Coyotes must die.

Never mind that the experience in communities across North America over the last century has not provided a whisper of evidence that bounties do anything at all to control coyote populations— our hunger to kill animals we deem a nuisance is deeply embedded in our bones. So we must kill coyotes. And you and I must pay for this carnage whether we like it or not—whether it works or not.

Why? Because we must do something? If we don’t do something— we are doing nothing. Doing nothing is toxic for politicians— better to spill public money audaciously and recklessly than manage it quietly and carefully. For something must be done!

It is a worrisome notion that humans have evolved into such enlightened and powerful beasts, ready and eager to alter the climate of the planet, yet we’re unable to come up with a better plan to co-exist with coyotes.

We hive off huge swathes of our gross domestic product to prevent glaciers from melting on Greenland—but when it comes to sharing the planet with an animal with whom we’ve tangled since emerging from caves, our solutions remain the same. Kill them all.

And let’s be honest about this—we must kill them all. For one of the more pungent arguments in favour of a bounty on coyotes is that they are bolder and more desirous of red meat: Are we going to wait until a child is attacked or killed before we do something?

If we accept this line of reasoning, one coyote in the County is too many. They all must go. Each one is a threat. When we’ve eradicated the last one—we must erect a fence around the County or post an armed sentry to keep the County coyote-free. However, before we embark on this municipally funded killing spree, let’s please understand that our risk of attack and death is many hundred times greater from Fido or Spot than it is by a coyote.

Only two cases have ever been documented in which a coyote attack resulted in a fatality—in all of North America.

In 1981 in Glendale, California, a coyote attacked toddler Kelly Keen, who was rescued by her father, but died in surgery due to blood loss and a broken neck. In October 2009, Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer on tour, died from injuries sustained in an attack by a pair of coyotes while hiking in the Skyline Trail of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

As tragic as these deaths are—and they are horrifying— many more people will be killed by their house pets in 2010 than have ever been killed by coyotes or wolves in North America. Thirty-three Americans were killed by pet dogs in 2007 according to data compiled by dogbitelaw.com.

Are we to put a bounty on our pets next?

The irony of the threat-to-humans argument is that it may well be argued that the growth in the local coyote population is in fact saving lives. In the U.S., about 1.5 million cars collide with a deer each year—killing about 150 drivers or passengers and injuring 10,000 more, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More coyotes has meant far fewer deer in the County—and, in turn, fewer car-deer collisions.

Keep in mind, too, that when we impose a bounty on coyotes in Prince Edward County we will be only the third jurisdiction in Ontario to do so. We will be acting against the advice and counsel of the Ministry of Natural Resources. A handful of councillors and staff will have persuaded themselves that their knowledge and understanding in controlling coyote populations is superior to that of the MNR researchers and scientists. That we must act, and spend money, upon their say-so.

In the three other Ontario counties that offer a bounty for dead coyotes, the payout has increased nearly every year, adding yet another growing tax burden on property owners in those communities. Officials justify the failed program saying their coyote problem would be worse without the bounty. There is no evidence to suggest this is true.

Certainly livestock producers must have ways to protect their animals and their livelihood. Fortunately, they do. The province and the municipality already compensate farmers for losses to predator animals. Furthermore farmers can shoot or trap any coyote or wolf it deems a nuisance or a threat to their business—or they may invite hunters to do the killing for them.

Before we head off into the fields and woods to commence this Shire Hall-funded slaughter—let’s first satisfy ourselves that it will work—that it will do more than allow politicians to say “we did something.”

rick@wellingtontimes.ca