Coyote hunt brings chorus of protest
By Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle
A coyote hunt scheduled this month in Modoc County has triggered outrage from conservation groups that launched a statewide campaign this week to stop what they characterize as a bloodthirsty canine killing contest held for no other reason than the fun of watching a predator die.
More than 20 wildlife conservation organizations wrote letters urging state and federal wildlife management agencies to halt the three-day “Coyote Drive 2013″ scheduled to begin today in the woodlands around the rural town of Adin, in the far northeastern corner of California.
The plan for the seventh annual drive is for two-person teams to scatter into the hills. The team that guns down the most coyotes will be declared the winner. If there is a tie, the hunters who exact the largest death toll in the shortest amount of time will get top honors, according to the hunt guidelines.
The drive, which will cost $50 per team and include a gun raffle and T-shirt giveaway, is being touted as an attempt “to manage coyote populations in the Big Valley area.”
“Killing coyotes or any wild animal as part of a contest or tournament is ethically indefensible, ecologically reckless and counter to sound science,” said Camilla Fox, the executive director of Project Coyote and a wildlife consultant for the Animal Welfare Institute.
The irony, she said, is that shooting coyotes is a woefully inefficient way to manage coyote populations because it disrupts the carefully balanced hierarchy.
Studies have shown that coyotes breed more often and have more puppies when one of the pack leaders is killed. That’s because, in a pack, alpha coyotes are the only animals that mate. When the alpha is killed, all the previously celibate females will mate.
It is why, after two centuries of trying to exterminate the wily canines, there are now more coyotes in more places in North America than there ever were before, said Fox, who co-wrote the book “Coyotes in Our Midst.”
“It is well ensconced in science, after decades of research, that indiscriminately killing coyotes does not reduce coyote populations,” Fox said. “If anything, indiscriminate killing can increase coyote populations.”
The conservation groups, which also include the Center for Biological Diversity, insist that the hunt violates permitting requirements and that the hunters have failed to get the written permission from private landowners that is required by law.
The coalition also claims that the hunt’s sponsors, the Pit River Rod and Gun Club and Adin Supply Outfitters, have not set any boundaries, leaving open the possibility of hunters killing animals in other counties. This could pose a threat to California’s only known wolf and possibly other wolves that may have crossed the state line undetected, hunting opponents said.
“State wildlife officials have a duty to do everything in their power to protect gray wolves in California,” said Amaroq Weiss, the West Coast wolf organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity, adding that the gray wolf is protected in California under federal law and is a candidate for protection under the California Endangered Species Act.
The sponsors, who could not be reached for comment, were, by all accounts, swamped with complaints after conservationists sent out letters, online notices and press releases.
Karen Kovacs, the wildlife program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said protest letters and e-mails from as far away as France and Israel have been flowing into her office. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has since declared its land off limits. The Ash Creek Wildlife area, just outside Adin, is also off -limits to hunting, she said, but nothing can be done about hunting on private land.
“The expectation that wildlife officers will be available en masse on private land is a little unrealistic,” said Kovacs, adding that the department does not have the personnel to scrutinize every hunter unless there is a trespassing complaint or other reported violation.
As for wolves being killed, she said, the only California wolf, known as OR7, is at least 100 miles away in northeastern Tehama County.
Coyotes, which generally weigh between 25 and 45 pounds, are one of the most adaptable animals in America. They mostly prey on small animals and generally avoid humans. There has been only one documented case of a coyote killing a human in history.
They have been known to kill sheep and small calves, but many ranchers say sheep dogs and other livestock guarding breeds have been very effective in controlling livestock predation by coyotes.
What’s sad, Fox said, are the numerous photographs of dead coyotes that are posted online after every hunt.
“It’s mind-boggling how much fun some participants get from the mass killing of animals that are so much like our beloved companion animals, their cousins the dog,” she said. “It is wanton abuse of wildlife.”
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There are two points missing here, as usual, no effort was made to talk to the folks who participate in the event. It only took about 2 minutes to get a name and number, but I guess thats too much effort.
First, coyotes are useful, everyone knows that. They control rat and squirrel populations and for the good, cause only minor amounts of harm. But that is because of hunting.
Coyotes are trainable. And just like ducks in a refuge closed zone, go to where they know they are safe. They are not and will never be safe around live stock. And that gets reinforced through hunts like this. Coyotes left to their own will kill and eat calfs. Well it doesnt take a lot to educate them to the consequences of heading into the pasture lands. These hunts, and hunting in general serve that purpose.
How many people here in Tahoe have walked their dog and had a coyote follow within yards? Ever had that happen outside the Basin? Guess why.
And not only that Gun Lovers… it has been announced that special NRA sponsored Celebrity responsible gun owners and Freedom loving Liberty heroes will make a special appearance!!
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/02/29/web-news-whittington-cheney/
John:
That is the narrative that folks involved in these hunts convince themselves, but there is not empirical evidence to support that position.
It is what we refer to in ecology as “Just So” stories (based on Rudyard Kiplings short stories e.g., How the Leopard Got its Spots, etc.). People feel good about themselves, yet time and time again when tested with robust study designs, the result do not match the perception of the individuals perpetuated such myths.
These hunts are pure and simple, a form of recreation to simply shoot and kill coyotes, and have no measurable benefit in reducing conflicts with humans.
It creates a conflict even hunting circles as a number of my friends who hunt find such hunts as abhorrent and believe it shows the hunting community in a bad light – and they are so correct.
Hunters represent a very small percent of the public and those hunters that want to participate in coyote hunts a small percent of hunters. These games (and that is all they are) will eventual disappear as more and more people express their outrage over them.
Rick
My dog was attacked and bitten in front of my house by a coyote. After taking the dog to the vet, I reported the attack. Instead of trying to find the coyote, my dog was quarantined in my home and treated as the danger.
Rick,
“Hunters represent a very small percent of the public”
That is the narrative that folks not involved in hunting use to convince themselves, but there is not empirical evidence to support that position.
39% of the American Public hunted in 2011 according to the US Dept of Fish and Wildlife. That doesn’t seem to be a “very small percentage to” me.
once again I find the “sporting” community full of disgusting, self serving people with very misguided ideologies. I hope that Wayne LAPierre and Ted Nugent show up and have a very bad accident. It would serve them right, then the coyotes can feed on their sorry carcuses
Rick, frequently studies are the mathmatic expression of the perfectly obvious. Global warming is an example. Now there is some influence that alters the behavior of coyotes outside of the Basin as compared to the behavior of coyotes inside the basin. How do you account for that change in behavior but hunting? How come our cats grew old on the farm but I have a friend on their third cat in a year.
if people didnt have snack size pets that they take out into the woods to play then coyotes and other predators wouldnt have such easy targets for their meals.
nature bats last do you eat meat, drive a car, walk on sidewalks, bike on bikepaths or live in a house? If so, you are guilty of the slaughter of innocent animals and you are a hypocrite and deserve everything you wish upon Wayne LAPierre and Ted Nugent. Actually you deserve worse for being a hypocrite.
Save the deer, shoot a mountain lion.
JER, you badly misquoted the report. 13.7 million hunters took to the field (as quoted by the study) in 2011. Since the population of the US in 2011 was 236 million plus people older then 18, 13.7 represents at most 5.8% and when we add in kids from 10-18 it is closer to 4.5 to 5%.
So yeah it is a small number.
Rick
“According to the 2011 National Survey’s first preliminary report, The National Overview, 91.1 million U.S. residents fished, hunted, or watched wildlife in 2011″
http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/NationalSurvey/National_Survey.htm
I am part of that 91.1 million because I absolutely did “watch wildlife” in 2011. Ya got me on that one.
I grew up on a large pear and cattle ranch outside of Placerville.
When I would see coyote it would be for a spit second before it ran into the brush.
I have lived in Tahoe for 33 years and witnessed the steady increase in the aggressive behavior and number of coyotes’.
Isn’t it just like some of the responders to turn a sanctioned hunt to control the population of coyotes into a chance to bash the NRA and a couple of individuals?! If you don’t want to shoot a coyote, don’t!
Do any of you remember the little girl who was attacked by a coyote in the parking lot across from the Christiana Inn several years ago? The coyote was very patient, waiting for a handout. When one was not forthcoming, he decided to claim his own meal. Luckily there were a lot of people there to save the little girl. Perhaps if there had been a controlled hunt in the basin there would not have been such a brazen coyote.
These hunts are closely monitored to make sure that only the desired number of coyotes are slain. All types of hunting have quotas to ensure that the population is not decimated.
JER: of that 91 million only 13.7 million hunt. I watch wildlife as do all of my employees and non of us hunt.
far more people fish than hunt. So the conclusion is the percentage of hunters compared to the Overall U.S. population. less than 6% and probably closer to 5%.
Rick
Mountain mama:
I speak as an expert on predators and predation theory. I have not referred to the NRA at all and see no reason to.
It has long been known that the prophylactic controls efforts that these hunts are part of or control efforts from Wildlife Services, are of no real value as it relates to “controlling” coyotes and reducing predator-human conflicts.
What these hunts succeed in doing is in fact increasing the segment of the coyote population that is more apt to be involved in human-conflicts, and in fact (and this is evidenced based mind you) reducing that segment that is involved less often in conflicts. In fact, these efforts have been found to have no long-term consequence on coyote populations, their prey or impacts on livestock.
In 1971, a blue ribbon panel of wildlife ecologist (the Cain Report), blasted the predator control paradigm as being ineffective and costing more then the damage incurred from the species they were controlling. A similar panel in 1996 reviewing the extensive predator control efforts in Alaska, found that there was absolutely no scientific evidence, that predator control provided any long-term benefit to increasing prey populations, and last year in the Journal of Wildlife Management Monograph, researchers in Idaho reported that extensive efforts to control cougars and coyotes in the Inner Mountain West had no long-term benefit to increasing ungulate populations. Other studies have found that intensive hunting programs for cougars in eastern Washington actually resulted in increasing conflicts, because while the cougar population was reduced, the segment of the cougar population that gets into trouble (young males) became a larger proportion of the overall population. Plus, these studies and many others with coyotes, that population reductions tend to be very short lived, because of increase growth rates and the concept that nature abhors a vacuum – that is immigration from surrounding landscapes.
No these hunts are strictly for some yahoos to run around and kill things – it in now way has been shown to reduce conflicts or provides any tangible benefit to wildlife conservation.
Sorry, you are operating from perception not evidence.
Rick
JER-k, sticks and stones… Nature will bat last
JER-k better yet, let the mountain lion eat a deer. thats what they are supposto do
And a 1996 study showed that predator control around Yellowstone helped ranches that were most at risk for predation remain profitable and thereby stay in business as a ranch. The benefit being that they did not sell important winter range for development.
Look Rick, you are really writing the hunting has no effect on animal behavior. And then you call yourself a wildlife expert? Nothing has had as profound effect on animal behavior as hunting pressure.
From Wikipedia
“Hunting in the United States is not associated with any particular class or culture; a 2006 poll showed seventy-eight percent of Americans supported legal hunting,[20] although relatively few Americans actually hunt. At the beginning of the 21st century, just six percent of Americans hunted. Southerners in states along the eastern seaboard hunted at a rate of five percent, slightly below the national average, and while hunting was more common in other parts of the South at nine percent, these rates did not surpass those of the Plains states, where twelve percent of Midwesterners hunted. Hunting in other areas of the country fell below the national average.[21] Overall, in the 1996–2006 period, the number of hunters over the age of sixteen declined by ten percent, a drop attributable to a number of factors including habitat loss and changes in recreation habits”
This is just one of many pages I came across stating pretty much the same thing, less than 10% of Americans actually hunt, while a great percentage support this minorities right to do so.
John:
I did not say that hunting has no affect on animal behavior, what I have said and what the entire scientific community has noted from the Cain report, to the National Research Council Report on Alaska in 1996, the monograph in last year JWM Monograph, is that there is no long-term benefit (many making more prey long-term) from control or sport hunting predators.
Other research (Kim Berger) has provided extensive analysis to show that extensive efforts to kill coyotes across the west cost more then the damage caused by the coyote (also noted by the Cain Report) and that the biggest factor affecting the profitability of sheep ranches, was not predators, but the import of sheep products from New Zealand and other export countries.
So you can argue all you want that killing coyotes (or name that predator) is critical to management, when the evidence is simply lacking to support your argument.
In reality, we do not manage predators by the sport hunt, but instead we manage for the sport hunt. It is simply a form of recreation, not a tool in most cases.
While Geist and other old timer Wildlife biologist argue the North American Conservation Model is valid even for predators, you are finding fewer and fewer ecologist that believes it has any relevance as a management strategy for predators.
Simply put, you are stuck in the past, and leaning on perception and not evidence. I find that the lay public (both sides on these issues) cherry pick the information to try and justify a position which is really a values based argument. There are a number of papers evaluating how folks conflate values and evidence to support their position – and in many cases, more evidence does little to change the dynamics of what people believe, in other words their values.
The problem is that inherently, folks want to believe if they do xx it has a purpose, they are a little challenged to simply accept that in many cases it doesn’t, they are simply doing xx because they like it. Particularly if xx is viewed by a large segment of society as horrifying.
Resource sociologist have discovered during their research over the last couple 2 to 3 decades, that there is broad support for hunting of animals such as deer, elk and game birds; however support dries up when the question is focused on hunting of predators. A much, much smaller number of folks accept the hunting of predators – in fact the number drops down to 20 to 30% depending on the research (in some cases even lower).
Managers know this and that is why in many cases they suggest (even though when pressed they tend to back off of the claims), that sport hunting predators has a purpose.
Rick
Rick
well this sure pressed hot buttons – but yes the wildlife literature has long argued that predators really dont control prey as much as prey numbers control predators (most prey animals can breed at much faster rates, hence their greater abundance and suitability as food – it doesnt make sense to try and hunt something rare for food)
An observation on coyote numbers and behavior – yes there has been a definite uptick last decade, but folks havent really hunted coyotes here much for more years that that, going back till at least the 60s – so how about increased prey (like all the rabbits we have now) allowing more coyote pups to survive the last few years. As far as “agressiveness” I assume that means being out in the open and around neighborhoods – well # 1 probably the same reason we see more bears – more garbage out in garbage cans for longer periods (fewer permanent residents that at least theoretically can put cans out the day of collection rather than Sunday) and actually more folks who just think their garbage isnt an attractant to wildlife. That a coyote would be attracted to a dog isnt much of a surprise – good reason to keep yours on a leash if that is what it takes!
“The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its ANIMALS are treated” “gandi”
Quite the variety of opinions here! On SuperBowl Sunday, several of us watched as people across the channel were feeding a coyote in the Keys. It is incredible to me that anyone could not see the implications of such action regardless of opinions as regards hunting or not hunting. The actions of the few often affect the majority and unintentional consequences abound. Think.
So hunting puts pressure on animals and they learn to stay out of the area… is it something like this:
“Wow, did ya hear Bob got shot the other Night over near the Smith Ranch”
“Yeah, bummer man, I think I will stay away from there for a while”.
“Feel bad for his “B” though.”
To say shooting coyotes in one area teaches the others something is ascribing a level of cognizance and awareness that many people don’t even have and is laughable at the least.
i root for the ‘yotes…biologist Carl Lackey wrote an excellent article a couple of years back detailing what actually happens when you kill the alpha male and/or alpha female in a given pack. in a nutshell, only the alpha’s breed unless something happens to either of them, in which case, they ALL start to breed. good luck with your idiotic hunt.
When will it ever stop? Killing our wild animals here ,Does this mean ,we have took over there land they once had before us? Stop the killing,God did not put them here to get shot,or did he ever say to kill for sport,What has happened to this forest we call home,Please stop the killing its wrong.Will you put the coyotes head up on the wall and brag you killed it? How sad.