Mother of coyote mauling victim ‘aghast’ over new bounty
Posted Apr 23, 2010 05:38:54 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The decision to put coyotes on Nova Scotia’s “most wanted list” is getting both cheers and jeers.
Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell announced Thursday, the department will offer $20 per pelt in a bid to control coyote behaviour.
The four-part program is for licensed trappers only and comes after several incidences involving aggressive coyotes.
The mother of the young woman whose mauling death by coyotes in Cape Breton catapulted the wild dogs into the spotlight says her daughter would have staunchly opposed the bounty.
Taylor Mitchell, 19, of Toronto was hiking through Cape Breton Highlands Park when she was attacked and killed by two coyotes last October.
Her mother, Emily, tells News 95.7 Mitchell was a nature lover and would have opposed the new $20 bounty on coyotes.
“Definitely, she would be devastated, and especially devastated to think they’re using her attack as one of the reasons they’re doing it,” she said.
Ms. Mitchell calls the bounty a knee-jerk reaction that won’t solve the problem of increasingly aggressive coyote behaviour.
“It upsets me and makes me very uncomfortable,” she said. “You’re going out and killing wild animals who, for the most part, are just going about their business. I just think, and I know my daughter felt exactly the same.”
But HRM councillor Steve Streatch (Eastern Shore-Musquodoboit) welcomes the bounty, saying there have been too many human-coyote encounters in his area recently.
“Sightings have become more regular and we’ve had situations where family pets have gone missing and tracks are found afterwards, so I think without a doubt, the numbers have to be culled,” he said.
Streatch says he’s aware of evidence suggesting a bounty won’t effectively manage the population, but he says something has to be done.
“Sometimes, situations have to be dealt with with solutions that aren’t as pleasant as some would like,” he said. “But in this case, the alternatives – which would be possibly more attacks, more situations – would be more grave in my opinion.”
The new bounty will go into effect when trapping season starts on October 15.
