Help End Coyote Hunts in Central PA!

[Guest guest]

Voices For Animals of Western PA

Help End Coyote Hunts in Central PA!

A d-list member living in Central PA contacted us last week urgently requesting help in stopping coyote hunts. She prepared the information below and we hope that everyone will take a few minutes to support this effort, because now is the time to stop this from becoming the next big fundraising trend in rural PA.

Coyote hunts are becoming a popular method of fundraising for volunteer fire companies in PA, especially in rural central and northern areas. As the numbers of coyotes in the state increase, more fire companies are putting on annual coyote hunts in which prizes of about $50 are awarded for each coyote killed.

One central PA coyote hunt fundraiser (about 13 miles south of State College) scheduled for later this month is described here: http://www.shaverscreekfire.com/eventscoyote.htm

The argument that hunting is an effective way to reduce coyote populations is a false one. The Humane Society of the U.S. says: “Killing contests do not reduce the coyote population and do not protect livestock or wildlife from depredation. Even if large numbers of predators are removed from an area, scientific evidence demonstrates that predator species such as coyotes and foxes respond with an increase in numbers in their litters of pups. The population may even come to outnumber that in the area before the killing.”

HSUS also says: “Killing living creatures for prizes is unethical. Declaring a winner for killing animals embodies the type of recreational hunting that the general public finds morally reprehensible. Hunting advocates, such as retired Montana wildlife biologist Jim Posewitz, even agree that killing for prizes violates the hunter's ethical code.”

If you are outraged that coyote hunts are being used as a method of fundraising, please do the following:

1) Most important: write a letter to the editor of

The Centre Daily Times

http://www.centredaily.com/145/story/20332.html or

3400 E. College Ave.

State College, PA 16801

Sample letters can be found at

http://www.hsus.org/hunt/campaigns/contests/contest_kills_packet.html

2) Call Shavers Creek Volunteer Fire Company Fundraising at (814) 667-3567 to let them know your opinion. Please be polite at all times. Their hunt is open to all PA hunters, so they should be willing to listen to all PA non-hunters too!

VFA Notes that...Henke and Bryant have shown in their research that the Coyote is a necessary natural predator whose removal influences the faunal population in that the removal of a natural predator results in the overpopulation of the prey (Journal of Wildlife Management, 63(4), 1999). Studies with other natural predators show similar results. The coyote is a critical part of the ecosystem and their removal will cause far more problems than the coyotes themselves.

It's interesting how local authorities will claim that there are "too many deer/geese... and no natural predators" as justification for hunting/killing these animals. Yet those natural predators who do still remain in Pennsylvania, from bobcats to coyotes, are also considered "nuisances" and/or are considered prize hunting material... Make sense?