June 7, 2024 |
Photo – M-44 Sodium Cyanide Ejector – Courtesy Wikipedia
The Biden Administration has opened another front against American farmers and ranchers, and the Wyoming Congressional Delegation is pushing back.
Wyoming Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Texas Representative August Pfluger are leading an effort to have U.S Department of Agriculture roll-back its ban on purchasing or deploying M-44 sodium cyanide ejector devices.
Farmers and ranchers, mainly sheep and goat producers, use the M-44 devices for predator control. The tools are used in the field to protect valuable herds from coyotes, foxes, and feral dogs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has continuously approved the use of these safe and effective devices by state agencies in the past.
The agency included language prohibiting the use of M-44 devices by third parties in the USDA’s Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Package signed into law earlier this year by the president..
Barrasso and Pfluger wrote in their letter, “American ranchers are the foundation of our food and economic security, and we must promote policies that protect their viability.”
The devices are estimated to save ranchers in Texas and Wyoming more than $100 million dollars annually in sales.
“In Wyoming alone, the letter states, “predator losses amounted to 47.3 percent of all sheep and lamb deaths. The continued production of M-44 devices is well within the law and is important to ensure ranchers have access to this safe and effective predation tool.”
The Center of Biological Diversity was one of the more than 70 radical environmental groups that, last July, called for the ban of M-44 devices on public lands. Their petition to the Bureau of Land Management was filed last summer. By the end of November of 2023, the BLM complied and banned the use of the devices.
Co-signers of the letter from Senator Barrasso and Representative Pfluger include U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
