USDA APHIS Wildlife Services Nonlethal Initiative for Livestock Protection

In FY2021, Wildlife Services (WS) received $1.38M from Congress for the second year in a row to expand the use of nonlethal methods to protect livestock from large carnivore depredation and to research efficacy and development of new nonlethal approaches. WS distributed the funds to select state programs, WS’ National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC), and WS’ Operational Support Staff (OSS) to meet the intent of the initiative (Table 1). As part of normal practice with all congressional initiatives, a portion of the funding goes to USDA, APHIS, and WS as administrative overhead to provide various administrative services. OSS normally receives a larger amount for travel, however, travel remained restricted throughout the year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and that level of funding was greatly reduced. That available funding was instead allocated to state programs for mission delivery.