Coyotes and Consequences

Two days ago Wildlife’s (can’t stand them using that name) A three-day Predator Hunting Contest and Fur Rendezvous in Idaho began and this “contest” will award prizes for the most wolves and coyotes killed. Money will be paid for the pelts and the black and white wolf pelts will fetch the highest dollar.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management did the right thing when they withdrew 3.1 million acres of BLM land that had been scheduled to be used in the “contest” but the U.S. Forest Service did not revoke the permit for the use of our public lands.

Amy Atwood, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the group has a litigation strategy to prevent another derby but declined to go into details.

It is time to stop the senseless killing of apex predators and to stop these “contests”, especially on public land.

This isn’t hunting, not the kind I grew up respecting where the hunters provided food for their families, this is killing for nothing more than the sake of killing. These aren’t hunters they are just people with guns.

We need our apex predators, they belong. These contests do not.

Apex predators are essential for balance in nature. They cull out the old and weak and keep the elk and deer herds strong. By doing that they also prevent habitat destruction caused by over grazing.

When the wolves were extirpated the Yellowstone ecosystem suffered, populations of elk grew beyond what the system could sustain. Hunters were allowed to kill more and more elk but still the population grew and then the elk were slaughtered by the park service. Other inhabitants of the Yellowstone ecosystem and beyond suffered because of the degraded habitat, they starved to death or moved.

Consequences.

The Yellowstone ecosystem improved dramatically when wolves were reintroduced. That is a fact. And science, not superstition or ignorance, shows that we NEED these apex predators to maintain natural balance. A healthy balance.

See how Wolves Change Rivers in this video. Granted the producer called elk deer and they show a European Badger instead of an American Badger but this video is powerful.

Every day we have the opportunity to protest having these contests on federal land by signing petitions, writing our state and federal representatives and supporting conservations groups. Our voices matter and they are getting stronger.

Mia