Experts urge against coyote cull
Posted Apr 13, 2010 02:28:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Dexter government is being urged not to give in to public pressure by imposing a bounty on coyotes.
“The normal number of babies that a female coyote has is about five or six,” says retired biologist Bob Bancroft. “But what happens when the coyote population is dropped by trapping or hunting is they’ll have up to 19 young.”
Bancroft, the first to report coyotes had migrated to Nova Scotia in the 1970s, says its better to go after problem animals.
Several recent incidents including the mauling death of a hiker in Cape Breton have prompted public alarm.
Natural Resources Minister John MacDonnell, originally against a cull, says there have been enough encounters lately to warrant exploring the possibility.
However Tony Rodgers of Nova Scotia’s Federation of Hunters and Anglers says people just have to be smarter when venturing in the woods.
“If you’re going to walk in the countryside then carry a stick with you in your hand,” says Rodgers. “It’s just proper to have a bit of a defensive thing with you.”
He points out an attempted coyote cull in the province in the early 1980s had little impact on the population.
