Canyon’s Law (Federal)

The Animal Legal Defense Fund supports this bill.

Sponsors: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA-02) and Steve Cohen (D-TN-09)

​Introduction Date:​ June 11, 2025

This legislation would ban M-44s, also known as “cyanide bombs,” on public lands. These spring-loaded devices filled with sodium cyanide are used by Wildlife Services, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), to cruelly kill native carnivores and so-called “pest” species. When triggered, M-44s shoot sodium cyanide powder into an animal’s mouth; when mixed with moisture from the animal’s saliva, this creates hydrogen cyanide gas, a deadly vapor that is rapidly absorbed by the lungs, resulting in convulsions, foaming at the mouth, paralysis, and ultimately, death.

In 2017, 14-year-old Canyon Mansfield’s life was altered when he accidentally triggered an M-44 device on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Pocatello, Idaho. Upon triggering the device, he witnessed the horrific death of his dog Kasey and continues to suffer from health effects due to sodium cyanide exposure. Canyon is only believed to have escaped death due to wind direction.

​​Why is this legislation important? 

M-44s are indiscriminate — to date, countless wild animals and companion animals have been killed by these devices, and several people have been injured. According to Wildlife Services’ annual Program Data Reports from 2018–23, more than 1,200 animals were unintentionally killed by M-44s, including gray foxes, red foxes, raccoons, Virginia opossums, black bears, skunks, ravens, and dogs.

Native wildlife, including endangered species, are being slaughtered indiscriminately by a program that purports to help wildlife and humans coexist. In reality, Wildlife Services is primarily a publicly funded agency killing wildlife for private ranchers who believe that native carnivore species pose risks to their farmed animals and are in competition with native predators for land. Peer-reviewed research shows that such indiscriminate killing of wildlife results in broad ecological destruction and loss of biodiversity.

Wildlife Services’ rampant killing also comes at a cost to taxpayers. The agency has a massive budget — last year it received $258 million, with over $130 million in federal funding and more than $48 million in federal cooperative funding.

In 2023, the BLM chose to end the use of M-44 devices on 245 million acres of BLM-managed lands, acknowledging the risks these devices pose to unintended targets, including people, companion animals, and threatened and endangered species. These devices have also been banned (or partially banned) in several states, including Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

​​Opposition:​

For more information about federal animal protection legislation ​and opportunities to take action for animals, visit our federal legislation page.

For more information about our work to expose Wildlife Services misguided war on wildlife and efforts to get this rogue agency to use non-lethal methods of wildlife management, visit aldf.org/wildlifeservices.