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Buffalo News  March 26, 2004
Let deer live and die as nature intended 
        Twenty-three dead deer recently were found on Navy Island. Wesley Hill, who found them, said they starved. Now he feels hunting should be allowed on the island. That's a familiar hunters' refrain: Let us kill them so they don't die later. Two years ago, hunters were allowed to thin the deer population. That is probably why there are more deer than ever this year.
        It is a scientific fact that when large numbers of deer are killed, the remaining deer compensate with higher birth rates. It's nature's way of ensuring species survival. Those newborns are more likely to survive because there is more food and habitat available since the thinning. Winter-kill is a natural part of life.
        If Hill toured the much-hunted woods of Western New York, he would find that many deer have starved to death there, too. Winter-killed deer supply sustenance for many wild animals while decaying carcasses replenish the earth with nutrients.
Let Navy Island be a place where wild deer can live and die as nature intended, rather than be unnaturally "managed," i.e., slaughtered.     

Valerie Will, Orchard Park, NY

March 26, 2004
Glendale, CA votes to trap coyotes
        Last night Glendale's city council apparently decided it had enough funding (unlike other California cities who are struggling as a result of State budget cuts to make do ) to designate $24000 a year to kill coyotes (and subsequently other wildlife ) that according to the councilman who raised the issue, are determined to kill their children.The instrument that will be used to trap and kill the coyote ( or any other animal that blunders into the trap ) will be the SNARE TRAP. This heinous piece of equipment snares and slowly strangles the unfortunate animal. It is a horrible and inhuman device and sadly allowed to be employed as a result of a recent State law being overturned ( which banned it and other snaring devices ) by the Audubon Society in it's continual quest to protect nesting birds. I guarantee that feral cats, dogs, possums, raccoons and other animals will die along with the targeted and most often young inexperienced coyote in this indiscriminate trap.
       This decision by the Glendale City Council is biologically, environmentally,financially and legally unsound, and will ultimately impact the residents of Glendale and Pasadena's health as well as subsequently creating law suits.  Coyotes have always been buffers for the human population to certain diseases that emerge at various stages in the of lives mice, rats, ground squirrels,vectors and other species that comprise the opportunistic predator's daily food supply.  Historically, humans and their off spring have never been recorded as part of the coyotes daily brunch.
      Note: When the city of Seal Beach decided a dozen years ago to rid themselves
of coyotes, they were warned by several wildlife organizations and biologists that " Nature abhors a vacuum" and that they would soon be overrun with vermin as a result of this pogrom. They didn't listen, and after several expensive years of trapping and killing( those pest management companies sure cleaned up ), Seal Beach was declared coyote free.  Then came the rats, mice, rabbits,foxes and other unchecked vectors including a plethora of sadly abandoned cats..many turning feral.
        Soon the birds began to disappear ( vermin just love bird eggs..foxes love birds but not in a nice way...cats..well..you know that story,,and so on. )  Complaints about hoards of mice and rats invading homes and the famous retirement community along with rabbits devouring all the greenery and flowers came pouring in.
         So, what did the wise and all knowing Seal Beach City fathers decide to do.
Yup, you guessed it. They decided to import coyotes from other areas to clean
up their bungle.
         Conclusion: A marked disinterest in the history of coyote and human interaction as well as biological facts were discounted in the Glendale Council's flawed decision
to trap and kill coyotes.Hysteria and ignorance on the part of a few bureaucrats and their constituents became the determining factor. The same factor that was present when millions of wolves were wiped out and many species of wildlife were erased from the earth during humans early history of war on other species...which by the way gave rise to the dominion of the coyote.
          One would have thought that the Glendale City fathers ( and mothers ) would
have learned from those blunders.
        Source: If you are interested in the truth about the biological and dangerous vacuum that Glendale is about to create with their decision to trap and kill coyotes
contact Biology Professor Marc Beckoff at Boulder Colorado University. He is
one of the quintisenntial authorities on the coyote. You can reach him at marc.bekoff@colorado.edu
        Prognosis:  Waste of money Glendale, waste of wildlife, and worse....very destructive to your environment and the residents of your city..not to mention the human emotional condition ( all that bloodletting ).
                                                    Michael Bell, Animal Legislative Action Network

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