Oregon Public Broadcasting

More than 100 environmental and animal rights organizations sent a letter Friday to the Obama Administration’s nominee for federal agriculture secretary.

The letter to former Iowa governor, Tom Vilsack, urges agriculture officials to drastically reduce the number of wild animals it kills.

Sharon Harmon is the executive director of the Oregon Humane Society -- one of 18 Oregon groups to sign the letter.

Sharon Harmon: “Well, it’s a brand-new day, and it’s an opportunity to change the way we viewed wild animals, and our way of doing business with farm animals. It’s an opportunity to change the dynamic of ‘shoot first, and gonna ask questions later’.”

The letter argues against using traps, snares, aerial gunfire, and poison, to kill wild animals. 

Harmon says her organization is not advocating a total ban on killing. But she says the federal government needs to put far more emphasis on non-lethal management methods.