Trump administration lifts ban on cyanide bombs that kill animals (May 15, 2026 )
May 15, 2026 — The Trump administration has quietly moved to restore federal use of the M-44 "cyanide bomb" on U.S. public lands, reversing a Biden-era prohibition that had been years in the making. The vehicle was an April 2026 memorandum of understanding between the Bureau of Land Management and the USDA — understated in language, but significant in implication. Weeks later, the FY2027 USDA appropriations bill made the intent explicit, directing the agency to fold the M-44 back into routine wildlife damage management.
The M-44 is a spring-loaded trap that propels a sodium cyanide pellet into the mouth of any animal that takes its scented bait — a mechanism designed for coyotes and foxes, but notoriously indiscriminate in practice. It has killed pets, poisoned endangered species including wolves and California condors, and in 2017 injured an Idaho boy and killed his dog. Animal welfare advocates at the Humane World Action Fund are calling the reversal not just cruel, but a conspicuous policy failure — particularly from an administration that has otherwise championed replacing animal testing with modern alternatives. They argue that nonlethal, conflict-reduction approaches to wildlife management remain viable and underfunded, and that science-based humane policy demands better than a return to what they bluntly call "a weapon of terror."
| https://humaneaction.org/blog/2026/05/trump-administration-lifts-ban-cyanide-bombs-kill-animals |