Give coyotes a break, New Hampshire discusses bill on closing coyote hunting season in pup season

https://www.concordmonitor.com/Coyote-hunting-23004425

(I think it is terrible that coyotes are hunted during pup season, pups left to die).


Letter: Give coyotes a break
Published: 1/28/2019 12:01:01 AM

On Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Room 307 in the Legislative Office Building, the House Fish and Game Committee will discuss House Bill 442, which proposes to close the coyote hunting season from April 1 through Aug. 31 during the time of coyote pup rearing.

Coyotes are the only N.H. species of wildlife with a year-long open hunting season. All others receive a respite from hunting pressure during the time of the year when they raise their young and teach them the proper prey to eat. If adult coyotes with pups are killed during the denning season, their young quickly die from starvation or predation.

Those who insist that coyotes are only a “varmint” that have no positive contribution to New Hampshire’s ecosystem and are a significant predator of deer are willfully ignorant of the facts. Even a cursory web search will confirm that these opinions are not supported by any research.

Coyotes are killed by year-round hunting, five months of trapping. night hunting with electronic calls, shooting them over bait and coyote killing contests. To continue this intense killing pressure on a species without some respite is not only ecologically unsound, it is morally repugnant. Few people who kill coyotes eat them, and their pelts are worth less than $20. Allowing hunting all year just to have a live animal to kill should not be condoned by the citizens of New Hampshire.

Please show up Tuesday or write your representative and tell the committee to give the coyotes a break.