On April 15, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management and the USDA’s Wildlife Services quietly signed a memorandum of understanding. The document ran to several pages. It covered the terms of cooperation between two federal agencies on wildlife management across more than 245 million acres of American public land.

Buried in Section VII H was a single change. The previous version of this agreement contained one sentence: "APHIS-WS shall not use M-44s that deliver sodium cyanide on any BLM-administered lands." In the April 2026 version, that sentence was gone. Replaced by language directing Wildlife Services to notify local BLM offices before using "restricted-use pesticides such as… M-44s that deliver sodium cyanide" — establishing a pathway for deployment rather than a prohibition against it.

The memorandum will remain in effect until 2031.

No press conference. No public announcement. No comment until investigative outlet Public Domain obtained and published the document on May 6th, triggering immediate alarm from wildlife advocates and public safety groups across the country.

The Trump administration had quietly brought cyanide bombs back to America’s public lands.

What an M-44 Actually Is

The M-44 is a spring-loaded device staked into the ground and baited with a scented attractant designed to lure canids — primarily coyotes and foxes, but also wolves, foxes, and anything else drawn to the smell.

When an animal tugs at the bait — or a child touches what looks like a sprinkler head, or a family dog investigates something interesting on a hiking trail — the device fires a pellet of sodium cyanide powder directly into the mouth. Saliva converts the powder into hydrogen cyanide gas. The gas absorbs through the lungs. Within seconds it disrupts the body’s ability to use oxygen at the cellular level. The result is convulsions, paralysis, and death — typically within minutes.

The devices cannot distinguish between a coyote and a golden retriever. They cannot distinguish between a fox and a child. They carry warning signs. Children, dogs, and wild animals do not read warning signs.

Predator Defense executive director Brooks Fahy has documented the M-44’s track record for decades. His assessment: "These devices are indiscriminate killers and cannot be used safely. We are going to fight this tooth and nail."

The Body Count

Wildlife Services’ own program data shows M-44s account for between 10,000 and 15,000 animal deaths per year — figures that experts and agency whistleblowers say significantly undercount the actual toll, because agents rarely record pet deaths and are sometimes instructed to discard evidence.

Between 2000 and 2012 alone, at least 1,200 pet dogs were killed by M-44 devices — a figure documented in agency records and advocacy data. In a single year, Wildlife Services recorded more than 300 animals killed unintentionally by M-44 traps, including foxes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, ravens, and a black bear.

Grizzly bears, gray wolves, and California condors — all protected under the Endangered Species Act — have been killed by M-44 devices. The indiscriminate nature of the bait means any animal curious enough to investigate becomes a potential victim.

The human toll is equally documented. Since 1987, at least 18 Wildlife Services employees and several private citizens have been injured by M-44 devices. One man — Dennis Slaugh of Vernal, Utah — was poisoned by an M-44 in 2003 and suffered permanent disability. He died in 2018 with cyanide poisoning listed as a contributing cause on his death certificate, making him the only confirmed human death associated with M-44 use.

Predator Defense affirms it is, in their assessment, only a matter of time before one of these devices kills a child.

Canyon Mansfield

The closest that day came occurred on March 11, 2017, in the hills above Pocatello, Idaho.

Canyon Mansfield was 14 years old. He was taking a walk near his home — a walk his family took regularly — when he spotted what he thought was a sprinkler head sticking out of the ground. He touched it.

The M-44 fired. A cloud of hydrogen cyanide erupted in his face. His dog, Casey — a yellow Labrador — died within minutes at the scene. Canyon survived. According to Predator Defense and subsequent reporting, investigators believe the wind direction was the primary reason he did not die alongside his dog. Emergency personnel who responded to the scene were also exposed to cyanide.

Canyon Mansfield appeared before Congress multiple times afterward, advocating for a nationwide ban. His testimony helped drive restrictions or outright bans on M-44 use in Idaho, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. He was 14 years old when a federal wildlife management device nearly killed him on a walk near his own house.

He is now in his early twenties. The devices that almost killed him are coming back to federal lands.

The Political Timeline

The M-44’s history on federal land is not a straight line. It is a series of political decisions that reveal exactly who benefits and who pays the price.

For decades, M-44 devices were standard tools of the federal predator control program — deployed primarily to protect livestock on grazing land, at the request of ranching interests, using taxpayer resources.

In 2017, the Canyon Mansfield incident generated national attention and bipartisan outrage. The first Trump administration reauthorized M-44 use in 2019 — and then reversed that decision under sustained public pressure. Multiple states implemented their own bans.

In 2023, the Biden administration barred Wildlife Services from using M-44 devices on BLM-administered land entirely — a prohibition that protected 245 million acres of American public land.

On April 15, 2026, the Trump administration removed that prohibition. The agreement runs to 2031.

Weeks after the MOU was signed, House Republicans inserted language into the FY2027 USDA appropriations bill directing the agency to "fully integrate" M-44 devices back into its routine wildlife damage management strategy. The appropriations language and the MOU together make the administration’s intent clear: M-44s are returning to American public land as standard operating procedure.

Who Benefits. Who Pays.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has been explicit about its support for M-44 use. Ethan Lane, the organization’s vice president, told reporters: "Livestock producers have to contend with predation of livestock on a daily basis and having access to every tool in the toolbox allows our ranchers to continue to protect the herd."

That is the stated justification. Ranching interests want the devices available. The Trump administration removed the ban. The FY2027 appropriations language directs their full reintegration.

Who pays? The wildlife that triggers them without warning. The family dogs that investigate curious smells on hiking trails. The hikers and hunters who walk through areas where M-44s have been staked into the ground. The children who mistake spring-loaded cyanide devices for sprinkler heads.

The Interior Department’s spokesperson told reporters the April 2026 memo identifies M-44s as "tools that may be considered under existing law and environmental review" with proposals evaluated "case-by-case."

Brooks Fahy of Predator Defense rejected that framing. "These devices are indiscriminate killers and cannot be used safely." Case-by-case evaluation does not change the physics of hydrogen cyanide.

What Comes Next

Project Coyote, Predator Defense, the Humane World for Animals, and multiple other conservation organizations have condemned the reversal and pledged legal challenges. Democratic members of Congress have demanded the administration explain the change. Snopes has rated the core claim — that the Trump administration lifted the M-44 ban on BLM land — as TRUE.

The MOU is signed. The appropriations language is in the bill. The devices are coming back to 245 million acres of American public land.

Canyon Mansfield was nearly killed because a federal agency staked a cyanide device into the ground near a path where a 14-year-old boy walked regularly, without meaningful warning, for the benefit of ranching interests.

That incident generated years of advocacy, congressional testimony, state bans, and eventually a federal prohibition.

The prohibition lasted three years.

Now it’s gone.

And somewhere on 245 million acres of American public land, someone is going to touch something that looks like a sprinkler head.

Experts say it is only a matter of time before that someone is a child who doesn’t survive the wind direction.