EPA Bans Poison Bombs

The Trump administration says it will allow trappers to continue using controversial sodium cyanide bombs to kill coyotes and other livestock predators. Conservation groups called for a ban after repeated instances of the devices also poisoning pets, people and nontargeted wildlife. The Environmental Protection Agency’s interim decision imposes new restrictions that it says will guard against accidental poisonings. Conservation groups point to a 2017 case of one of the cyanide bombs poisoning a 14-year-old Idaho boy and killing his pet Labrador. The federal government cites a 2015 Agriculture Department study estimating that coyotes annually kill 17,000 of the country’s 112 million cattle.