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The killing agency: Wildlife Services' brutal methods leave a trail of animal death
Sacramento Bee ^ | 4/29/12 | Tom Knudson

Posted on 04/29/2012 7:21:02 AM PDT by SmithL

The day began with a drive across the desert, checking the snares he had placed in the sagebrush to catch coyotes.

Gary Strader, an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, stepped out of his truck near a ravine in Nevada and found something he hadn't intended to kill.

There, strangled in a neck snare, was one of the most majestic birds in America, a federally protected golden eagle.

"I called my supervisor and said, 'I just caught a golden eagle and it's dead,' " said Strader. "He said, 'Did anybody see it?' I said, 'Geez, I don't think so.'

"He said, 'If you think nobody saw it, go get a shovel and bury it and don't say nothing to anybody.' "

"That bothered me," said Strader, whose job was terminated in 2009. "It wasn't right."

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: imfromthegovernment; usda; wildlife; yourtaxdollarsatwork
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1 posted on 04/29/2012 7:21:08 AM PDT by SmithL
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To: SmithL

That body-grip thing gives me ideas about how to deal with the recurring beaver invasions into the community silt basin ~ could take care of those dogs people think they get to run down in the bottom.


2 posted on 04/29/2012 7:24:46 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: SmithL

We are from the government. Shut up and pay your taxes. Move along.


3 posted on 04/29/2012 7:31:11 AM PDT by ogen hal (First amendment or reeducation camp?)
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To: muawiyah
He said, 'If you think nobody saw it, go get a shovel and bury it and don't say nothing to anybody.' " and this perfect form of English came from a supervisor. I guess next year he'll be teaching English at UCLA
4 posted on 04/29/2012 7:31:18 AM PDT by shadeaud ( “Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8”. Just doing my duty a Christian)
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To: SmithL
Leg-hold traps don't hurt anything caught in them. You can release any non-target animals unharmed.

A total BS article.

5 posted on 04/29/2012 7:41:56 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Free Republic -- One stop shopping ....... It's the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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To: shadeaud

It’s not “nothing to anybody” ~ that’s so fey. The correct expression is “nuttin’ ta’ nobodies”


6 posted on 04/29/2012 7:43:13 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: SmithL

Trapped and snared for years and never caught anything I wasn’t targeting. That wildlife fellow must have had baits near that snare. Golden Eagles nor Baldies go traveling down trails especially brushy well disguised crawl throughs that coyotes use. The whole story is not being told by the “ex” disgruntled wildlife employee.


7 posted on 04/29/2012 7:44:52 AM PDT by liberty or death
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To: ogen hal
Yes. Also, Obama and his government thugs are trying to destroy the animal conservationist Ted Nugent.
8 posted on 04/29/2012 7:50:46 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: SmithL
How big would the fines and jail time be if we mere peasants were caught doing “ snare, shovel and shut-up “ on some protected species?
9 posted on 04/29/2012 8:00:15 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (You only have three billion heartbeats in a lifetime.How many does the government claim as its own?)
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To: Beagle8U

New to trapping are ya?


10 posted on 04/29/2012 8:14:33 AM PDT by X-spurt (Its time for ON YOUR FEET or on your knees)
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To: X-spurt

Likely was trapping before you were born.

A leg-hold trap doesn’t kill anything unless it it set as a ‘drown set’ near water.


11 posted on 04/29/2012 8:24:30 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Free Republic -- One stop shopping ....... It's the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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To: SmithL

When I was growing up on a ranch in eastern Colorado we lost two wonderful German Shepherds to the cyanide guns the government trapper placed on a sheepman’s land just across a barb-wire fence from our land. We had no idea the guns were there.


12 posted on 04/29/2012 8:51:59 AM PDT by RightWingConspirator (Obamanation--the most corrupt regime since Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe)
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To: Beagle8U; X-spurt

Our beagles (interesting that you have that as a screen name) had the full run of our farm. Someone set out a number of these traps to catch beaver...even on our property (without our knowledge). He also didn’t check the traps very regularly. Our favorite beagle got caught in one and chewed part of his own leg off to get out. We had been looking and calling for him for days. He limped home extremely weak...and simply laid down on the dirt farm road when the kids(who had noticed him arriving) began to run toward him yelling. The dog was not killed....but was very injured and had suffered quite a bit. It was summer and tropically HOT!


13 posted on 04/29/2012 9:17:51 AM PDT by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: shadeaud

“He said, ‘If you think nobody saw it, go get a shovel and bury it and don’t say nothing to anybody”

Well at least he has a rudimentary understanding of the theory of shoot, shovel and shut up. LOL!!!


14 posted on 04/29/2012 9:21:27 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Beagle8U

Been trapping for close to 50 years and the only thing I’ve ever had seen killed by a leg hold were a couple of pack rats, two cottontails and one quail. We’ve got 32 sections of ranch with over 100 miles of fence on it, when I see a slide under the fence I put in a #3 Victor dual coil. I’ve got about 40 #3’s out and close to 50 snares, don’t much care for predators on a cattle ranch.


15 posted on 04/29/2012 9:25:48 AM PDT by Dusty Road
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To: SumProVita; Beagle8U

Right you are. Sorry to hear of your dog.
ANYONE with any actual knowledge of leghold knows that almost every animal will do the very same to free themsleves.

I beleive I would be waiting to talk with the ass that put traps on my place, after I had wrecked them all.


16 posted on 04/29/2012 10:15:27 AM PDT by X-spurt (Its time for ON YOUR FEET or on your knees)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

SSS is not just a theory, its a practice, didn’t know it was a gubmint program.


17 posted on 04/29/2012 10:17:51 AM PDT by X-spurt (Its time for ON YOUR FEET or on your knees)
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To: SmithL

“He said, ‘If you think nobody saw it, go get a shovel and bury it and don’t say nothing to anybody.’ “

“That bothered me,” said Strader, whose job was terminated in 2009. “It wasn’t right.”


Corroboration, please! Sounds like a lie from a disgruntled former employee trying to make trouble, or with another agenda.

Also sounds like typical government inflation: much more economical to just say, “shoot, shovel, & shut-up!” Or, in this case, “remove, shovel, and shut-up.”


18 posted on 04/29/2012 11:01:13 AM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Love me, love my guns!©)
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To: SmithL

Put a reasonable bounty on the varmints that need to be controlled. Problem solved.


19 posted on 04/29/2012 12:44:48 PM PDT by Eagles6
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To: SumProVita
Traps should be checked every 24 hours, that is the law in my state.

Beaver traps should have been in the water where no dog would have gotten in it.

I've had a couple beagles get caught in leg-hold traps and except for a sore foot for a day or so they were no worse for the wear.

I don't allow snares on my property and will only allow body grip traps off the ground for raccoons. ( bucket sets where the trap is in a 5 gal pail.)

20 posted on 04/30/2012 3:01:39 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Free Republic -- One stop shopping ....... It's the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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