our government is using aerial gunning for other animals besides wolves

[blondie58]

this makes me so angry that my tax dollars are used in such a way. Please contact your lawmakers and express your opinion.


Coyote in a steel-jawed-leg-hold trap.

An M-44, a spring-loaded device, with smelly bait lure. When a canid (i.e. coyote, dog, or wolf) tugs on the bait, the spring shoots a pellet of sodium cyanide into the mouth. When cyanide mixes with moisture, it turns into a deadly gas. Death occurs in ~2 minutes.

Aerial gunner dragging a coyote shot from a helicopter.
Aerial gunning, that is, shooting animals from aircraft, occurs on a mix of private and public lands -- including national forests, deserts, sage steppes, canyonlands, and prairies. The federal government, some states (i.e., Wyoming and South Dakota), and by private individuals conduct this practice.

Federal taxpayers and others pay hundreds of dollars per animal. According to one study by federal researchers, the cost of killing a coyote is between $185 and $805 per individual (Wagner and Conover 1999). Think of the overhead involved for the USDA and for states: maintaining a fleet of aircraft, wages and other employee compensations, and fuel and ammunition costs -- for starters. The ecological damage: priceless.

Citizens and industry groups have funneled $1.6 billion dollars into predator-killing programs between 1939 and 1998 (Berger, 2006). Yet that investment did not benefit sheep ranchers. The decline of the sheep industry had more to do with hay, labor, and lanb prices than livestock predation (Berger, 2006).

Do lethal predator controls such as poisons, traps, and aerial gunning keep agri-business from failing? No. In fact, few livestock are lost to predators each year. According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, most livestock losses come from disease, weather, birthing problems, starvation, or lightening. Less than 1% of cattle and 3% of sheep produced in the U.S. each year are killed by predators (more information).

Nevertheless, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program kills tens of thousands of native wildlife annually for the benefit of livestock growers and farmers. In 2006, Wildlife Services killed 1.6 million animals, including 117,113 mammalian carnivores, of which 34,056 were shot from aircraft in Western states. The regional aerial gunning toll included 25,349 coyotes, 449 bobcats, 56 wolves, and 81 red foxes.

Incredibly adaptable and resilient, does it matter if thousands of coyotes are "disappeared"?

Yes, because coyotes assist ecological function. By preying on other smaller carnivores such as foxes, raccoons, skunks, and yes, the occasional tabby, they indirectly benefit bird and rodent populations (Mezquida et al. 2006, Crooks and Soule, 1999, Henke and Bryant, 1999). Without coyotes, kiss some of your favorite feathered friends such as Greater Sage Grouse adieu.

In other words, coyotes, like other top carnivores, promote richness in biological diversity.

The ironically named "Wildlife Services" provide pain, mutilation, and death to wild animals. Such tricksters, their name closely mirrors that of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whose mandate is to protect endangered species, not exterminate them.

Aerial gunning hinders excellent wildlife management. Consider this:
Because Wildlife Services usually aerial guns native wildlife in early spring, they kill females, leaving orphaned young.
Low flying aircraft, punctuated by loud gunshots, stress wild creatures. Studies indicate that aircraft noise and vibrations can even damage hearing of birds, deer, big horn sheep, pronghorn, and a whole host of other species (C.M. Pepper et al. 2003).
The visual appearance of aircraft cause flight responsesa: animals expend energy to escape perceived threats. If food is in short supply, as it is in months following winter, it may alter an animal’s chance for survival or affect reproduction (Ibid.).
Since 1979, Wildlife Services experienced at least 51 aircraft accidents. The result: 38 injuries or fatalities to federal agents (more information). Non-federal entities have crashed in even more abundant numbers (more information). Obviously, flying close to the ground while chasing coyotes, foxes, or wolves can lead to trouble, such as flying into powerlines, trees, or land formations. Flying low leaves little maneuvering room when pilots experience unexpected gusts of wind.

Aerial gunning fosters dependence on the government, because it’s highly subsidized. Instead, it’s time for agribusiness to take common sense precautions to protect their livestock and use a whole host of non-lethal predator control measures. It’s good for business, good the for the environment, and good for the taxpayer.

To get involved, contact me at [e-mail].

Sincerely,

Wendy Keefover-Ring
Director, Carnivore Protection Program, Sinapu
Coordinator, AGRO: A National Coalition to End Aerial Gunning of Wildlife
303.447.8655, Ext. 1#
http://www.goagro.org/
http://www.sinapu.org/


Bibliography:


Berger, Kim Murray. 2006. Carnivore-Livestock Conflicts: Effects of Subsidized Predator Control and Economic Correlates on the Sheep Industry. Conservation Biology 20 (3):751-761.

Crooks, Kevin, and Michael Soulé. 1999. Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a fragmented system. Nature, 400: 563-566.

Henke, Scott E., and Fred C. Bryant. 1999. Effects of Coyote Removal on the Faunal Community in Western Texas. Journal of Wildlife Management 63 (4): 1066-1081.

Mezquida, Eduardo, Steven Slater, and Craig Benkman. 2006. Sage-Grouse and indirect interactions: Potential Implications of Coyote Control on Sage-Grouse Populations. The Condor. 108:747-759.

Pepper, Christopher, Marc Nascarella, and Ronald Kendall. 2003. A Review of the Effects of Aircraft noise on wildlife and humans, current control mechanisms, and the need for further study. Environmental Management 32 (4): 418-432.

Wagner, Kimberly, and Michael Conover. 1999. Effect of Preventive Coyote Hunting on Sheep Losses to Coyote Predation. 63 Journal of Wildlife Management 2: 606-612.







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