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Hello members of the MA Coyote Conservation Alliance,

I’m writing to inform you that Jon Way, Eastern Coyote Research and Louise Kane, Justice for Wolves have completed a petition for the first ever state Carnivore Conservation Act. Our MA Carnivore Conservation Act petition includes a draft of the Act’s provisions that will help to protect coyotes, bobcats, red and grey foxes and in some instances, raccoons. The protections range from prohibitions on baiting, reduced hunting seasons, defining and preventing cruelty to carnivores, eliminating hounding, and providing sanctuaries free from hunting.

We are hopeful that this Act may become a model for other state initiatives. The MA Coyote Conservation Alliance will be a sponsor of the initiative and will be seeking input and other signatories for the Act. We are currently researching the procedural requirements for obtaining signatures and for moving forward as a citizen’s initiative.

We believe that a simple website may be valuable to house the petition, to provide background information and to lend legitimacy to the effort. Several of us are willing to do the majority of the work for the website but we could use some minor start up funds. We are seeking donations. Any amount, even several dollars, will help.

Please indicate if you are willing to help by sending your pledge to Rebecca Mullin. Many thanks we know that there are many worthy causes competing for your funding!

If you are able to send a check, please know that MA Coyote Conservation Alliance is not a non-profit organization yet. If you would like to help with our ballot initiative driven carnivore petition and send a check, please write the check out to MA Coyote Conservation Alliance and send it to the following address: Rebecca Mullin, P.O. Box 403, Eastham, MA 02642

We greatly appreciate anything you can spare to help us get this petition kicked off so we can truly protect the carnivores of Massachusetts! Thank you!!!!

Thank you

Jon Way, Louise Kane, Rebecca Mullin

January 11, 2013. Man is proud of slaughtering “coyotes” (coywolves) in western Massachusetts over a bait pile, and he gets away with it with current antiquated laws. That is my title to the article that says “Take the Alpha Pair First”. I hope he finds karma for his disregard for a socially important predator. My disdain for fish and wildlife agencies is amplified when they sit back and allow this to happen yet make it exceedingly difficult to do research on the same animals. It is thoughtless to ignore the social dynamics and effects that this has on local packs. It is literally all about killing. I should add that this man pays $30 for a hunting license and the state of MA gets nothing else back besides the stories that he gets to share of how he slaughters wildlife for fun.

This story, from NPR, is about the “06 female” (scientifically known as #832). She recently led her pack (Lamar Canyon) outside of Yellowstone and was killed in the process. This is a very sad story as I (and many others) have gone to Yellowstone National Park many times to specifically see her and her pack. This story has gone national and should force the states to include other stakeholders besides hunters in the management of wolves. It would be nice to see a no-hunt buffer surrounding the park.

Here is a second story on the subject with 8 minutes of interview with the park’s lead wolf biologist, Doug Smith.

Here is another interview, this time with park biologist Dan Stahler on Boston’s NPR.

Way, J. G. 2012. Love wolves and hate coyotes? A conundrum for canid enthusiasts. International Wolf 22(4, winter): 8-11. This is a popular (not peer reviewed) article summarizing my (and others) feelings on why society treats wolves so much differently than coyotes.

Related:

As I publish this note linking to “The Wildlife News” article, I see a similar mentality with this story from Wyoming:

November 1, 2012. Update Nov. 2. Photos published by Wildlife Service employee illustrate torture. What a low-life. He kills predators for a living and enjoys watching his trapped animals suffer. I hope his employment is terminated immediately. Update Nov. 2.: It gets better, the trapper justifies his actions (click here)… I wouldn’t be surprised if he was friends with some of the “house hunters” that live on Cape Cod, MA and elsewhere. Furthermore, the state wildlife agencies do nothing to stop this behavior which is further reason to reform these agencies from Montana to Massachusetts.