Coyotes are the new bogeymen. They handily scare small children and simple-minded adults.
OK, there’s a slight difference. Last year, bogeymen killed zero Nova Scotians. Coyotes didn’t kill any Nova Scotians either, but two coyotes killed one Toronto visitor—Taylor Mitchell—and that’s a tragic, unusual loss. It’s a tragedy for Mitchell and the people who love her, and it’s a tragedy for Nova Scotian coyotes.
Because of that one incident, one other close call and a few sightings near schools, half the province’s coyotes will be slaughtered on the taxpayers’ dime—to the tune of $20 per pelt. It’s a Nova Scotia shotgun massacre as gory as any Jason Eisener flick.
Hunting—if done carefully and respectfully—is the most sustainable, humane way to get meat. But by funding this wasteful, fear-based slaughter, the government of Nova Scotia is maintaining the archaic myth of the man v. nature dichotomy. Here, nature is the ultimate evil, our competitor and nemesis, the scary threat to God’s children, who must subdue the bitch at every opportunity.
In the case of coyotes, minister of natural resources John MacDonnell caught on to what staff scientists had long argued: Bounties on coyotes don’t control the population, because as long as food and habitat are abundant coyotes will procreate faster and replenish their numbers—like any population. “If you remove enough animals out of the population…the food supply left in proportion to the remaining population is greater,” MacDonnell said back in March.
He flip-flopped six weeks later, on Earth Day, a rapid turnaround even by NDP NS standards.
Now, the government is paying hunters to live trap, and then shoot to death, coyotes. Make sense? The skins must be cured—a six-day process—to qualify for the $20 “incentive.” Apparently this strategy will scare the rest of the coyotes straight back into the wild and off human property. To paraphrase The Simpsons‘ Chief Wiggum, “let that be a lesson to the rest of you”…coyotes.
But the bounty (excuse me, pelt incentive) doesn’t specify where the coyotes should be killed. Most of them will meet their makers off old logging roads, far from human dwellings. On the other hand, bounties—even pelt incentive bounties—open the door to killing the animals further afield, in New Brunswick, where there is no bounty.
In Saskatchewan, before that province’s bounty was removed, hunters presented to officials the hacked-off paws of Albertan coyotes, leaving the rest of the bloody corpses for Calgary to deal with. If caught, the evil-doers face—wait for it—littering charges.
Coyotes aren’t exactly “natural” in this province. They migrated here back in the ’70s, possibly mating with wolves along the way, resulting in bigger, more badass coyotes—a different species altogether. As a plains animal, their migration was possible only because of massive clear-cutting, which began in the ’50s and continues today. It was our assault on nature that caused the “problem,” and will now proliferate it.
They’re here now and have become integrated into our ecosystem. Coyotes eat several rodents a day. Citizens—farmers especially—will be left with thousands of extra rodents to deal with come spring. Paul Paquet, senior scientist at the Raincoast Conservation Foundation in BC, notes that coyotes also remove massive amounts of insects, sick animals and carcasses—a free service for humanity.
This year they’ll do significantly less of that good work. As we have seen in the ocean, with the 90 percent overall decline in large fish species’ populations, removing majorities of large predator species (called apex predators) throws ecosystems off balance.
The coyote slaughter is bad for the forest, bad for farmers and now bad for tourism. The popular Huffington Post has called on its American readers to email MacDonnell and tell him they won’t be bringing their tourist dollars here as long as the “pelt incentive” remains.
The sad irony is, motivated by our irrational fear of nature, constantly forgetting that we are part of it, we become the ultimate victims of our revenge on it when our resource-based economy suffers, when we find ourselves going to extreme measures (genetic modification, chemical warfare) just to feed ourselves in the face of climatic chaos and the global spread of erosion and desertification.
This article appears in Oct 28 – Nov 2, 2010.
A few points. One of clarification: the prairie coyote reached here roughly when you say because of migration starting in the *1800’s*, and because of habitat changes *everywhere*. Apart from big forestry players nobody loves a clearcut, granted, but while it’s technically true that an increase in Nova Scotia clear-cutting some decades back helped in the coyote’s last mile expansion here, it would have been more accurate to describe the bigger picture.
The mainstream media is guilty of fearmongering about coyotes, and most people actually aren’t that worried. I’ve encountered coyotes in the deep woods a number of times, and dogs in the city, and personally I’m nervous about the urban dogs not the coyotes. Can I start trapping in Point Pleasant Park?
Furthermore I think that a lot of the folks – I know a few – who support trapping aren’t worried about coyotes and safety, they’ve bought instead into this mythology that coyotes are varmints and pests. Clueless heads will “knowledgeably” nod and opine that coyotes kill livestock. Well, yes, some do – not many, but some do. Somebody with an actual clue will read what experts have to say (http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/wildlife/nuisanc…) and will realize that trapping en masse does precisely nothing to protect livestock. And as you’ve pointed out, since *all* coyotes are consuming rodents (along with rabbits and deer), every coyote shot or trapped is one less that’s controlling *these* populations. Ask an apple orchard manager who he considers to be a pest: coyotes or deer.
I find it difficult to take a lot of this seriously though. Coyotes migrated here because of radical North American habitat changes. Whitetailed deer never lived here either until not so long ago, and migrated here for the same reasons, assisting along the way, because of carried parasites, in joining with overhunting in radically reducing the mainland NS moose population and totally wiping out NS caribou. And in the final analysis the explosion of humans in the province from 50-100 thousand Mikmaq (pre-contact) to nearly a million people today is what has really whacked the ecosystem. The last time we had a somewhat normal ecosystem was a few centuries ago – now we have hives for humans, parks, farms and woodlots.
Yeah, coyotes eat several rodents a day. Until they run out of rodents. As somebody who lives in the country, allow me to ask you what you think they do when the rodents run out. Hint: the answer isn’t starve or go to Sobey’s.;)
And these aren’t coyotes, they are bushwolves.
“please stop”: a coyote is a coyote by any other name. So some people call ’em prairie wolves or brush wolves or bush wolves….here’s a clue, they’re still coyotes. There are no wolves around here; if you ever saw a wolf I do believe you’d know the difference.
By the way, what *do* the coyotes do when the rodents run out? Assuming that the rodents (you do know what all is a rodent, right?) do run out. And judging by the phrasing, I’m assuming that you weren’t referring to the insects, fish, amphibians, carrion and garbage that they also eat, and from time to time sick or lame or old/young whitetailed deer. You must have meant the SHEEP and PETS.
Realist, you obviously do not know what a true coyote is. A coyote crossed with a wolf is not a coyote. It’s size and behaviors are different. Period. We do not have coyotes in Nova Scotia, we have a different species. It’s impossible to have an intelligent conversion about the issue when people won’t come to grips with the facts. If you ever saw a real coyote, you would know the difference.
Funny how the demographics of this opposition against the coyote cull work. I would wager, if polled, we would find the majority of naysayers living in urban areas.
BRoc: I think you’d find the majority of the people for *and* against the coyote cull live in urban areas – these days, on this planet, that’s how things are. In fact, unless you were to conduct a scientific poll it wouldn’t even be safe to assume that the majority of rural dwellers are for it.
“please stop”: I have no idea why you’re looking to change the terminology. What we have here are Eastern coyotes. Because of interbreeding with wolves they are in fact considerably larger than southwestern coyotes, and you can call them bush wolves if that makes you happy, but they are still coyotes. You know why? Because they are not wolves and they’re not classified as wolves.
Realist, you can call them coyotes all you want, but that does not make it so. I am not looking to change terminology. I am insistent that people know the truth. And the truth is that these are not coyotes. They are a mixed breed animal of a much greater size and ferocity than a coyote and have very little in common with that animal. Coyotes do not kill humans, nor do they have the ability to kill and destroy horses and guard mules. Educate yourself a little about the history of bushwolves. And the rest of you, including the coast writer who penned this article, do the same.
Chris Benjamin makes sense of this over-hyped issue.
One death, tragic as it may be, does not warrant a bounty / incentive. Love the gov’t speak on this one, and the double talk on behalf of the minister of NR. Let’s see how well they defend the clear-cut biomass issue when that mass mess comes back to truly bite them on the ass. Calling it renewable is ridiculous… but I digress.
I am not an urban dweller and I see coyote signs every day and if I am lucky, the occasional skittish coyote. I walk alone, I walk at night, and I am careful and thus far have not been taken down by these opportunistic omnivores. They are not our greatest threat and we are more likely to be mowed down by an SUV driven by a harried suburban dweller than a wild animal.
Oh, and I have seen both wolves and coyotes. The critters on my land weigh about 40 lbs and look like what I take to be an Eastern Coyote. If they are the big bad wolf hybrid however, they are not very aggressive. When I encounter them, even in pairs, they disappear pretty quickly. If only the real predators in our midst would be so shy. The most bold opportunistic omnivores have been known to take office. Now that is really scary!
Heather B, an Eastern coyote is a wolf/coyote hybrid:
‘Coyotes’ found in NS are closely related to coyotes found in western North America, but they are genetically distinct. The significantly larger body size of ‘Eastern Coyotes’ has been attributed to past interbreeding with wolves. In other words, these are not coyotes as much of North America would see them, and using the term coyote is misleading.
And the genetic distinction does not only stop at size. Once again, ask a farmer who has lost large stock to bushwolves. Just because you haven’t seen aggressive animals, doesn’t mean they aren’t aggressive. I’ve walked down Gottigen street at night – so what. Hardly means everything’s OK. You go for a walk again when the coyotes run out of rabbits. 😉
As s coyote and wolf researcher, I would suggest to “please stop” to educate yourself. They may be hybrids, they are not a new breed (I think you mean new species?). They are not “much” larger (or quantify what you mean by “much”), and they are certainly not more ferocious. Wolf genes arguably would make them more weary of humans. Don’t join the “coyote syndrome” and conclude from one fatal case that all coyotes are dangerous. I would have been killed many times in my field research career.
let’s have a cull on idiot politicians
“please stop”: I’m not inventing any terminology here, or doing any unsubstantiated re-classification of animals…you are. You want people to educate themselves; perhaps you should do some reading yourself. An Eastern coyote is not the same thing as a western/southwestern coyote, and it’s not the same thing as an Eastern wolf. For starters the Eastern wolf is bigger. Seriously, I’m not inventing this shit – this is how things are.
As for aggressiveness, let’s be serious. You must be in some wild little hot zone of savage coyotes, because in areas of rural Nova Scotia I am intimately familiar with, like the Musquodoboit Valley, parts of the Stewiacke Valley, the North Shore near and inland from Tatamagouche, and the Annapolis Valley from Canning to Lakeville on the north side of Hwy 1, I’ve seen coyotes, I’ve heard a lot of coyotes, but I haven’t heard people complaining about day-in day-out aggression by coyotes. Furthermore, if this were really going on, don’t you think we’d hear a bit more about attacks than the very few that have happened? And by the way, seeing one while you’re in the woods and being scared of it doesn’t qualify as aggression on the part of the coyote.
It hardly matters what they are called or what their genetic distinction is. The mammals, formerly known as coyotes, that now live in Nova Scotia are not really worth all the panic and fear-mongering that is taking place. Nor is the situation worthy of hiring a human / wildlife conflict biologist by DNR or investing in the bounty, pelt incentive, or cull that has proven ineffective in other parts of Canada.
A very few of us in rural NS or the big city will encounter let alone be harmed by a coyote or wolf or demonic wolf / coyote hybrid. They start scouting new food sources when their own habitat is under threat, just as we do.
Don’t buy the hype. Go for a long walk in the woods and see what happens. Where a red hood even.
In the city we have more chance of being swarmed by 2 legged vermin (nope, not a politician) than a coyote. Do coyotes have wings, I’m thinking coyote wings and beer?
Darrell Dexter and his honcho John MacDonnell are morons and a sad reflection on who mistakenly elected to govern Nova Scotia. I thought NDP appreciated wildlife – boy, was I wrong.
People kill people more than any other kind of animal – and do we have a cull on people??
What happened to Taylor was incredibly sad and rare. But don’t take it out on the pack.
That is NOT what Taylor wanted – just ask her Mother.
Trapping in incredibly cruel and come the next election I will NOT vote for any NDP.
The bounty doesn’t bother me. Previous to the bounty, 2-3000 coyotes were harvested every year, with that number declining to less than 2000 in the past few seasons. The reasons for this are many, and debatable, but the fact is the coyote population has not decreased, and has even been able to increase in response to lighter trapping and hunting pressures. So we are left with a growing coyote population and decreasing harvested numbers.
Trappers work for fur, of which coyote pelts lately were not worth the effort to trap and take to market. This bounty will encourage trappers to resume their coyote sets, since they know there will be at least a few dollars for the pelt.
I cannot figure out this backwards logic being used to decry the bounty, that harvesting more coyotes means more coyotes in the woods. The population is expanding because typical habitat is full and adapting coyotes are moving into more urban areas because there is food to support them. Any coyote removed is one less that will breed, and also one less to put habitat pressure on it’s kin.
To me, the pelt incentive is a perfect motivator to get the trappers back to what they were doing in years passed (without the media attention), removing excess coyotes.
As a side-note….extend center-fire rifles to coyotes. And the BIG ONE…get the 2011 wildlife stamps out on January 1st so we don’t lose 2 months of good hunting to beauracracy.
Every coyote I’ve encountered has ran away after I yelled and chased it away. And if people used common sense like not letting their dogs and cats wander around at night in the country maybe their pets wouldn’t be killed. Then again these people don’t give a shit about their pets.
Nova scotia has a high coyote population for three reasons:
*Semi rural areas are now full of cottages and new homes with each one having a green bin for compost. The result more rodents for coyote feed.
*Large amounts of clear cutting that results in new forest growth. More habitat for rodents and rabbits for coyote feed.
*The construction of trails and other areas were no trapping/hunting is allowed. These areas have created coyote santuaries which are generally surrounded on the out skirts by compost bins or clear cuts. With in these areas are coyotes that have a loss of the fear of people.
The reason you don’t hear a lot of rural people complaining about coyotes attacking livestock, pets, etc is because we don’t bother to complain. We take action. With 30.06s or 30.30s.
A friend of mine saw a coyote near a tim hortons parking lot the other day. Although I do not agree with the cull, I feel it may be nessisary to protect against incidents occuring in our more populated regions. The only improvment that I can see being made is to hire more trappers and set up a direct phone line for 24 hour reports of coyotees.
chris old buddy, you don’t fear them, well you are either crazy, or just plain stupid. those dogs are dangerous, in any given sense of that word. take it from me, when they pack up, you are fucked.
you might be able to fend off one or two, but let’s see you try to fight off 10-15, or more.i hunt in stewiacke, and let me just tell you this bud. there are more coyotes this year, than in any other that i can remember.i heard a pack a few nights ago, on the pipe line where i was hunting, and made out no less than 20 differents vocals from that many different spots.
they knew i was in there, and shortly after they started, i was gone. i’m a brave person, but not stupid to tangle with a large pack of wild dogs. ask anyone from the area, how many are close to houses there. i have seen as many as ten, walking down lanesville road, at noon, this summer gone. if i see them, they are dead,period. no issing around, just bang.
oh yes, and realist n dartmouth, there are wolves in nova scotia, would you like me to take you to east chezzetcook to show you. i had one trail me for about 2 miles on the mines road down there, two years back. and don’t you think for one second, that it was anything but a wolf. i have hunted for almost 50 years, and know these things by sight. good thing i had a 30 inch machete with me, in case. and this was in the middle of june. with clear cutting all over this province, you will be seeing a lot of animals not seen before here, come looking for food. and yes, natural resourse now admit, that there are cougars here too. i knew that 25 years ago, as did most of the people that hunt her in n.s.