Post by Woody Williams on Jan 6, 2008 20:09:34 GMT -5
High-pen enclosures perfect for Tri-State's wiley coyotes
By Phil Potter (Contact)
Sunday, January 6, 2008
A weed may be defined as a plant, but no one has yet found a telling the definition of a varmint?
Most think a varmint is something like a rat. But (depending on who's doing the observation) a varmint may be best defined as anything that does more harm than good to the overall ecosystem.
A coyote is a perfect example of a classic varmint. According to a Hopi indian legend, the coyote is a sly creature that will be here long after humans disappear from the face of the earth. By including scientific evidence that cockroaches and rats will most likely stay around, coyotes too will thrive. If rats and roaches are currently considered varmints and vermin then doesn't this lump coyotes in with them?
Many state fish and game agencies already list coyotes as being varmints that proliferate at the expense of other species. Case in point is the Tri-State demise of the common groundhog, which occurred courtesy of coyotes.
While farmers cheered the groundhog's virtual extinction, rabbit and varmint hunters bemoaned their loss. Groundhogs were important to the survival of the small game ecosystem. They dug escape burrows that housed all manner of critters when either weather or predators threatened. Groundhogs also acted as part of the overall predator watch community.
When the not-so-wiley woodchuck literally got wiped out, the entire ecosystem began cracking. After depleting one once-plentiful food source, coyotes set to work depleting fence rows of small game. After that they started taste-testing house cats, small domestic dogs, deer, fruit crops such as watermelons and just about anything else including road kills and garbage. Needless to say, that's when they earned the status of being varmints.
It seems strange that with such a litany of bad marks, some state fish and game agencies (including Indiana) are trying to stop the trapping and sale of live coyotes. These robust and uninjured yodel dogs were being sent to out-of-state high fence enclosures where they were run by fox hounds. The object was the chase not the kill as few of these super predators (whether penned or free roaming) ever meet a bevy of dogs they can't whip or escape.
Most enclosures that coyotes are sent to are called "fox pens." This is ironic because before coyotes generally wiped out their smaller cousins, foxes served as chase animals. The term "pen" is further misleading because these areas cover several hundred acres of weeds and cover, ideal for the proliferation of enclosed predators
Chase pens are also designed to give enclosed coyotes every chance to escape the dogs because they are studded with log piles and man-made fox holes to provide safe havens once the chase gets tiring.
Before anyone sends scathing e-mails condemning coyote chase pens, consider this — they provide a definite place and use of a species that negatively impacts the entire ecosystem east of the Mississippi River. Coyotes have proved to be adaptable predators who will eat anything from peaches to poodles and daily patrol large areas hoping to scarf up everything else.
It's time to write state fish and game agencies and request they stop trying to disrupt year round coyote trapping and sale of these critters to states where chase pens are located.
Contact the IDNR
Hunters who called wanting to know where to voice displeasure over October rabbit seasons on state areas and the February rabbit season extension on private lands should address written comments to: The Indiana Department of Natural Resources, c/o General Fish and Wildlife, 402 West Washington, IN 46204.
Use the same address if you have feelings regarding coyote trapping and live sales.
www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jan/06/high-pen-enclosures-perfect-for-tri-states-wiley/
By Phil Potter (Contact)
Sunday, January 6, 2008
A weed may be defined as a plant, but no one has yet found a telling the definition of a varmint?
Most think a varmint is something like a rat. But (depending on who's doing the observation) a varmint may be best defined as anything that does more harm than good to the overall ecosystem.
A coyote is a perfect example of a classic varmint. According to a Hopi indian legend, the coyote is a sly creature that will be here long after humans disappear from the face of the earth. By including scientific evidence that cockroaches and rats will most likely stay around, coyotes too will thrive. If rats and roaches are currently considered varmints and vermin then doesn't this lump coyotes in with them?
Many state fish and game agencies already list coyotes as being varmints that proliferate at the expense of other species. Case in point is the Tri-State demise of the common groundhog, which occurred courtesy of coyotes.
While farmers cheered the groundhog's virtual extinction, rabbit and varmint hunters bemoaned their loss. Groundhogs were important to the survival of the small game ecosystem. They dug escape burrows that housed all manner of critters when either weather or predators threatened. Groundhogs also acted as part of the overall predator watch community.
When the not-so-wiley woodchuck literally got wiped out, the entire ecosystem began cracking. After depleting one once-plentiful food source, coyotes set to work depleting fence rows of small game. After that they started taste-testing house cats, small domestic dogs, deer, fruit crops such as watermelons and just about anything else including road kills and garbage. Needless to say, that's when they earned the status of being varmints.
It seems strange that with such a litany of bad marks, some state fish and game agencies (including Indiana) are trying to stop the trapping and sale of live coyotes. These robust and uninjured yodel dogs were being sent to out-of-state high fence enclosures where they were run by fox hounds. The object was the chase not the kill as few of these super predators (whether penned or free roaming) ever meet a bevy of dogs they can't whip or escape.
Most enclosures that coyotes are sent to are called "fox pens." This is ironic because before coyotes generally wiped out their smaller cousins, foxes served as chase animals. The term "pen" is further misleading because these areas cover several hundred acres of weeds and cover, ideal for the proliferation of enclosed predators
Chase pens are also designed to give enclosed coyotes every chance to escape the dogs because they are studded with log piles and man-made fox holes to provide safe havens once the chase gets tiring.
Before anyone sends scathing e-mails condemning coyote chase pens, consider this — they provide a definite place and use of a species that negatively impacts the entire ecosystem east of the Mississippi River. Coyotes have proved to be adaptable predators who will eat anything from peaches to poodles and daily patrol large areas hoping to scarf up everything else.
It's time to write state fish and game agencies and request they stop trying to disrupt year round coyote trapping and sale of these critters to states where chase pens are located.
Contact the IDNR
Hunters who called wanting to know where to voice displeasure over October rabbit seasons on state areas and the February rabbit season extension on private lands should address written comments to: The Indiana Department of Natural Resources, c/o General Fish and Wildlife, 402 West Washington, IN 46204.
Use the same address if you have feelings regarding coyote trapping and live sales.
www.courierpress.com/news/2008/jan/06/high-pen-enclosures-perfect-for-tri-states-wiley/
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