Why is the federal government still killing coyotes?

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• 00:01

  Npr.

• 00:12

  This is the Indicator from Planet Money.

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  I'm Darian woods and I'm here with Kate Dario, producer for the public radio podcast Outside In. Hey, Kate.

• 00:20

  Hey, Darian.

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  It is great to have you.

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  You've been reporting on one wildlife program that has been called quite controversial over the years.

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  Yes.

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  The U.S. department of Agriculture oversees a budget of millions for what it calls wildlife damage management.

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  Is that some kind of euphemism?

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  Well, some environmental groups would say so.

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  Part of this program includes the killing of coyotes every year.

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  They do this with rifles, cyanide and even aerial gunning.

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  It's tough to say exactly how much is spent killing coyotes.

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  The agency doesn't readily release those numbers, but news outlets and nonprofits have estimated that it costs anywhere from $200 to $1,600 per coyote.

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  Doing some back of the envelope math, being conservative, that means it costs taxpayers close to $17 million to kill coyotes every year.

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  Yeah, but here's the thing.

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  That program may actually be increasing the number of coyotes overall.

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  So today on the Indicator, why is the government spending millions of dollars on a program that is exacerbating a perceived problem be better spent?

• 01:30

  Are we overlooking the challenges facing men without college degrees?

• 01:35

  Richard Reeves thinks so.

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