Letter to the Editor: Coyotes Need Protection
Published in News – Fosters.com – Dover, NH
Jan 31, 2019
New Hampshire House Bill 442 prohibits coyote hunting from April through August to coincide with coyote pup rearing.
This bill is needed because we learn over time through experience and research, and many of us have learned we’ve misrepresented coyotes as “vermin” and our current strategies are actually counterproductive — making our own lives more difficult than they need to be! We need to reset wildlife management policies. We’ve learned the following:
The great majority of coyotes don’t prey on livestock and pose little risk to people.
Coyotes are an integral part of the ecosystem and beneficial to us as they help control small mammal populations, scavenge carrion to keep our communities clean, and eat animals who harbor Lyme disease.
Coyotes cull sick animals. They may even help us contain chronic wasting disease which is contagious and now spreading through deer populations.
An array of effective coexistence strategies are available to keep pets safe.
Year-round hunting does not reduce coyote numbers.
Protection during pup-raising allows parents to train pups on what and how to hunt and to stay away from humans, guidance that lessens the likelihood young coyotes might come into conflict with us.
Pups depend on both parents for food and care and it is unnecessary and cruel to kill the parents and leave orphaned pups to starve or become nuisances to us.
Our natural resources are for all of us — not just for hunters; and nonhunters deserve time to enjoy the woods without having to worry about hunting/safety concerns.
It is wanton waste when coyote are killed during the warmer months when their thinner coat has no commercial value.
We need HB 442 because every other hunted animal has the protection of a closed season while raising young—and coyotes deserve the same.
William Trentley
New Hampshire Animal Rights League
