January 12, 2011

Compound 1080 Killed Colorado Wolf

A Montana wolf found dead in northeast Colorado in 2009, which I had thought had been hit by a car (based on  earlier reports) was poisoned by Compound 1080.

Compound 1080 is a poison used on bait carcasses and in various "coyote-getter" devices, and it indiscriminately kills dogs, raptors, and whatever else ingests it.
Compound 1080, or sodium fluoroacetate, was commonly used to control coyotes, foxes and rodents until the U.S. banned it in 1972, but the rule has been modified. Today its only legal use is in collars used to protect sheep and goats from coyotes, and only in certain states. Colorado is not one of them. 
Which is not to say that there are not containers of it still sitting on the shelf in various Colorado barns and equipment sheds in livestock country, of course.

My other question is why it took more than a year for this information to be made public. Some behind-the-scenes investigation going on? Don't count on the Denver Post to let you know.

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