Stung by charges of animal abuse, Wildlife Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has adopted new guidelines for how its employees are to handle dogs in the field. This move comes after very disturbing photos surfaced on the web last November showing an agent’s hunting dogs attacking a helpless coyote caught in a leg-hold trap. The photos had hackles so many hackles raised that an online petition sponsored by Project Coyote calling for Olson’s termination has gathered more than 54,000 signatures.

Read more from the The Sacramento Bee.

Another Wildlife Services employee is currently under investigation for the death of a critically endangered Mexican gray wolf. The incident reportedly happened on Jan. 19 but was not made public until April 4th in the Albuquerque Journal, which was spurred by a tip from the Center for Biological Diversity. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which had previously reported that “no wolf mortalities were documented” for the month of January, would not confirm the killing had taken place.

Read more here.

The National Wolfwatcher Coalition is asking supporters to write letters to the editor (LTE) to keep the pressure on Congress to investigate and shut down this horrible agency, funded by our tax dollars. Read about how to write and effective LTE.