Sierra Club vs Wyoming Rancher

[KJPFISH]

You gotta love a good dose of common sense.

The Sierra Club and the U.S. Forest Service were presenting an alternative to the Wyoming ranchers for controlling the coyote population. It seems that after years of the ranchers using the tried and true method of shooting or trapping the predators, the Sierra Club had a "more humane" solution to this issue. What they were proposing was for the animals to be captured alive. The males would then be castrated and let loose again. This was ACTUALLY proposed by the Sierra Club and by the U.S. Forest Service. All of the ranchers thought about this amazing idea for a couple of minutes. Finally an old fellow wearing a big cowboy hat in the back of the conference room stood up, tipped his hat back and said; "Son, I don't think you understand our problem here... these coyotes ain't fu****' our sheep... they're eatin' 'em!" The meeting never really got back to order.

[Grizzly Adams]

They actually tried this with wolves in BC, a while ago. Males were captured by helicopter, flown to a vet. hospital , the deed was done and then were flown back . Cost was about 1500. per animal. Yup, common sense is in short supply.

Grizz

[Scar270]

There was a little more to that in the wolf populations I was aware of them doing this with. They were going in, finding a pack, killing all but the alpha pair, and neutering them. This way they maintained there territory, so you didn't just have another pack move in, but you had 2 wolves instead of 10-15. 2 wolves can't take down as much big game, and don't need to either.

If you just kill out a pack, another pack will move in. A neutered pair may maintain an area for a length of time measuring in the years, and actually be cost effective compared to shooting them all from helicopters over that same number of years.

I don't think coyotes would work the same though, as I don't think they are as territorial.

[Ice Fishing Maniac]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

They actually tried this with wolves in BC, a while ago. Males were captured by helicopter, flown to a vet. hospital , the deed was done and then were flown back . Cost was about 1500. per animal. Yup, common sense is in short supply.

Grizz

Give me $1500 / coyote and wolf. Cost of 1 bullet per animal I will retire a wealthy guy.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by Scar270

There was a little more to that in the wolf populations I was aware of them doing this with. They were going in, finding a pack, killing all but the alpha pair, and neutering them. This way they maintained there territory, so you didn't just have another pack move in, but you had 2 wolves instead of 10-15. 2 wolves can't take down as much big game, and don't need to either.

If you just kill out a pack, another pack will move in. A neutered pair may maintain an area for a length of time measuring in the years, and actually be cost effective compared to shooting them all from helicopters over that same number of years.

I don't think coyotes would work the same though, as I don't think they are as territorial.

This technique was so effective that they don't do it anymore.

[duffy4]

Originally Posted by Scar270

There was a little more to that in the wolf populations I was aware of them doing this with. They were going in, finding a pack, killing all but the alpha pair, and neutering them. This way they maintained there territory, so you didn't just have another pack move in, but you had 2 wolves instead of 10-15. 2 wolves can't take down as much big game, and don't need to either.

If you just kill out a pack, another pack will move in. A neutered pair may maintain an area for a length of time measuring in the years, and actually be cost effective compared to shooting them all from helicopters over that same number of years.

I don't think coyotes would work the same though, as I don't think they are as territorial.

Exactly!

Sometimes if you don't see the BIG PICTURE something seems like it makes no sense. But when you understand the whole deal, it does make sense.

There was a deal like this proposed in Alberta with a component to evaluate how well it would work or didn't work. However it did not get approved unfortunately.

[Scar270]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

This technique was so effective that they don't do it anymore.

Since when has the government stuck with any program that works?

As far as I know it comes down to costs, even if it's cheaper then shooting them from helicopters, I don't think they are doing that either.

The cheap solution is to let the wolf population grow, and not worry about the effects.