Let wild dogs lie
Welfare.
That’s what the county Board of Supervisors’ hasty,
ill-considered decision to fund a varmint control program to the
tune of more than $80,000 per year amounts to.
Let wild dogs lie
Welfare.
That’s what the county Board of Supervisors’ hasty, ill-considered decision to fund a varmint control program to the tune of more than $80,000 per year amounts to.
A handful of ranchers petitioned the county to reinstate its predator control program, which pays two hunters to shoot or trap animals arbitrarily assigned to problem status.
The decision flies in the face of both science and common sense.
The primary target of the effort is the coyote, the wild dog of the West.
The animal has been extensively studied, because over the course of more than a century of active efforts to eliminate it, the animal’s numbers and range have expanded. Coyotes now howl over the hills and hollows of New England, where historically they were never found. They lift pets from back yards in suburban Los Angeles. They are intelligent, opportunistic and ubiquitous.
And a control program is guaranteed to be futile.
The well documented facts are that coyote populations will remain stable, even if as much as 70 percent of the population is removed each year. The best hunters would be hard-pressed to come close to removing 70 percent of the local population. Thus, their efforts amount to nothing more than a feel-good sop for a handful of property-owners who will not take the time to understand the animals they share the landscape with.
Second, coyotes are not inclined to prey on cattle. Like any dogs, they are opportunistic, and the occasional downed steer or calf may fall victim. But coyotes evolved in a landscape without cattle. They will prey on deer, particularly fawns, just as nature intended.
Government-funded hunts will not change that.
If ranchers object to the presence of coyotes on their property, they have every right to try to eliminate them themselves. The result is likely to be a spike in the population of coyotes’ primary prey: ground squirrels. The resulting loss of forage due to the squirrels and the explosion of erosion-inducing and potentially cattle-crippling burrows should be expected. But that’s the land manager’s prerogative.
Asking a local government agency to do the ranchers’ blood work is just plain wrong.
For better or worse, San Benito County has one of the lowest property tax rates in California. County roads are in disrepair. There’s a critical lack of public open space. Services across the county cover the barest essentials.
The expenditure of $82,500 per year for two hunters is folly in the first degree.
Urban dwellers flock to the county for the opportunity to hunt wild pigs and deer, leaving behind significant revenue for the privilege. To pay people to do the same thing with coyotes, in a program that is scientifically destined to fail, is silly.
The Board of Supervisors deserves to hear from every local citizen who objects to subsidizing this silliness.
