Wildlife Services

The program is part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

[1] The program is committed to the principle that wildlife is a publicly owned resource held in our trust in there actions and managed by state and federal agencies.

[4] In 1985 Wildlife Services returned to USDA as Animal Damage Control (ADC), as part of APHIS, the agency whose mission is to protect the health and value of U.S. agriculture and natural resources.

Responding to increasingly diverse requests for assistance, Wildlife Services has expanded its operational and research activities beyond its early emphasis on rabies and rodent control and livestock protection.

In many situations, the individual or institution requesting assistance (the cooperator) contributes financially to the management activity conducted by Wildlife Services.

Most are resolved using nonlethal methods including habitat modification, repellents, noise- and light-devices, and altered animal husbandry practices.

A 20-member National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee,[7] appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, advises the program and serves as a public forum.

[12] Furthermore, the groups claim that this killing is conducted on behalf of the livestock industry rather than public safety and has resulted in the imperilment and near-extinction of dozens of species.

[13] A 2014 article in The Washington Post[14] detailed Wildlife Services' extermination of 4 million animals in 2013, many of which were killed en masse.

It works closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Canadian and Mexican partners through the North American Rabies Management Plan.

The National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) is devoted to resolving problems caused by the interaction of wild animals and society.

NWRC applies scientific expertise to develop practical methods to resolve these problems and to maintain the quality of environments shared with wildlife.