Canyon’s Law

Canyon Mansfield

In 2017, the Mansfield family’s life was changed forever. Canyon Mansfield, then just 14 years old, was walking with his beloved dog, Kasey, near their home in Idaho when he accidentally triggered an M-44, a chemical poison “bomb” used by the USDA’s Wildlife Services program to kill wild animals. Canyon watched Kasey die in agony and was injured himself. He still suffers health effects from the cyanide exposure, and is believed to have survived only because of the wind direction that day.

That same year, the pets of three other families were killed by M-44s. In the years since, families in Texas, Virginia, and Nebraska have experienced similar tragedies and trauma.

From 2018 to 2023, Wildlife Services poisoned more than 42,000 animals using M-44 devices, each one at taxpayer expense. The program tracks both “intentional” and “unintentional” killings, acknowledging that about 1,200 animals were killed unintentionally during this period with these cruel, inhumane, and indiscriminate devices. Far safer, more humane, and more effective nonlethal methods of managing wildlife are readily available.

Sodium Cyanide M-44 Devices

M-44s are baited, spring-activated devices that contain deadly sodium cyanide. When an animal, attracted by the bait, pulls on the poisoned trap, the M-44 propels sodium cyanide into his or her mouth, thereby poisoning and killing the animal.

M-44 devices have the following brutal effects:

• Cause severe, unnecessary pain and suffering. When an animal triggers an M-44, the sodium cyanide reacts with the moisture in the animal’s mouth or nostrils to produce toxic fumes, exposure to which causes substantial suffering (including convulsions, foaming at the mouth, pulmonary edema, paralysis) and, ultimately, death.[1]
• Kill indiscriminately. M-44s are nonselective, and often kill nontarget wildlife, including protected species such as wolves, grizzly bears, swift foxes, lynxes, raptors, and black-footed ferrets. The USDA acknowledges that there are hundreds of unintended wildlife deaths every year as a result of these devices, and these numbers are likely gross underestimates.[2]
• Threaten humans and pets. M-44s have killed family pets across the country and have caused severe, irreparable harm to people who have been exposed. In the spring of 2017 alone, three family dogs are confirmed to have died from these devices. An Idaho boy was exposed to cyanide and watched his dog die after they inadvertently tripped a capsule planted by Wildlife Services only a few hundred yards from their home. Two dogs in Wyoming died similarly brutal, unnecessary deaths. And these are not isolated incidents. In 2011, a Texas family lost its beloved dog to an M-44 set by Wildlife Services just 918 feet from the family’s home. In addition, families in West Virginia and Nebraska each lost pets to the same fate the previous year, and similar incidents have been reported across the United States. Humans who have been exposed to sodium cyanide released by M-44s, either while trying to rescue pets or through other inadvertent contact, have experienced debilitating health effects and suffered chronic maladies.

Canyon’s Law

Canyon’s Law—which has been introduced in both the House and the Senate (H.R. 4180/S. 2179)—would ban Wildlife Services from using M-44 devices on public lands. It was introduced by Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR),