Posted on 01/17/2005 3:30:37 PM PST by 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."
My tag line!
As usual, these people mistake "having their way" for "having a voice".
I never said it was easy.
Besides a couple of those cats were good mole killers and in my state it is illegal to trap a mole. I talked to a lady the other day whose lawn is being plowed by moles. She got out her mole trap and someone turned her in and the county came out. She was envious when I told her about the cat I have now that can catch moles.
LOL!!!
I'm sure they do. In Wisconsin we have a season, 365 days, and they're hard to find, they all live in Minnesota and Michigan. This is a local 2-day event, run I'd guess by a chamber of commerce in compliance with game laws. Lots of communities run similar competitions during deer season, yes a shorter season. Lots of fishing competitions, as well as PROFESSIONAL FISHING. I'd love to see PETA's reaction to a Professional Bambi Hunting Tour.
When we see one on our land we plug it or trap it...they're everywhere and they really massacre those adorable little turkeys and rabbits, fawns, etc.
Okay, next year how aobut an "activist shoot"?
One of the things cats do better than dogs.
Can you swat mosquitoes? What about taking deep breaths, can you at least do that in your state?
That's about as close to downtown as I have heard, so far.
ping to AAM
Recently it seems that a German Shephard has joined ranks with him. This could get ugly.
Okay. Again, so what? Would you be offended at a deer hunting contest?
Good for you. True men don't put up with crap from slack-jawed emasculated metrosexuals.
Liberals loathe hunters. Who do the public a service by getting rid of varmints who kill their dear domestic pets and endanger small children. I confess I don't understand the animal rights lovers some days. What is that we're doing differently than the coyotes do? They're not vegans unlike the PETA freaks.
It really is about that bad.
Gamo puts out an airgun that's pretty effective on moles. FYI.
Got yer stringed weapons ready?
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