Inside the US agency charged with killing a 'mindboggling' number of animals

The aerial shooting of five coyotes on the now infamous Hammond ranch in Oregon cost taxpayers more than $11,000. Critics of Wildlife Services say that's just the tip of the iceberg

After anti-government protesters took over Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this month to support two ranchers convicted of arson, it emerged that the convicts, Steven and Dwight Hammonds, had received thousands of dollars in financial support from the federal government. The public aid included the killing of five coyotes by a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) agent on Steven Hammonds's ranch, to the tune of more than $11,000, according to documents obtained by Reveal News.

Five coyotes might not sound like much, but the revelation shed new light on Wildlife Services, a federal agency long mired in controversy for what critics charge is excessive and indiscriminate killing of millions of animals and birds on public land at the behest of ranchers and farmers.