Suit halts coyote
killings
When the federal
government refused to shoot coyotes from the air last year,
ranchers in Idaho appealed to the state Department of Agriculture
for help. The agency responded by issuing seven aerial permits to
gunners, who killed 193 coyotes. This year was different: Idaho’s
attorney general recently shut down the state’s aerial
predator-control program after the Idaho-based Committee for
Rational Predator Management protested a permit issued to gunner
Bob Mathers. Sheep ranchers in southern Idaho wanted Mathers to
kill coyotes on federal lands. Predator committee spokesman Dan
Casali said Mathers’ permit “made a mockery” of federal agencies by
disregarding federal law. The group’s attorney, Debra Kronenberg,
also said Idaho violated state law by failing to develop rules for
issuing aerial hunting permits. The Idaho Department of
Agriculture, however, continued to ignore protests until Kronenberg
filed notice of a lawsuit. The Idaho attorney general then voided
Mathers’ permit and ordered the state not to issue permits until
rules were written. For more information contact Dan Casali at the
Committee for Rational Predator Management (208/726-5120) or the
Idaho State Department of Agriculture (208/334-3240).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Suit halts coyote killings.
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