Predator Control and Ethics | 427 theories In other words, she asks that we generate a situated moral understanding, one that takes both moral concepts and the facts on the ground as equally important and mutually informing Midgley’s practical approach to ethics models the use of principles and maxims to triangulate on better versus worse accounts of how we ought to live This is the task of practical ethics Further Reading Gadamer, Hans-Georg 1993 Truth and method 2nd ed New York: Continuum Lauria, K 2009 Christian theologies of animals: Review and implications for a new theology of animals Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, forthcoming Lynn, W S 2006 Between science and ethics: What science and the scientific method can and cannot contribute to conservation and sustainability In D Lavigne, ed., Gaining ground: In pursuit of ecological sustainability, 191–205 Limerick: University of Limerick Press Lynn, W S 2007 Practical ethics and humananimal relations In M Bekoff, ed., Encyclopedia of human-animal relationships, 790–797 Westport, CT: Greenwood Press Midgley, M 1998 Animals and why they matter Athens: University of Georgia Press Naess, A 1989 Ecology, community and lifestyle: Outline of an ecosophy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Toulmin, S., and Jonsen, A R 1988 The abuse of casuistry: A history of moral reasoning Berkeley: University of California Press Weston, A 2006 A practical companion to ethics New York: Oxford University Press William S Lynn PREDATOR CONTROL AND ETHICS In the United States, more than 120,000 native carnivores are killed each year by the federal government as part of the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services predator control program Taxpayer dollars subsidize this carnage to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, even though the killings are intended primarily to benefit private livestock operators Killing native carnivores has been a common practice since European colonists arrived in North America nearly four centuries ago The colonists viewed native carnivores as a threat to livestock and as competition for game species So prevalent was this view that a bounty on wolves was enacted shortly after the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony in Massachusetts in 1630 As settlers pushed west into the Great Plains in the 1800s, they slaughtered native carnivores to open the land to livestock and farming Ranchers, bounty hunters, and professional trappers killed millions of coyotes, wolves, bears, and mountain lions Large-scale cattle grazing resulted in the widespread depletion of vegetation and the wildlife that consumed it, thereby reducing the numbers of prey available for native carnivores With less natural prey, the remaining coyotes, wolves, bears, and cougars turned to livestock, which only bolstered predator eradication campaigns The federal government became officially involved in predator control in 1915 when Congress allocated $125,000 to create the Branch of Predator and Rodent Control within the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Biological Survey Their mission was to carry out official strychnine poisoning and trapping campaigns targeting wolves, mountain lions, coyotes, foxes, bears, and eagles on the public domain lands of the West Later, during the Hoover Administration, livestock operators and hunters pressured Congress