EXPOSED: USDA's Secret War on Wildlife

In our award-winning film "EXPOSED," three former federal agents and a prominent Congressman blow the whistle on the USDA's barbaric and wasteful Wildlife Services program and expose the government’s secret war on wildlife. Jane Goodall gave "EXPOSED" a rave review and wants millions to see it.

Background

An agency within the USDA called Wildlife Services—a misnamed entity if there ever was one—has been having their way for almost a century, killing millions of wild animals a year, as well as maiming, poisoning, and brutalizing countless pets. They have also seriously harmed more than a few humans. And they apparently think they are going to continue getting away with it.

But in our documentary, "EXPOSED: USDA’s Secret War on Wildlife," whistle-blowers go on the record showing Wildlife Services for what it really is—an unaccountable, out-of-control, wildlife killing machine that acts at the bidding of corporate agriculture and the hunting lobby, all with taxpayer dollars.

Our call for reforming this rogue agency is getting increasingly serious attention, thanks to significant reviews and awards it has garnered.

"EXPOSED" Garners Awards and Acclaim, Goes on Nationwide Tour

Momentum started building after a teaser of "EXPOSED" was featured on CNN Headline News. Then it received a rave review from none other than Jane Goodall, who wants millions to see it. It also won and Best Wildlife Activism at the 2014 Wildlife Conservation Film Festival and Best Short Film at the 2015 Animal Film Festival.

Encouraged by this traction, we kicked off a nationwide screening tour of "EXPOSED" in 2015. On June 15 we took it to Washington, D.C. and held a Congressional screening and panel discussion for an unprecedented standing-room-only crowd from both sides of the aisle. We also screened "EXPOSED" in Oregon, California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and New York. And we screened it a total of six times in Idaho, the Ground Zero of wildlife killing in America.

You can help us leverage this success and further our goal of ending America's war on wildlife. Please tell your connections about this film and donate to support our work.

Meet the Whistle-Blowers

Meet the brave souls who go on the record in EXPOSED, showing Wildlife Services for what it really is—an unaccountable, out-of-control, wildlife killing machine that acts at the bidding of corporate agriculture and the hunting lobby, all with taxpayer dollars.

Photo of whistle-blower Gary Strader

 

 

“Government employees shouldn’t be breaking
the law [on the job]. And the federal
government should not be in the business of predator control on taxpayer dollars.”

GARY STRADER
Former police officer &
Wildlife Services trapper 

 

Photo of whistle-blower Rex Shaddox

 

 

“Poisons banned since the 1970s,
that the official record said didn’t exist,
were being bought from the Wyoming
Dept. of Ag. to sell to ranchers and
predator boards.”

REX SHADDOX
Former Wildlife Services
trapper & special investigator
for Wyoming Sting operation 

 

Photo of whistle-blower Doug McKenna

 

 

 

“It always seemed the words ‘eagles,
coyotes, and wolves’ led us to poisons,
and led us to Wildlife Services.”

DOUG MCKENNA
Former special agent
for U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Law Enforcement 

 

Photo of whistle-blower Gary Strader

 

 

 

“Wildlife Services is one of the most opaque
and least accountable agencies I know of.
It is not capable of reforming itself.
They need a mandate for reform...
it’s going to have to be imposed on them.”

REP. PETER DEFAZIO
Senior U.S. Congressman (D-OR)

 

 

"EXPOSED" Receiving Critical Acclaim from Prominent Individuals, Including Jane Goodall

"I have just watched EXPOSED, and two emotions vie with each other: First, horror that cruelty of this magnitude and scale has been perpetrated, for so long, in the name of the American government. And second, great admiration for the brave men who, jeopardizing personal safety and future employment, spoke out against the atrocities that they saw perpetrated, and admitted having perpetrated themselves. This is the 21st Century. There is indisputable evidence that we are not the only beings on planet earth to know mental and physical suffering. For years I have heard stories of this kind of barbaric behavior – and now Americans will learn, through watching "EXPOSED," of the unforgivable actions of those who have exercised their power to cause untold agony to thousands of innocent fellow creatures on our planet. Congratulations to all involved in making this documentary. I hope it will be watched by millions."

JANE GOODALL, Ph.D., DBE
Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute &
UN Messenger of Peace

"EXPOSED delivers an urgent message about a brutal and secretive war against America's wildlife. This short film shines a rare light on a little-known federal agency that prides itself in keeping our public lands safe for livestock grazing untended on the open range. Utterly lacking in transparency, oversight and accountability, the USDA's Wildlife Services uses our tax dollars to kill millions and millions of innocent animals. This film clearly exposes an entrenched culture of brutality and indiscriminate wildlife slaughter. It is revealed through accounts delivered by courageous whistleblowers detailing poisonings, deliberate animal torture, collateral damage and corresponding cover-ups—all leaving a trail of mutilated and then concealed pets, eagles and other 'non-target' animals in its wake."

JIM & JAMIE DUTCHER
Emmy Award-winning documentarians, authors and founders of
the national nonprofit organization, Living with Wolves

"EXPOSED is one of the most disturbing videos I have ever seen. Wildlife Services could easily be called ‘Murder, Inc.’ Their horrific, intentional and secret slaughter of millions of animals in the name of ‘coexistence’ is appalling. They need to be put out of business."

MARC BEKOFF, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder,
one of the world's pioneering cognitive ethologists, a Guggenheim Fellow, and
co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment 
of Animals

"EXPOSED is a long overdue look at America’s most lethal but least transparent federal wildlife agency. If you care about humane wildlife management and government accountability, watch this film."

TOM KNUDSON
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter & author of
ongoing "Sacramento Bee" expose on Wildlife Services

"USDA's Wildlife Services is among the most unaccountable and clandestine of taxpayer-supported programs in America. Their mission is to kill native predators, as secretly as possibly, with zeal unparalleled in brutality and cruelty. Thus, this is a story best told from the inside. EXPOSED...has cracked Wildlife Services’ impenetrability by interviewing three highly articulate former federal agents who tell their inside stories with a clarity I’ve quite never seen before. We need to understand how this agency works so we can shut it down. The courage of these three former agents and an outspoken congressman make this goal a tangible possibility."

DOUG PEACOCK
Vietnam veteran, naturalist, outdoorsman, author, and real-life model for Edward Abbey’s George Washington Hayduke in "The Monkey Wrench Gang"

"EXPOSED is a unique and must-see film.  It not only reveals the extent and depth of the abuse of both animals and power inherent in this little-known rogue agency, it documents it with indisputable evidence and 100% credible witnesses.  Exposed should be mandatory viewing for all lawmakers.  It's time to shut down this publicly funded agency which acts as handmaiden to livestock and hunting special interests."

GEORGE WUERTHNER
Ecologist, author, photographer, and
ecological projects director for the Foundation for Deep Ecology

"What The Cove has done for dolphins and Blackfish is doing for large cetaceans, EXPOSED will do for predators—pull back the veil that conceals the outrageous and heartbreaking corruption and horrors experienced by other species who are the victims of human politics. A heartbreaking expose on institutionalized corruption and painful practices of those in whom we’ve placed the public trust and tax dollars. This film should be required viewing of politicians and citizens across the nation."

DEBRA MERSKIN, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, School of Journalism & Communication, Univ. of Oregon

"I hope every American will watch EXPOSED...to make themselves aware of the atrocities being committed on our country’s animals by our own government, with our money, on our watch. Viewers will probably agree it will be a colossal injustice if we continue to fund the senseless and largely indiscriminate killing of millions of birds, coyotes, mountain lions, and even dogs, cows, and endangered species largely at the behest of ranchers. I hope hearing the shocking stories by former “Wildlife Services” employees of routine and reckless poisonings, trappings, and aerial gunning of animals will inspire Americans to support Predator Defense and take action to end this national disgrace."

CARRIE PACKWOOD FREEMAN, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Communication, Georgia State University

"Teams of highly organized US government assassins are secretly roaming our national forests, wildernesses, and other public lands, slaughtering a certain class of American citizens for making a living using the only tools Nature gave them. So many victims are being killed in this genocide that entire communities are being virtually wiped out, altering the very structure of ecosystems and the energy that flows through them, likely making them less resilient in the face of a changing climate.

EXPOSED is a gut-wrenching, must-see exposé of the USDA’s rogue “Wildlife Services Agency” (formerly “Animal Damage Control"), whose agents secretly trap, snare, gun from the air, poison and shoot thousands—even hundreds of thousands—of birds and mammals every year, from eagles and wolves to cougars, crows, and beavers, whether or not they have killed or harassed domestic stock, or committed some other ‘felony’ against hunters, ranchers or humankind in general. I thought I had seen some quite horrific abuse of wildlife by commercial poachers in my 23 years of wildlife research and conservation work in Africa, but at least it was illegal there. Here we legalize this abuse in support of sport hunting and protecting the roughly 2% of our beef production coming from grazing cattle on public lands.

What kind of society not only permits this, but encourages it? It is long past time to expose the criminal activities of this agency, and to make criminal the morally repugnant legally sanctioned slaughter of animals on our public lands for making a living the only way they can."

MARK J. OWENS, M.Ed., B.S.
Chairman, The Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation

Help Us Stop America's War on Wildlife

Please watch the film and join us in our work to expose this rogue agency and its unconscionable waste of taxpayer dollars. Together, we can reform Wildlife Services and stop America’s war on wildlife. Support our campaigns with a tax-deductible contribution today.

A Special Thanks

This film was made possible by a generous grant from...

 

Logo for Patagonia

 

Thank you so very much, Patagonia!