USDA works to protect our food

• Thursday’s Agriculture Expo featured a presentation explaining how the USDA wards off predators.

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

Somewhere in Carbon County, a child’s father was bit by the bogeyman.

“I asked the kids how big of a trap they needed for that,” said Dan Braig with a chuckle. Braig represented the U.S. Department of Agriculture at Thursday’s Agriculture Expo held at the Carbon County Fairgrounds for area school children.

Emphasizing non-lethal methods of handling predators, Braig had a captive audience for each of his 15-minute slide-show presentations.

“We’ll put a propane cannon around places where birds are a nuisance to raising fish or contaminating grain, and every half hour, BANG!” he exclaimed, making kids jump from their seats. He grinned. “Just like that,” he said. According to Braig, it generally takes awhile to train the birds that they should make a new home.

After the presentation, students were allowed to look at pelts adorning the front table.
His hand sliding down the mottled wolf fur, Slater Kaisler of Little Snake River Valley School listed the animals he’d seen in the wild. Among them were badgers, beavers, muskrats, bobcats, coyotes and raccoons.

“I’ve also seen a skunk,” he said. “I shot it with a .22.”

When asked if they stink when they’re shot, he nodded. “Yeah,” he answered.

According to Braig, the presentation was designed to get the kids to think about where their food comes from and that it often needs protection. When the USDA gets a call about someone losing money because of animal trouble, officials try their best to use one of many non-lethal control methods.

Food is a powerful thing, though, and can lead the animals back time and time again.

“They’re just like men,” Braid said. “They take the path of least resistance too.” He said the USDA’s goal is to simply make life uncomfortable enough for the animals that they’ll find food elsewhere. If the animal continues to make trouble, they kill it.