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Letters from visitors to Coyote Rescue pt. 1
16 years ago
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http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1122776/
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1122776/
Hi CeAnn,
I went to your website. Thank you for what you are doing for coyotes! I have lived in the heart of ranch country for the last 15 years and am appalled by the treatment coyotes get. I can tell you a story about ADC. We woke up one morning 13 years ago to the sounds of a helicopter and gunfire. It went on with the helicopter flying up and down all the draws for over 4 hours shooting coyotes. We learned from our neighbor that they had been losing chickens to a coyote. These chickens have no coop to go into at night, nor are they even used for eggs or meat. I suppose they are just yard ornaments. The total coyotes killed that day was 24. At $700 an hour to lease the helicopter, it cost over $3000 counting travel time to save less that $100 worth of chickens. AND the offending coyote was not among the victims. The chickens continued to be lost.
If I'd wanted to wake up to sounds like I was in a war zone, I could have moved to someplace like Iraq. That incident pushed me over the edge into vegetarianism where I remain.
Last winter, I and my dogs nearly stepped in a leghold trap placed on National Forest land here in New Mexico. I inadvertently but fortuitously kicked it harmlessly shut with the way my feet were placed in the leaf strewn path. I could neither open nor remove the chain stake as the ground was frozen that day. And I was several hours away from help. As pelt prices are up and my friends are discovering, traps are becoming more prevalent. Our state Sierra Club chapter is engaged in trying to prohibit these devices from public land here - what a learning experience. I never dreamed there would be this kind of opposition. So its going to take longer than any of us expected, but we are in it for the long haul.
One of our difficulties is that coyotes are not protected in NM at all. About the only rule is you can't shoot them at night. The state land commissioner prohibits killing them on state land, but that rule is not enforced. It is beginning to become apparent to me that persecuting coyotes is a good way to get more coyotes. The people at API are publishing a monograph about it that is supposed to be out later this month. I've also been in contact with some ranchers in Arizona who no longer kill predators. They stopped 8 years ago. After a couple of years learning how to do things differently, they have killed zero predators for the last 5 years and have had zero livestock losses. So it can be done.
I love to hear coyotes raise their songs in the mornings and evenings and whenever I see one, I say a little blessing- live long and prosper!
The same goes for you!
Mary Katherine
I went to your website. Thank you for what you are doing for coyotes! I have lived in the heart of ranch country for the last 15 years and am appalled by the treatment coyotes get. I can tell you a story about ADC. We woke up one morning 13 years ago to the sounds of a helicopter and gunfire. It went on with the helicopter flying up and down all the draws for over 4 hours shooting coyotes. We learned from our neighbor that they had been losing chickens to a coyote. These chickens have no coop to go into at night, nor are they even used for eggs or meat. I suppose they are just yard ornaments. The total coyotes killed that day was 24. At $700 an hour to lease the helicopter, it cost over $3000 counting travel time to save less that $100 worth of chickens. AND the offending coyote was not among the victims. The chickens continued to be lost.
If I'd wanted to wake up to sounds like I was in a war zone, I could have moved to someplace like Iraq. That incident pushed me over the edge into vegetarianism where I remain.
Last winter, I and my dogs nearly stepped in a leghold trap placed on National Forest land here in New Mexico. I inadvertently but fortuitously kicked it harmlessly shut with the way my feet were placed in the leaf strewn path. I could neither open nor remove the chain stake as the ground was frozen that day. And I was several hours away from help. As pelt prices are up and my friends are discovering, traps are becoming more prevalent. Our state Sierra Club chapter is engaged in trying to prohibit these devices from public land here - what a learning experience. I never dreamed there would be this kind of opposition. So its going to take longer than any of us expected, but we are in it for the long haul.
One of our difficulties is that coyotes are not protected in NM at all. About the only rule is you can't shoot them at night. The state land commissioner prohibits killing them on state land, but that rule is not enforced. It is beginning to become apparent to me that persecuting coyotes is a good way to get more coyotes. The people at API are publishing a monograph about it that is supposed to be out later this month. I've also been in contact with some ranchers in Arizona who no longer kill predators. They stopped 8 years ago. After a couple of years learning how to do things differently, they have killed zero predators for the last 5 years and have had zero livestock losses. So it can be done.
I love to hear coyotes raise their songs in the mornings and evenings and whenever I see one, I say a little blessing- live long and prosper!
The same goes for you!
Mary Katherine
