-- Pagc6 RAJ June 1?B1 spread that in 1972 President Nixon. of all people, ban ned its use by a Presidential Order. Later that year, rhe EPA withdrew regIstration for all predacides (poisons to kill predators), effectively ending the " poisoning of the West. " The results of that era of poisoning (an era that extends back to the mid 18005 when strychnine (lnd other poisons were used) can neveT be calculated, but we do know that coyotes have been xtirpated from broad stretches of their ancestral range (the high plains) ond that many other specil?b of predators, and even non-predatory mammals, have become extremely rare throughout th high plains and many other parts of the West where poison was used. he ban on predacides by n means stbpped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (through its subsection caU d the nimal Damage Control- ADC) from killing coyotes. Using traps, aerial hunting. dogs, calling. and other means, the ADC killed 605,000 coyotes between 1970 and 1977 (this is the number reported by the DC for its acrivities and does not include coyotes killed by other agencies. ranchers, varmint hunters, or fur trappers). So in 197 , while the ADC killed 99,000 coyotes, 173,000 were killed for the fur trade (a coyote pelt goes for between $30-50) and unknown numbers were taken by private hunters, never found, or not reported. For the ranching ind try. which would like to ee the coyote on the endangered species list. these deaths are necessary to protect their "marginal" industry. To listen to ranchers. one would come to the conclUSIOn that coyotes were entirely to blame for the many problems of the sheep industry The coyote is the fall guy. not the economic system that forces ranchers to produce large numbers of animals for a marginal profit. That economic system is never hallenged (in facr, rankhers are usually counted among its staunchest proponents) becauJe "there is nothing that can be done about It." You can do something about coyotes: theTe a person can act, can make a difference. The ranchers pomt at the spread o£ coyotes across the ontinent as evidence that they are doing no great harm to the coyote population. Coyotes are now found from asta Rica to Alaska (where they followed the overland-bound gold mmers. feedin on their dead mules). hey are now fount! in every state in the c untryexcept Delaware. The ranchers contend this expansion of range has too often come at the expense of their heep. and that coyotes do not "belong" in much of their present range. A our local trapper puts It, "The Sierra Club is a great advocate of the balance of nature, but for the coyotes in this ounty, I' m the only balancer of nature. " To further bolster their claims. the ranchers poi'1t to the drastic decline in the numbeT of sbeep in this country-28,849,000 in 1960 and 10,774,000 in 1978 (for alifomia the figures are 1.712.000 in 1960 and 915.000 in 1978). Again, the blame is placed on the coyote even though these ranchers know that it is socioeconomic factors far more potent and dead!y than coyoteS that are the Teal cause of this decline. While this destruction of coyotes IS deplorable, it is true that they are adoptable, have expanded their range, and seem in little danger of extinction. It is the destrUction of the other species the " innocent" species, that is especially repugnant. For example, during the years from 1970 to 1977 when 605,000 coyotes were kified, the ADC also killed 36,000 bobcats. 1,450 bears, and 460 mOllntain lions (and these are the numbers reported by an agency that would just as soon not have it known that they accidentally kill animals other than coyotes). Again, many other deaths were either not 10Other places are to be 'used'to produce our goods and if they are screwed up, well, that's too bad. cated or went unreported. These examples are figures or years after the banning of predacides: figures for earlier years would have been far higher. This destruction of wildlife was decried for ears. The v Iving strength of the environmental movement forced the 1972 ban on predacides. though it should be noted that in 1975. the poison odium cyanide was reregistered for use solely by ederal agents with 26 different resrrictions placed on it use. However, the ban on poisons did not stop the environmentalist thrust. They attacked the use of steelleghold traps as inhumane. and destructive to many species of innocent wildlife. Government agents like to praise the steelleghold trap, saying that innocent animals can be released unharmed. Our personal experience with these traps is that an animal would be fortunate to ever regain use of the paw caught in th trap. Finally. environmentalists attacked the sheep industry itself, which 1------------------1 \ I I: I - .. -.~-g -r! - - (II ___"'tI - C .,.-v&.,;"'••.••;;: -:- -_ __ _ , - - ."'" - - - -< - - ~"... --::: --..,:.-----------
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