Activists outraged at coyote shoot

Morning Sentinel ^ | 1-17-05

[SJackson]

Activists throughout Maine expressed outrage at a decision to hold a coyote-killing competition in eastern Maine, despite protests from anti-cruelty groups and a request by Gov. John Baldacci to forgo the event.

"We think all people should have the right to say how wildlife is managed in Maine," said Linn Pulis of Hallowell, a member of several humane organizations. "We have been excluded."

Twenty-three teams turned out as the two-day event got under way in East Machias amid unseasonably warm temperatures, said Mike Look, an organizer of the hunting derby and member of the Washington County Fish and Wildlife Conservation Club.

Look said he sees little difference between the Maine event and normal hunting of coyotes, which are viewed as a major cause of a deer population decline Down East.

"It's a huge sport nationwide," Look said. "It's a chip off the iceberg of what happens every day."

Opponents say the event does nothing to manage the coyote population and reopens old wounds from a recent bear-hunting referendum.

Event organizers offered prizes for the most coyotes killed in different categories, such as calling, baiting and hunting with dogs. Look said he would be surprised if hunters killed as many as a dozen animals.

Days before the event, the Humane Society of the United States sent a letter protesting the event to Gov. John Baldacci, asking him to use his influence to call off the event.

"We think that any derby that involves wanton killing of animals is uncalled-for," Hillary Twining, the humane society's New England coordinator, said Friday from the group's office in Vermont. She said the derby is "not sound wildlife management" and "has no place in the Maine hunting tradition."

Baldacci also finds the practice inhumane, spokesman Lee Umphrey said.

At the governor's request, Deputy Commissioner Paul Jacques of the state Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department asked the sporting group not to go ahead with its derby, saying it's not an effective way to control the coyote population. He offered state biologists' assistance in rebuilding the region's deer herd.

Organizers decided to go ahead anyway, noting that some participants were coming long distances and it was too late to tell them the event was canceled.

Pulis said she hopes the hunting group's defiance will encourage lawmakers to ban the practice.

"This has been a terrible embarrassment to the governor," she said.

Activists said they were concerned the derby would renew antagonism between hunting and nonhunting groups barely two months after a statewide referendum to decide whether to ban baiting, hounding and trapping of bears. Maine voters rejected the proposed ban.

In late 2003, Maine's coyote snaring program was suspended after appeals to officials and emotional testimony to the Legislature.

Look said the derby is to make up in a small part for the snaring program, in which hundreds of coyotes were taken in Washington County. The former teacher said he founded the sponsoring fish and wildlife club specifically to rebuild Washington County's deer population, which has crashed since the 1970s.

One of the reasons of the decline, Look said, is coyote attacks on fawns.

"Our deer population is zero to two per square mile," Look said. "If we had a normal deer population, this wouldn't be happening."

[SJackson]

"We think all people should have the right to say how wildlife is managed in Maine," said Linn Pulis... "We have been excluded."

You didn't want to shoot them, you didn't, how much more inclusive can you get.

[pissant]

Hey, any to any Maine freepers. I'll buy a couple of pelts for $10 each. Make good slippers.

[FreedomPoster]

The Bambi-ists remain fools and idiots.

[SJackson]

COYOTE DERBY BEGINS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY

A competition to see who can kill the most coyotes began Friday afternoon in eastern Maine, despite protests from a humane group and request not to go ahead by the Baldacci administration.

EAST MACHIAS, Maine (AP) -- The Washington County Fish and Wildlife Conservation Club is offering prizes for the most coyotes killed in different categories, such as calling, baiting and hunting with dogs.

The Humane Society of the United States sent a letter protesting the event to Governor John Baldacci. At his request, a deputy game commissioner asked the sporting group not to go ahead with its derby.

But Mike Look, one of the organizers, says 23 teams are competing in the derby, which continues Saturday. Look says the event, while new in Maine, is like hundreds of others held across the nation. He sees little difference between the derby and normal coyote hunting that's legal in Maine.

Look says the derby is part of an effort to rebuild the deer herd Down East, which has fallen sharply over the past three decades due in part to coyote attacks.

The humane society's Hillary Twining (in Vermont) says the coyote event is out of character with the Maine hunting tradition. She says it reopens wounds between hunters and non-hunters barely two months after Maine's bear-hunting referendum.

In November, voters rejected a proposal to ban baiting, hounding and trapping of bears.

[dfwgator]

True men don't kill coyotes.

[Vicki]

I have mixed feeling about coyotes. On the one hand, over the years they have taken off with about 10 of my cats. However, with all of the development that has taken place, what else are they going to eat?

[MeanWestTexan]

That's right.

We use our PU truck deer grill to kill them, instead.

In fact, I crossed the highway just the other day to nail one.

Only clipped it though, but I figure at 70MPH it had to be a fatal wound.

[MeanWestTexan]

"What else are they going to eat?"

Lambs, ewes, a calf if they could get to it, and any human child it can corner.

[SJackson]

I have mixed feeling about coyotes. On the one hand, over the years they have taken off with about 10 of my cats. However, with all of the development that has taken place, what else are they going to eat?

Deer. Which is no reason not to hunt them.

[nuconvert]

"The Washington County Fish and Wildlife Conservation Club is offering prizes for the most coyotes killed in different categories, such as calling, baiting and hunting with dogs."

This is sick

[PeterFinn]

Loony, left-wing idiots created the mess with their pagan wolf-worshipping that they've extended to coyotes. In California these morons managed to con the public into banning the hunting of mountain lions and now we have people getting killed in Los Angeles by mountain lions. Never see PETA show up to console the bereaved when one of their 'pets' kills a human being.

I have a friend who lives along a river in Northern California and he routinely shoots and kills mountain lions and coyotes and then tosses the corpses down a 700 foot deep mine shaft on his property. I asked him if he was ever going to stop killing the critters and he said: "Yeah, the mineshaft'll fill up someday."

I hope so.

[Riddick]

Darn, I missed it! And I was gonna use grenades this year!

[Blue Collar Christian]

"This is sick."

No, it isn't. You just don't like it, so don't come.

[ken21]

coyotes are in excess all over the united states.

[PeterFinn]

"This is sick"

If coyotes were predating your farm, your pets, or even your children I would hope you'd see this differently.

The point here is that the hunt *needs* to happen to protect the deer herd. What bothers you is that someone will have FUN while hunting the coyotes.

I hope they have a blast.

[Blue Collar Christian]

I think we have just a few more openings, they're for human shields, if anyone else wants to be included.

[nuconvert]

Turning it into a game with prizes is sick.

[Servant of the 9]

Coyotes are not native to Maine and should be removed, but it is crooool to kill them.

Instead, let's capture them in live traps and then release them in California, where they belong.

So9

[nuconvert]

This isn't a hunt. It's a game. That's what makes it sick.
And I DO live in an area with lots of wildlife.