Link to the article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/us/coyotes-sly-predators-become-targets-in-utah.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=science
On the NY Times website, there was an article called "The Sly Coyote Becomes a Bounty Hunters’ Target in Utah." Written by Melena Ryzik. In Utah, many people are having some problems with the wildlife there. Mainly with the coyotes living in the nearby region. These coyotes are going into nearby towns/cities and they are killing off some of the important animals of Utah like the Mule Deer. A symbol of Utah. In Utah, Gov. Gary R. Herbert, signed the bill for the Mule Deer Protection Act; which allots $500,000 to bounty hunters to get rid of these coyotes and save the Mule Deer. However, there is a debate on whether or not they should be killing off all of these animals just to save another. The hunters are very enthusiastic, the environmentalists are crying foul, and the wildlife administrators are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The big argument for the environmentalists is that there is little to none scientific evidence to support the theory that if you kill off the coyotes in the area, that the Mule Deer population will grow. Mark Clemens, the manager of the Utah chapter of the Sierra Club, said "It was a terrible bill, we're really distressed by it," "It's mainly about protection livestock owners." So he, and the Environmentalists think that this is a ridiculous idea. And have been thinking that for the past 10 years at least.
These are a bunch of pelts from the coyotes that were hunted down because they thought that they posed a threat to them. When really they were just looking for some food.
This year in Biology class, we learned a lot about food webs. And How if you kill one member of that ecosystem, then if will effect other members as well. The coyote might not be a very big food source to the deer and small animals in Utah, but they are the big predators. If you kill them all off, then all of the populations of the other animals will grow and t will become way out of hand. Also, I can tell you from first hands experience that this effect does happen. Once we saw some coyotes in our friend's back yard and he killed them off. Later, we ended up seeing so much deer in the area that he had to build a brand new fence just to keep them out. I think that if you kill off a good amount of the coyotes, then it will actually hurt you rather than benefit you in the long run. Dr. Young, a professor at a nearby college, said that the idea of killing another animal just to kill another, only to kill that second animal for sport or game, is not recognized here. These people don't realize tat they aren't only killing off one species, but they are killing off two or three.
Here is an image of one of the coyotes that is looking into a nearby town in Utah.
Now, there are many things that we can do if we are really that desperate to keep these animals away from our towns and cities. For one, we can build fences around our houses. They might find a way around them or dig a hole under them, but at least it will prevent some of them from coming in. But, what we do not want to do is kill off these animals. Becasue if we do that, then the food chain might die out in the area. The populations of the animals that used to get eaten by the coyotes will grow and before long, it will just become too much to handle. So what we need to do is not kill these animals, but in a way, save them.
Great Job Joe! You really showed how the people of Utah are looking at this issue from the wrong angle. You also showed how negative that can be. I really liked how you connected to the food chain unit by saying that the coyotes were such big predators. This is a big issue for Utah that needs to be changed. I also liked how you offered new ways to prevent the expansion of the coyotes. All in all great job and congratulations on being the 100th post!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your viewpoint on this issue. It would make sense to repeal this law, and to go about other means of keeping the coyotes out of the towns and cities. While overpopulation does effect a food web, so does population control. If we kill off hundreds of coyotes, it will also affect the food web as well. It would be better off to keep coyotes out of towns by other means, such as what you suggested, building a fence. Good article and post.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. There are many interesting debates on topics like the one you mentioned; that is, the killing of other creatures to increase the population of another species. One example that I can think of that I can relate to this article is the introduction of different species of animals, ones often not native to the area, to get rid of an invasive species that is harming the ecosystem. On paper, the idea seems good, but what happens when the invasive species is eradicated, but the species used to eradicate is becomes abundant? I, personally, think that it is a bad idea to kill off coyotes, because it could cause unforeseen environmental effects. Nice job being the 100th post!
ReplyDeleteI think that it would be a good idea to repeal the law. As you said, the coyote plays a role in the ecosystem and it would have a devistating effect on it. Even though Utah is trying perserve the mule deer, if you kill all the coyotes than the deer would have an population increase and the citicens of Utah might find that annoying (deers can be very annoying creatures). It is weird how people would kill one species to save another. I feel like if we leave nature alone, nothing bad would happen. If a creature does become extinct, then it is just evolution.
ReplyDeleteI think that that law shouldn't be there. If they hunt a lot of these coyotes then it will throw everything in the food chain and environment off. They should repeal this law before they kill all of the coyotes, therefore throwing off the food chain. So all-in-all this law should be repealed before it is too late.
ReplyDeleteThese towns are paying their civilians to kill coyotes. A $50 bounty for coyotes in Utah is too much, and it may devastate the local coyote population which will throw off the ecosystem. Unfortunately, scientists do not have enough proof that killing these coyotes will change the population of other animals in the ecosystem, so I think that the local scientists who care about Utah's ecosystems should spend a great deal of time to support the theory of the local ecosystem change so the civilians will not change the coyote's population until it becomes too low.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog post and agree with you that the coyotes should not be killed. I also feel like the wild life administrators need to rethink this situation because if the kill off too many of the coyote, many of its predators will die off as well which will just lead to other problems in the ecosystem. Your blog post really helped me understand the effects of one animal being taken out of the environment. The people of Utah want to save the deer and not have the coyotes in their living area but they also do not want to kill off other species as an effect of decreasing the coyote’s population. I like your idea of building fences and think that the coyotes would decrease in population if their food source decreased in population. I think that the people of Utah need to decide on what to do that will be safe for the people who have coyote living near them and also not harmful towards the ecosystem. In the end, your blog post showed me how much a food web is effected by one organism and how by decreasing one species, you also decrease many other species as well. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis law should definitely be repealed. The mule deer survived for this long without the government intervening for them. If the mule deer's population decreases, then the coyotes will have less food, and in turn, begin to die off as well, or turn to other food sources. that will allow the remaining deer to regain their population. It's an endless cycle. If your remove the coyote, there will be exponential growth in the mule deer population, because there will be less predators to kill them off. It will effect the whole food web.
ReplyDeleteThis article really grabbed my attention because normally you do not hear about how such a top predator is being killed off, let alone by our own kind. It's sad to think that we are the reason behind all of the coyotes dying for no reason. Yes, the coyotes did kill some Mule deer, but that was because they needed food to survive. I agree with you that instead of killing off the coyotes, we should try to save them instead. Perhaps we could move some coyotes to a different environment close by that lacks the Mule deer, but in return has another prey they could substitute for their food. This way there would still be coyotes in the environment with the Mule deer, just a smaller amount so that the food chain would not get affected dramatically.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't think it's a huge issue yet for coyotes, I do know that when hunters kill off top predators in certain areas just to protect livestock, the predator species gets dangerously close to extinction. I wonder why they aren't trying to figure out why the coyotes are being so bold. If they're risking their lives by going into towns and cities just to get to prey, then there's a much bigger underlying problem in the surrounding ecosystem, and killing off just the coyotes will probably hurt more than it can help. If they find it necessary to go into heavily populated areas just to survive, they might already have really low populations. It really is a terrible and stupid bill, the problem would be better if they just put some effort into actually correcting it.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was spot on and had themes that apply to not only coyotes but other animals throughout the world. Another animal that has been hunted to almost extinction would be the many species of tigers in Asia and species of elephants in Africa. I had never thought that coyotes were another species that was succumbing to hunters and poachers.This article interested me and informed me, well done.
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