The pronghorn population has been on a steady decline in Arizona for over 20 years now, and most of that is thanks to the coyote. Even with hunting, trapping, poisoning, and even aerial gunning, we humans can barely make a dent in the overall population. In fact, the coyote population is growing in some areas! This is happening all over the western United States, and is now spreading into the midwest and eastern areas as the coyote populations grows there, too - even in places where historically there were no coyotes. So how do we stop this spread?
It seems that my home town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming has an interesting idea: coyote contraceptives. Based on research done in Utah and Colorado, Wyoming is looking to make coyotes sterile through the use of a drug, though the delivery system is still just theory based at this point. It's an interesting story, so read more about it
HERE.
With that being said, I still find this to be the most enjoyable way to do what I can to control the coyote population, even if it is barely making a dent:
Happy Hunting!
I think any kind of chemical to make a wild animal sterile is a bad idea. Should not mess with nature like that. Let the hunters be the contraceptive, that's natural.
ReplyDelete