A program known as “Wildlife Services,” a unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has long operated secretively for a reason: Its actions are incredibly brutal and inhumane to animals, from familiar wildlife to endangered species — and even people's pets. It has been known to kill more than a million native animals every year — including coyotes, bears, beavers, wolves, otters, foxes, prairie dogs, mountain lions and birds — without any oversight, accountability or requirement to disclose its activities to the public. The program has contributed to the decline of gray wolves, Mexican wolves, black-footed ferrets, black-tailed prairie dogs and other imperiled species during the first half of the 1900s, and it continues to impede their recovery today. [Image description: A coyote sits in a field of cattails, looking directly at the camera. The stalks are yellow-brown, almost the same color as the coyote's fur.] #EnvironmentalConservation #WildlifeConservation #WildlifeServices