This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services is considering whether to move forward with a brutal plan to kill thousands of birds in Indiana or a kinder one that would allow non-lethal solutions only. Urge the agency to move forward with non-lethal measures!

Members of some of the 80 bird species at risk of being killed include sandhill cranes, American kestrels, Eastern screech owls, Downy woodpeckers, and songbirds like red-winged blackbirds and starlings.

If Wildlife Services continues with Alternative 1, gruesome killing strategies like shooting, carbon dioxide poisoning, and the use of avicides like DRC-1339, which is a slow-acting poison used on birds such as blackbirds, starlings, crows, ravens, and other bird species particularly sensitive to the toxin. Birds who ingest this poison die slowly and painfully from kidney and other organ failure.

The apparent conflict between birds and humans often stems from disturbances to the exploitation of animals for agriculture. Species like European starlings, known for congregating in groups, can consume crops intended for farmed animals and leave droppings that may spread diseases or contaminate feed and water sources. If humans refrained from confining animals to small closed spaces and slaughtering them for consumption, potential conflicts would diminish, preserving the lives of both farmed and wild animals.

Recently, birds were considered for mass extermination in Tennessee and Georgia, and in 2022, birds were approved to be killed in Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Wildlife Services should exhaust all non-lethal strategies instead of resorting to killing first, but it does not. The agency always leans toward lethal management but should go forward with Alternative 2 and give a wholly non-lethal approach a chance.

Indiana Wildlife Services Division even states that its educational outreach includes promoting coexistence between humans and wild animals and human behavior modification. The agency could also fund new infrastructure to protect against damage caused by birds. It should emphasize tolerance and acceptance of “damage” situations within the management plan.

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.