Conservationists sue over US plan to kill Nevada predators

By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Conservationists are suing three federal agencies over an environmental review the government says satisfies requirements to resume the killing coyotes, mountain lions and other wildlife in federally protected wilderness areas in Nevada. The move comes five years after the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Wildlife Services settled a similar lawsuit by suspending operations to protect livestock from predators. The lead plaintiff is the WildEarth Guardians group that has long has battled USDA over the predator management program that Congress approved in 1931. It costs U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars annually and allows the department to eradicate a native species including mountain lions, bears, wolves and coyotes “for the benefit of agribusiness.”