FW: Let's put an end to pens for coyotes and foxes

 

Let's put an end to pens for coyotes and foxes
By Eric Ernst

 Published: Friday, June 18, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
 Last Modified: Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 11:43 p.m.

They may call it hunting, but that's an insult to real hunters.

In this case, wild coyotes or foxes are trapped, packed and shipped to fenced areas where they are turned loose to run for their lives, day after day, from a pack of dogs.

If the dogs don't maul them to death, the wild animals die of disease.

Incredibly, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, an agency entrusted with managing the state's natural resources, has sanctioned the practice for more than 20 years.

That could change soon.

Next week in Orlando, the commission will decide whether to ban the fox/coyote pens, phase them out by 2013 or let them continue to operate under stricter rules.

The vote here is to ban.

Maybe the penning started out as a decent idea. In the 1980s, as Florida grew and open land disappeared, the owners of hunting dogs needed places to train their animals.

The pens opened mostly in the northern part of the state, ranging from 100 acres (the minimum allowed) to 743 acres at Sand Sifters in Marianna County. Handlers paid to enter their dogs in competitions.

The result, however, has been anything but sporting.

All pens were supposed to be permitted. The permits are free, but many landowners did not apply. Probably, they did not want to adhere to FWC rules, which require, for instance, dog-proof escape hatches for the prey, records of veterinary care and special training to possess foxes and coyotes.

An FWC undercover investigation last year led to 12 arrests for black market animal trading. In February, the commission suspended fox/coyote pen operations. At the time, only Sand Sifters was open. Since then, 15 pens have obtained temporary authorization permits.

It's time to finally shut them down.

"Cruelty happens when nobody's looking. We can't say we don't know about this. And the FWC knows about it," says Becky Pomponio of Sarasota.

Pomponio, a local representative of Project Coyote, intends to fly from her summer home in North Carolina to testify at the FWC hearing.

The coyote/fox pen practices are so inherently inhumane that they've galvanized statewide opposition, including from some legislators. State Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, wrote a June 11 letter to the commissioners urging a ban.

While tightening regulations might seem a tempting compromise, other states have tried many of the proposed rules without success. They're simply too hard to enforce.

One compelling letter to the commissioners came from Martin Main, a University of Florida ecologist who often advises the FWC on coyote issues.

After dispelling arguments that pens benefit native wildlife populations by removing coyotes and help control coyote populations, Main takes on the issue of hunting.

He quotes from a renowned hunting organization founded by Teddy Roosevelt in 1887: "The Boone and Crockett Club condemns the pursuit and killing of any big game animal kept in or released from captivity to be killed in an artificial or bogus 'hunting' situation where the game lacks the equivalent chance to escape afforded free-ranging animals."

Penning isn't sport. It's slaughter. Just ask the real hunters.

Eric Ernst <http://www.heraldtribune.com/section/TOPIC090302//> 's column runs Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at eric.ernst@heraldtribune.com or (941) 486-3073.

___________________
Project Coyote
P.O. Box 5007
Larkspur, CA 94977
ph: 415.945.3232

Join the conversation!



Website <http://www.ProjectCoyote.org>  

Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Coyote/84167917172>  

Twitter <http://twitter.com/ProjectCoyote>

Want to support coexistence between people and wildlife? Your tax-deductible donation <https://www.earthislandprojects.org/projectcoyote/donate.html>  promotes the progressive education and management policies that help make this possible.