Sodium Monofluoroacetate (1080): Relation of Its Use to Predation on Livestock in Western National Forests, 1960-78

Abstract

Concern over certain animal damage control methods used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), primarily the predatide Compound 1080, prompted a Presidential Order in 1972 banning the use of toxicants on public lands. This continuing ban of 1080 use has been reinforced by the recent policy address issued by the Secretary of the Interior. Following the initial ban, greater emphasis was placed on aerial hunting of coyotes for prevention and correction of damage to sheep and goats. Aerial hunting is expensive, however, and has only limited application in timbered, mountainous areas of many national forests. In the period since toxicants were banned, number, of grazing livestock reported as lost to predation on western national forests has increased. Numbers of toxic bait stations (1080) used throughout the West, from 1960 until the 1972 ban, showed a strong inverse relationship with numbers of livestock reported lost to predation on national forests during these same years. Use of predacides in the Animal Damage Control (ADC) program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has often been criticized because efficacy and safety data were limited or lacking. The most frequently criticized predacide is Sodium Monofluoroacetate (1080). Although the use of 1080 had been declining since at least the early 1960’s, an Executive Order issued by President Nixon in 1972 immediately stopped further use of this and other predacides on public lands. Reinforcement of this ban on 1080 use and research was recently accomplished by an ADC Policy Statement issued by the Secretary of the Interior. One result of the 1972 ban was the increased use of aircraft for predator control. If predacides are restricted from use indefinitely, aerial control provides the best economic alternative (Gum et al. 1978). Cain et al. (1972) rated aerial hunting as “very good” in effectiveness for problem solving, safety, and lack of adverse environmental impact. Also, a telephone survey by Arthur et al. (1977) showed that aerial hunting is more acceptable to the general public than are the slow-acting predacides. Aerial hunting is species selective and may often be selective for the depredating individual. Evans and Pearson (1977) showed that the reported number of coyotes taken by ADC personnel generally rose during 1972-76 and that the percentage of these animals taken from aircraft greatly increased (Fig. 1). Most coyotes taken earlier with predacides were not recovered; consequently, the increase in numbers of coyotes reported taken in the ADC program since 1972 is probably a reflection of increased use of methods that lead to the recovery of animals, rather than an increase in numbers of animals killed. Though aircraft may be an effective (albeit expensive) replacement for predacides in certain high-country meadow grazing areas,