a much more likely danger.

And then I would probably try and sue the goverment myself before realising that I'm not a fucking dipshit who likes to blame other people for things that are my fucking responsibility, and that I actually have a pair of balls.
>> Anonymous
>>204661

Not at all, because if I had a 5 year old child, I wouldn't be letting him play in the woods alone--especially not in an area where these things are found. (Note that when the Govt puts these things out there, they are accompanied by warning signs) Parents are responsible for watching out for their children.

I am in complete agreement with 636 and 651. It's not a smart move to go around poking strange objects that you don't understand.

By the way, I have seen an M44 firsthand in a Wildlife Management course. They take quite a bit of effort to set off--after all, you don't want them to go off from wind, rain, small animals, or from being accidentally bumped. If this guy set one off, then he must have really been fooling with it.
>> Anonymous
Guys, an idiot redneck will pick up ANYTHING he finds in the woods, especially if it looks like an explosive he can set off behind his trailer later that night.
>> Anonymous
>>204757
>>204664
>>204663
ok conclusion is, you all think this device is a good idea, right?
>> Anonymous
Thats terrible
>> Anonymous
It lowers the quality of life for a human being and causes a great deal of pain.

Humane for animals!

I don't understand...
>> Anonymous
>>204762
If it keeps predators away from livestock, yes.

Look, you can make something foolproof, you can make it idiot-proof, but you can't make it cunt-proof.
>> Anonymous
>>205625
That post was absoluetly pointless.

As much as I agree that you shouldn't going aroud poking shit that you don't recognize, this device sets off all kinds of warning bells for me.

It's a touch-activated cyanide bomb.

I ahve a million questions all of a sudden. How sensitive is the triggering device? Does the containment portion decay over time? Are there tracking devices for them, or can a farmer just forget where he put them and leave chunks of exploding cyanide all over his land? How many of the animals killed have been proven to be livestock killers? etc.
>> Anonymous
>>204839

From what I can understand about the previous posters, it appears that they believe "it's the animal's fault if it wanders into it"
>> Anonymous
>>204657

That's funny, it doesn't really have any indications of it being a mine, (considering the point of a mine is that it lies concealed and not in fluoro colours) and according to the article copypasted on OP's post, it apparently looks more like a "surveying stake", whatever such a stake looks like.

If I personally saw that, I'd think it was a faulty sprinkler head someone taped up.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Dear USA,

Enjoy your poisoned children.

Love, Europe.
>> Anonymous
They should just use land mines.
>> Anonymous
>>205644

unless they have a big fat yellow sign labelled "Poison!", i'd say these are a monumentally bad idea.

And I assume there haven't been a great information campaign educating citizens about the program, given it's controversial nature.

Afterall if you didn't know about this and some random person came up and told you about a government program of setting up explosive cyanide canisters in the wilderness your would probably think him a paranoid tinfoil hat.
>> Anonymous
>>204762
Yeah, but only if they didn't kill innocent animals.