Conservation Group Want To Stop Shooting Coyotes From Air
PIERRE - A month after a state plane crashed and injured two people, conservation groups have asked South Dakota wildlife officials to scrap an aerial gunning program that kills coyotes that prey on cattle and sheep.
24 August 2007
1 minute read
"Just killing coyotes doesn't help solve livestock damage problems. You've got to kill the right coyotes."
Emmett Keyser, assistant director of the Wildlife Division.
The program is dangerous for pilots and gunners, wastes taxpayer money and fails to control the coyote population, according to the petition delivered this week to South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department officials.
"It doesn't work," said Wendy Keefover-Ring of Sinapu, a Colorado-based group that organized the petition effort.
State officials are taking a comprehensive look at the aerial gunning program, but killing coyotes from airplanes is effective in removing those that are known to be causing problems for ranchers, said Emmett Keyser, assistant director of the Wildlife Division.
"There are problem coyotes. Where they are causing damage, that is where we try to focus our efforts for the most part," Keyser said. "Just killing coyotes doesn't help solve livestock damage problems. You've got to kill the right coyotes."
The Game, Fish and Parks Department will respond to the conservation groups' petition soon, Keyser said.
