Stop Coyote Killing Contest

  • by: Animal Advocates
  • recipient: Ontario Minister of Natural Resources, Office of the Premier Ontario

Thousands of coyotes are being slaughtered in the cruel campaigns of Ontario's barbaric coyote killing contests.

The Ontario Minister of Natural Resources has said that she is considering actually endorsing these primitive contests. Livestock Predation is the reason the Minister of Natural Resources gives for her decision to consider a coyote cull. However the facts show:


1. Livestock losses due to coyote predation in Ontario represent only 1% in numbers of sheep produced and 0.08% in cattle produced. This is insignificant when you consider that small businesses experience up to 3% in lost profits due to theft annually and get no compensation from government.

2. Predation is cyclical. Claims have decreased, for example, by 25% in Ottawa between 2009 and 2010. Only 61 farmers made claims in Ottawa in 2010. There are 1200 farms in Ottawa with approximately half in animal production so only 10% made claims, meaning the majority are using successful prevention measures.

3. Even without the very low predation numbers, compensation payments, whatever the cost, would be a small price to pay for protecting biodiversity in this province. No one owns nature and we all, therefore, share the responsibility for protecting it.

4. The Agriculture Ministry does not propose a contest or cull of coyotes. Instead, it is proposing an agriculture-wildlife conflict strategy that is recommending improved financial compensation and better information resources for producers and funding for demonstration projects. So, why is the Minister of Natural Resources whose responsibility it should be to protect wildlife, considering a cull of coyotes?

5. We believe this demonstrates that the Minister of Natural Resources is acting on behalf of hunting interests. Over 76% of the MNR Wildlife Department's operating budget comes from licence revenue from those that 'harvest' wildlife, making this Ministry reliant on those interests from which it gets the majority of its funding. This creates a significant conflict of interest in fulfilling the broader conservation mandate expected of this Ministry by the Ontario public.

6. Coyote killing contests are putting people and their pets at risk. One individual whose 11-year old yellow Lab, Mishka, died in his arms, with the steel jaws of a trap set for coyotes clenched around the dog's neck, said "no one could imagine how devastating this is for my family"

7. Rural residents are living in fear not of coyotes but coyote hunters. One Osgoode resident said that when she called the police because hunters were hunting illegally and unsafely from a roadway, the next day the hunter left a partially-skinned dead coyote in his laneway to intimidate those speaking out.

8. Coyotes are a keystone species that make a critical contribution to maintaining healthy ecosystems. They keep other wildlife populations, like mice and small mammals, in check thereby protecting the major economic contribution of the crop and grain agricultural sectors in Ontario.

9. Bounties have never worked. Science has proven that.


Ontario Minister of Natural Resources

Honourable Linda Jeffery

PHONE: 1-800-667-1940

FAX: 1-866-686-6072

E-MAIL: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/ContactUs/index.html?CSB_ic-name=topMenu&CSB_ic-info=contact-us_Eng


Office of the Premier, Ontario

Premier Dalton McGuinty

Queen's Park
Room 281, Main Legislative Building, Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A1
Tel 416-325-1941
Fax 416-325-3745

Constituency
1795 Kilborn Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario K1H 6N1
Tel 613-736-9573
Fax 613-736-7374
dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

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