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."

[conservativecorner]

BUMP!!

[festus]

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

Activist pelts or coyote pelts ?

[Blue Collar Christian]

Well, I shouldn't call names, so...I won't. But if I did, you'de probably have to call your Momma.

[ArtyFO]

The only good coyote is a dead coyote. Aye-yuh, aye-yuh.

[Servant of the 9]

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?

The coyote is a desert wolf. Their natural habitat is strictly desert areas. Development in their natural habitat is less than a fraction of 1%.

They are simply having a population explosion and moving into empty predator niches in other areas.

In the desert their population should be controlled. Everywhere else they should be exterminated to restore the balance of nature and allow the natural predators, like bobcats, to recover.

SO9

[Petruchio]

Watch your back my FRiend.

[taxesareforever]

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.

Yeah, poison is a whole lot more effective. That way you can get rid of all of them. So what animal lovers would like to be the ones to set the poison out? Huh? Didn't you say you wanted to be involved?

[pissant]

Hehehehehe....

[hiredhand]

Don't believe what you (might) read about Coyotes being timid, and non-confrontational. We raise goats in central NC, and have a problem with these critters now. We don't know anybody personally who has been attacked, but we do know people who have suffered livestock losses on account of them.

We had a problem with feral dogs and cats to...from people turning them out. But we "cleaned" up that particular problem. Coyotes are a little harder to get close to.

I think we'd all be amazed if we knew just how many Coyotes got "popped" without so much as a phone call to the locate Fish and Game office.

I don't know many people who tell anybody when they've killed a varmint. It's not worth saying much about really.

It's a lot like finding a fox within 300 yards of your chicken house. Even if you haven't lost chickens to him yet, he's not there just because he likes that particular portion of your landscape. He's there for the same reason Coyotes are. FOOD.

[Renatus]

Where did you come up with such a conclusion? I've hunted
coyotes all my life and I'm and old man and still love a
good coyote hunt.

[dfwgator]

Actually it's just the title of a Red Hot Chilli Peppers tune.

[SpitfyrAce]

Anybody that thinks this is an easy way to kill something has never hunted these dogs. Coyotes are one of the hardest animals on the planet to bag. It's a thrill to knock one down, and yes, I do enjoy it.

[TheOracleAtLilac]

I hope they have a blast.

Ohhh, you punster ;-) !!

[nuconvert]

I understand.
And if Maine wanted a hunting season like deer and handled it the same way, fine.

[fuzzycat]

Fuzzycat would be more than happy to resupply the white tail population with the excess deer population here in GA. Damn, talk about killing coyotes with your truck here in GA it's the deer that mangle cars and kill people.
But I don't want to trade for their coyotes we have enough of them too.
Coyotes are pests plain and simple and have to be controlled by whatever means when they are destroying indigenous wildlife. If you don't then the whole ecosystem is in danger.

[Emmett McCarthy]

OK, so they took off with about 10 cats which shows me that they are good for something after all.

Basically, it seems that these coyotes are just predators which kill off other critters which we use for food - deer, rabbits, etc. - while the coyotes are not good for food themselves. So, where is the problem in just killing them off for fun? Kinda like guys used to go to the dump with .22s and kill rats. And, from what I've heard about Maine's governor, Baldacci, anything that embarasses him must inherently be a good thing

[Windsong]

Pretty tasty, too! :)

[groanup]

...coyotes are in excess all over the united states.

They are in every county in Georgia, including Fulton County, Atlanta. They are getting bolder and more brazen. People are not only losing dogs and cats but some areas have spotted them in children's playgrounds and back yard play areas.

[Blue Collar Christian]

You would put MORE gov't regulations in the path of controlling a problem? Are you on the right site? This is a conservative forum FYI.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Coyotes are pretty cool animals, but there is absolutely NO shortage of them and they're almost as good at reproducing and adapting to habitat as rats and rabbits. Killing off a few in Maine is not even going to make a tiny dent in their population.

Distribution: According to Desert USA (2001), “The ubiquitous coyote is found throughout North America from eastern Alaska to New England and south through Mexico to Panama." Also, coyotes have recently been discovered in western Newfoundland and evidence shows that they have been crossing over on ice sheets from Nova Scotia. Though, coyotes tend to stay in the wild, human intervention such as clearing of forests, provision of carrion from domestic livestock, and removal of the wolf are some reasons of coyote expansion in to urban areas in search of food and shelter.

http://bss.sfsu.edu:224/courses/Fall01%20projects/coyote.htm

We have coyote by us, and I see their tracks and scat all over my property. I wouldn't think twice about taking one out if they attacked my dogs or were snatchin' my chickens, though my dogs are bigger than they are, and the chickens are smarter. ;)