You may have already guessed, but I work for that agency. We take alot of heat for the work we do. That is perfectly acceptable and I understand people don't like the idea of animals dying. Yes, we do kill animals, but that solution is a last resort and determined by the property owner/manager if it is biologically sound. Alot of our effort and resources is spent on habitat mangement and non-lethal methods (fencing, scaring devices...) Historically livestock and agriculture protection was our primary purpose. But, the last twenty years our agency has expanded and changed because human/wildlife conflicts have increased or there is a greater demand by the public for assistance.
Depending on the state or region our program has shifted to more urban areas, work on airports, protection of threatend or endangered species, invasive species in the Pacific Islands and Florida, and wildlife disease control and monitoring.
A good location to find information is our website. I can't recall the exact page, but you can enter "USDA Wildlife Services" and you will get to the page. There will be a link for programs in different states on the side of the page. There are also links to tables on all the data we collect for our work (property damage, management methods...)
There are two sides to every story and I don't to change anybody's opinion, but what is printed in the paper is sometimes intended to get attention rather than give information in the full and proper context.
