An obscure arm of the federal government killed almost 2 million wild animals last year using a variety of methods, including firearms, poisons, and traps that ensnare an animal’s neck, feet, or entire body.

Carried out by the US Department of Agriculture’s euphemistically named Wildlife Services department, the 2024 body count included over 2,000 green iguanas, almost 1,700 red-tailed hawks, and 614 armadillos, according to recently published data. The sub-agency even unintentionally killed one golden eagle, a species protected by federal law.

Wildlife Services kills animals for a wide variety of reasons when they pose an inconvenience or danger to humans. Some of the deaths, as disturbing as they may be, have a kind of logic, like killing animals (even native ones) to protect endangered or threatened species, or eradicating birds at airports that might strike airplanes (though there are growing efforts to rehome, rather than kill, these birds).

But four species alone — coyotes, European starlings, feral hogs, and pigeons — accounted for over 75 percent of the carnage, and they have something important in common. They all come into conflict with animal agriculture, and one of the primary purposes of........

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