Animal Damage Control

An Agency Clearly Out of Control

The following letter was submitted by a woman whose dog was killed by an ADC M-44 on her own land. The M-44 cyanide spring trap is one example of the barbaric means used to kill wildlife (in the millions) by the federal Animal Damage Control program each year.

Last fall my fiancé, Michael, and I spent four months living in Oregon on a farm north of Eugene that has been passed down to me through four generations of my family. We moved down to begin renovations on the property's 125 year old farm house and had many happy times while in the Willamette Valley. But it's hard to not to let our experiences be overshadowed by one event. While walking our dog across the middle of my property she came upon an M-44 coyote trap set in the grass by Federal agents. She died horribly of cyanide poisoning with us kneeling beside her in the mud. In the process of trying to help her, I was also exposed to cyanide, and according to poison specialists, am lucky to be alive.

When we moved down from Seattle we were trying hard not to be dumb city people and were grateful for advice from our Oregon friends and relatives about the dos and don'ts of life in the Valley. Everyone warned us that loose-running dogs would likely be shot by livestock farmers so the first thing we did upon arriving was to fence the yard for our two dogs, Jake and Ruby. Even on our own property we were always with the dogs and usually had them on leashes. The only thing no one thought to mention was the poison traps set out by the Federal Agency of Animal Damage Control (ADC).

On October 28th, the rain gave way to one of those beautiful fall afternoons. We leashed the dogs and took them on a long walk across the middle of my land, 1/4 mile from the house. I stopped to pick mint that grows wild there, and Michael started on across the last field towards the house.

The dogs were wandering loose in the ditch near me; when I saw Ruby rolling on her back in the grass, I laughed, thinking she was playing. She got up then and started following Michael, but my heart stopped when I saw that she had dropped over on her side and was kicking at the mud. I knew it was poison. (I've seen animals die of poison before.) I threw down everything I was carrying and screamed for Michael. We both ran to Ruby. Her eyes were rolled back, she was in violent convulsions and was having trouble breathing. There was a terrible smell-sharp and metallic. I bent near her and breathed deeply to try and identify it or to be able to describe it to a vet or medic. It didn't occur to me right then that it might be poison gas and that I shouldn't breathe it.

Ruby was gasping and crying with her head arched back, fighting for air. Her strong legs thrashed and with every choking breath she let out a moan. Ruby, who had always seemed impervious to any kind of pain, was suffering terribly. She was foaming at the mouth and her tongue was hanging limp in the dirt. I reached in her mouth to make sure her windpipe was clear and she bit my hand hard in her panic and convulsions. Michael began to run the 1/4 mile back to the house to get the van and call a vet. I knelt in the mud shaking and trying to get our big girl to keep breathing. More than anything I felt devastatingly helpless. As minutes ticked by she struggled less and less and breathed less and less, but when I would call her name sharply she would always gasp in one more breath. Just as Michael got back with the van " it must have been fifteen minutes " Ruby's huge chest heaved for the last time. We briefly tried to do CPR on her but it was clearly over.

As I understand it now, the sodium cyanide powder of an M-44 explodes upward into the mouth or face of whatever animal comes poking along and disturbs the spring loaded post baited with meat. The powder, as soon as it comes in contact with saliva or any mucous membrane, forms a lethal gas which is inhaled and makes the lungs unable to absorb oxygen. This quickly leads to suffocation and heart attack. According to the ADC this should take about 45 seconds. It took ten or fifteen painfully long minutes for our dog to die.

We sat there in the mud sobbing, in absolute disbelief that such a beautiful environment could be hiding something so terrible " something that could strike down the mightiest dog so quickly. Michael searched the grass where she had first rolled over and found the detonated trap as well as the sign warning that it was sodium cyanide. Both the small, ankle high sign and the trap were completely hidden in the grass.

We washed our hands in the creek and that's when Michael saw that I had been bitten. Fresh blood was running from a puncture wound on my right hand. With all my attention on Ruby, I hadn't even thought about it. It suddenly occurred to both of us that we didn't know how cyanide worked and that I probably had it in my system by then. We picked up our 130 lb. friend, put her in the van and raced for the farmhouse to call 911. During the short, endless ride across the field my heart began to race and I started to feel light headed and nauseous. I was getting tunnel vision and thought I was going to pass out. I usually do alright in a crisis but at that point I started to panic. Here we were, 25 miles from a hospital, having just watched a very tough animal that weighed the same as I do die horribly and fast. For the first time in my life I thought I was going to die. The 911 operator told Michael that basically if I was still alive at that point then I'd probably be all right. They said to clean the wound and stay close to a phone. At that point I assumed that my reaction, which was beginning to subside, must have just been panic.

After burying Ruby I called the farmer that leases our fields. According to law, the ADC is not supposed to put out poison until it's been requested by the farmer or landowner, and then only after a farmer has actually lost livestock to a predator. Our farmer had not requested poison and had no idea that it had been put on our property.

First thing Monday morning I tried to reach the Linn County ADC trapper. He called me back later in the day to say that he was very sorry and that he had removed all poison from my property early that morning after getting the call from our farmer. He told me of several other incidents in the last year where "accidents" had killed dogs in the area. That did not make me feel any better. He also said not to worry, that the traps were never harmful to people.

In the months following Ruby's death I had various symptoms that were worse in the first few weeks and slowly improved. I had an unusual metallic taste in my mouth and my heart was pounding so hard at night I couldn't get to sleep. For the first few nights I was afraid that if I did fall asleep I'd have a heart attack. My arms started going numb, which I don't remember ever happening before. They'd fall asleep from the shoulders down any time I sat still for very long. When I finally called the Washington State Poison Center hotline they said "what you're describing are the classic symptoms of low-level cyanide exposure." They said the numb arms were an example of the temporary neuralgic problems that cyanide can bring on. They also said they were surprised that I was alive to talk about it.

My main question is, what right does anyone have to put a lethal exploding trap on my property without my having been asked " or even notified? Frankly, I can't believe that landowner consent is not a flat requirement; it damn well should be. At the very least one would think that with a residence so near the trap site it would be mandatory to notify the homeowner so that whoever was living there would be warned of the danger to their pets and families. Don't try telling me there's no danger to children. I was a kid who liked salt licks and I would have closely investigated any strange post poking out of the grass.

In my dealings thus far with the ADC I see a big problem with lack of accountability. If this sort of "accident" happens one or many times, why isn't there some sort of review process to help prevent it from happening again " especially in cases like ours where it seems clear that laws were broken. Why have I never received so much as an official apology from an agency that is supported by my tax dollars; an apology for trespassing, killing my dog and endangering my life? After phone calls and a letter from me two months ago, I have heard nothing from them. I feel bitter about a Federal Government that would support such an agency, and sad that Oregon, my ancestral homeland, may never again feel like the haven it always was for me growing up.

I don't have a good solution for the centuries old coyote/sheep issue, but neither does the ADC. From what I've read, the efforts of the ADC don't significantly reduce wildlife predation and I fail to see the sense in perpetuating a program that not only doesn't solve the problem but creates a whole set of new ones by littering a peaceful environment with land mines that wait indiscriminately for whoever happens along. I'm not contesting a farmer's right to protect his or her own livelihood, but why should the government be doing it for them, and with such a broad sweeping, unaccountable and irresponsible approach? The ADC program is reminiscent of the bad old days of wild animal genocide in the 19th century American west " with bounties on wolves and shooting buffalo from trains " it's just astounding to me to realize that this is still going on, and in my own backyard.

Note: Questions or comments regarding this case may be sent to Predator Defense Institute, where they will be forwarded to Amanda Wood.