ANOTHER AIRCRAFT CRASH IN FEDERAL COYOTE HUNT

[nosmokes]

There's simply no excuse for this action.It's outrageously expensive and terribly ineffective.I believe the only reason it still goes on is so the good ol boys can get their ya yas by playacting Rambo and hanging out of planes and helicopters and killing things.Nothing like a little blood sport w/ defenseless terrified animals to prove what a red blooded well hung true 'merkun hero you really ain't.
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original-peer

For Immediate Release: September 25, 2007
Contact: Carol Goldberg [phone]

ANOTHER AIRCRAFT CRASH IN FEDERAL COYOTE HUNT — Second Aerial Gunning Accident in Two Months as Call for Ban Mounts

Washington, DC — Two federal agents suffered serious injuries in a helicopter crash this month while conducting a coyote hunt in Pecos County, Texas. This accident is the latest in a series of air crashes that has led to growing call to cut off public funding for shooting coyotes using aircraft, a practice called “aerial gunning.”

In the latest incident, pilot Ronald Honaker and passenger Gerald Porter were briefly hospitalized when their helicopter experienced mechanical problems and crashed into a field outside Stockton, Texas, on September 12. On June 1, 2007, two federal agriculture agents died when their plane crashed during an aerial gunning trip in Wayne County, Utah. The June accident prompted twenty-seven conservation groups, led by Sinapu and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), to petition the U.S. Department of Agriculture to halt its aerial gunning program altogether.

The September crash brings the federal government’s aerial gunning accident toll to 52, including 10 fatalities and 30 injuries.

“Aerial gunning is especially risky business because the normal risks of flight are multiplied by low altitude maneuvering in pursuit of agile, quick and very smart animals,” said Wendy Keefover-Ring of Sinapu, which keeps an updated analysis of aerial gunning incidents. “We have documented pilots flying into power lines, trees and cliffs and gunners shooting into the mechanical workings of their own aircraft.”

South Dakota, one of only two states that provides any state funding for aerial gunning, has grounded its planes after a plane crash on July 31, 2007 in which two of its agents were injured. South Dakota is now reviewing whether to entirely discontinue its aerial gunning program after sustaining four such accidents since 1998.

The vast majority of aerial gunning takes place as part of a $100 million a year federal agency called Wildlife Services, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2006, Wildlife Services killed 35,503 animals by aerial gunning, principally coyotes but also badgers, bobcats, red foxes, grey wolves, feral hogs and even ravens.

“Public servants should not be risking their necks to strafe coyotes,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, whose organization is calling for a re-examination of what it calls the “public arsenal for wildlife extermination.” “Conducting aerial warfare against coyotes is not how we should be spending scarce federal wildlife management dollars.”

The groups contend that aerial gunning is an ineffective yet highly expensive method for controlling coyotes. They point to an array of non-lethal methods, such as guard dogs and electric fencing, which are less costly and more effective.

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complete release including links o related sources here

[redqueen]

1. How are those people "good ole boys"?

:shrug:

Looks like it's more likely aimed at funding/kickbacks for certain departments than feeding anyone's jones to play rambo.

[nosmokes]

3. good ol boys know all about the kick back game too ya know...

and coyotes ain't the only thing these assholes are gunning down.

[TomInTib]

2. A guy brought a coyote into the gallery a few weeks ago.

One of the coolest animals I have ever encountered. I will never forget it.

Personally speaking, after spending an hour or so with that wonderful, sensitive, make-my-dog-look-like-a-cretin animal, I will never again shoot a coyote (and I have killed dozens of them).