In Vietnam, U.S. troops bombed the land in order to save it. The same logic seems to have prevailed in the wake of the 11 million-gal. Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska last year. To help win multimillion-dollar court judgments against Exxon, federal and state officials have funded the deliberate killing of hundreds of healthy animals. The aim of all this destruction? To better estimate the destruction caused by the spill.
In one $600,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study, 219 birds were grabbed from several remote locations, including some national wildlife refuges, and shot. The carcasses, many doused with oil,...