Compound 1080, strychnine and sodium cyanide are each widely acknowledged as an inhumane method of killing animals due to the intensity and duration of the suffering they cause. Animals that ingest Compound 1080 or strychnine can suffer excruciating pain for several hours; sometimes even days with 1080, before finally losing consciousness. Symptoms can include but are not limited to severe and prolonged convulsions, vomiting, unusual vocalizations, excessive salivation, muscular weakness and respiratory distress. Poisoned animals can become injured or suffer tissue trauma if they come in contact with rigid objects during their uncontrollable muscle spasms. Poisoned 1080 victims will typically die from respiratory or nervous system failure or from a cardiac attack. Strychnine and Sodium Cyanide also cause similar violent symptoms and convulsions to victims and lead to prolonged suffering prior to death.

Poison baits are often the subject of vigorous debate over the impact they have on non-target animals, including endangered species, domestic animals and companion animals. The residual poison left in the tissues of victims is toxic to scavengers as well. These toxins can virtually render a landscape sterile, effecting everything sharing a food chain. 11 different non-target species have been killed by strychnine in Alberta’s Little Smoky wolf kill program; for a minimum of 243 non-target deaths 2005-2017. Despite all three poisons being equally inhumane, wildlife managers often attempt to persuade the public that Compound 1080 is a more selective poison that the others, specifically targeting wolves and coyotes or any animal in the dog family – Canidae –because they metabolize the toxin differently. Compound 1080 was originally believed to be specific to canids, because canids are up to ten times more susceptible to the poison compared to most other mammals, however in reality it is highly toxic to all mammals and birds, and has varying potential toxicity levels on fish and invertebrates. While 1080 is mainly used to target rodents and wild canids, many other animals have been unintentionally killed by it, including endangered species, livestock and pets. For this reason, we will focus on how indiscriminate a killer Compound 1080 actually is. Because of its non-selectivity (PMRA 2014), Compound 1080 has killed humans, pets, eagles, badgers, bobcats, raccoons, bears, wolves, coyotes and various other wildlife species (Defenders 1982). Additionally, victims vomit after ingesting this slow-acting poison, thereby spreading it across the landscape until they are killed (Randall 1981). Veterinarians of the Canadian Cooperative of Wildlife Health (CCWHC), (1999) classified 1080 as “moderately selective for canids”. Before discontinuing use of Compound 1080 in the late 1990’s, a BC government report found that 20-28% of wolf baits containing the poison were taken by non-target species. Similarly in the US, a federal predator control supervisor found the poison in the carcasses of golden eagles, bobcats, black bears, pine martens, badgers, dogs and Canada Jays. The poison is believed to be at least partly responsible for the decline of several species at risk in North America, including the Kit fox, California Condor and Black-footed ferrets in the US. Environment Canada has reported that the poison is at least partly responsible for a drastic 71% decline of a breeding colony of Burrowing Owls over a 2-year period. This is of great concern not only for Burrowing Owls but other species at risk in Alberta and Saskatchewan where Compound 1080 and other poisons are permitted. Vulnerable scavengers include Swift fox, American badger, Grizzly bear and Short-eared owl, among others.

Only a small percentage of livestock deaths are caused by wild predators. Pre-emptive and/or indiscriminate wolf and coyote kill programs (whether through poisoning, traps or aerial gunning) can result in higher wolf and coyote numbers and greater livestock depredation because it disrupts their natural behaviours and pack dynamics. Humane alternatives exist that are much more effective at preventing and reducing livestock depredation. See Wolf Awareness Ranchers Guide to Coexistence Among People, Livestock and Wolves 2nd Ed. As the ends do not justify the means, the use of poison in a conservation campaign aimed at caribou recovery is hypocritical and ludicrous. Not only are the methods of death inhumane to all species that encounter the poison, but there is no evidence to indicate that the province’s wolf kill program has significantly increased caribou populations, despite killing more than 800 wolves since 2005.

One teaspoon of Compound 1080 can kill 30-100 people. There is no antidote. Labelled as a Class 1a poison (the most toxic category) by the World Health Organization (WHO) and considered a super poison by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Compound 1080 is a colourless, odourless salt that is highly soluble in water. The FBI has shown concern that all three of these highly toxic pesticides are considered as likely to be used by terrorists, and indeed, all of them have been.* While intended for wildlife deemed a ‘nuisance’, Compound 1080 has resulted in accidental human deaths in the U.S. The federal government has assigned the responsibility of administering and monitoring Compound 1080 to provincial governments which have delegated it to the municipal/local level. Our research suggests that it is not regulated well enough in Canada to ensure the public’s safety or the protection of wild and domesticated animals that are not the intended targets. Despite restrictions on its use, strychnine poisoning in dogs continues to be a prevalent concern in western Canada, with at least 93 cases of strychnine poisoning in dogs in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba between 1998 and 2013, read the science report here. Read this heartfelt letter by a couple who lost Dulce, their four-legged companion, to Strychnine near Cremona, Alberta. Dulce was not the only dog that fell victim to strychnine in the area, there were three additional dog deaths that season. Dulce’s loss was completely unexpected and devastating, with his life ending in front of the couple’s grandchildren. We are using their experience to increase awareness and stop the use of these dreadful poisons. A young boy recently lost his companion dog and nearly his own life to a Sodium Cyanide cartridge, prompting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove cyanide devices and announce that it is ending its use of the M-44 mechanisms in Idaho indefinitely.

Compound 1080, often considered to be the least harmful of these three predacides, has been banned in Brazil, Belize, Cuba, Slovenia, Thailand, China, and several US states including California, Washington State and Oregon. Strychnine was banned from the USA for killing predators and skunks in the early 1970’s, and then banned for above ground use in 1988. It was banned by the European Union in 2006.