‘Only a matter of time until one kills a child’: Trump admin reverses ban on wildlife-annihilating ‘cyanide bombs’

The M-44 – aka the “cyanide bomb” – is one of America’s great weapons in its ongoing war against nature. The device is buried in the ground with a bait that attracts wild animals poking into the air. When an animal interacts with the device, it suddenly blasts sodium cyanide powder upwards.

Needless to say, that isn’t great for the poor animal. The sodium cyanide reacts with their bodily fluids and converts into toxic hydrogen cyanide gas. The animal violently convulses as its nervous system misfires; its throat, mouth, and lungs feel as if they are on fire; and it vomits itself to death.

But hey, if you really want to get rid of coyotes and don’t have a functional soul I guess it’s effective. Unfortunately, it’s also very effective at killing pet dogs, foxes, raccoons, wolves, grizzly bears, California condors, and… well, basically anything with a pulse.

Obliterating the nation’s wildlife proved rather unpopular and, following years of intense public pressure and legal petitions, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officially banned the use of M-44 cyanide bombs on all 245 million acres of public land it managed in late 2023, joining existing bans by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“M-44s are indiscriminate killers and cannot be used safely”

But we cannot have nice things in this horrible world, so the Trump administration has decided to reverse the ban and begin the campaign of death once again.

Wildlife fans are aghast, with Predator Advocacy group explaining:

“M-44s are indiscriminate killers and cannot be used safely. They are meant to kill coyotes—which any true conservation biologist can tell you is an exercise in futility—but they also kill endangered species, essential native predators, and countless beloved dogs, none of which can read warning signs. They have also poisoned countless people. It is only a matter of time until one kills a child.”

That the cyanide bombs haven’t killed a kid yet is just plain luck. In 2018, 14-year-old Canyon Mansfield and his dog Kasey were taking a stroll near his house in Pocatello, Idaho. He stopped to examine a weird thing poking out of the ground and… bang! He was suddenly doused in sodium cyanide.

Shocked, he heard a strange gurgling noise from Kasey, turning to see his dog with “red froth coming from his mouth and his eyes turning glassy”, before he died in twitching agony. Canyon himself was then affected, experiencing severe eye burning, headaches, nausea, and numbness. He was rushed to emergency decontamination and mercifully survived, though to this day suffers headaches.

Canyon’s mother, Theresa, was furious, telling journalists:

“We’re still in shock that this has happened. Like, someone put a loaded gun on the top of my hill. Someone planted a bomb right out in my backyard, and the federal government makes it so that this is okay. I see this as murder.”

Now, thanks to Trump and his goons, you once again need to be aware of hidden cyanide bombs. How many more pet dogs, wild animals, and people will need to die before the government remembers why they banned these evil things in the first place?