Officials in Western states take aim at coyotes
Colorado offers a bounty on pesky coyotes

SPRINGFIELD, Colo. (AP) - Thieves and ambush artists. Cowards and pests.

Coyotes have been called all that and much more, and leaders in Western states are fighting back.

This week, officials in southern Colorado said a bounty system aimed at cutting the coyote population has left more than 100 dead in less than three weeks. In Wyoming, a bill aimed at reducing the number of coyotes and other animals that prey on livestock was approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday.

The problems, however, have not been limited to those two states.

Earlier this week, San Mateo, Calif., officials warned joggers and hikers to keep an eye open for aggressive coyotes on area trails. San Mateo County Parks Superintendent Lynne Fritz said a one-mile stretch of popular Sawyer Camp Trail at Crystal Springs had been the site of three incidents since November in which coyotes either bit clothing or flesh as scared victims turned and ran.

Coyotes are common in all parts of Oregon, but they do the most damage in the eastern part of the state, where there are bumper stickers reading "Eat American Lamb. 50 million Coyotes Can't Be Wrong."

Coyotes have even become entangled in a nationwide effort to reintroduce animals in the western United States.

Earlier this month, endangered Mexican gray wolves released into the wilds of eastern Arizona were fitted with radio transmitter collars for tracking - yet wrapped in bright yellow, orange or pink fluorescent tape to identify the animals as wolves and not coyotes.

Five of the 11 wolves initially released into the wild were shot to death - either accidentally or deliberately. Federal officials have a theory that hunters may mistake the wolves to be coyotes.

Now, in Baca County, Colo., coyotes have turned from predator to prey.

At the request of ranchers, county officials have instituted a bounty of $7.50 per coyote. Cattle and farming make up much of the economy in the state's most southeastern corner.

Ranchers throughout the region have been unhappy about coyotes since voters passed a 1996 state constitutional amendment that bans the trapping of coyotes and other animals. Without trapping to keep coyote populations at bay, ranchers fear more hungry coyotes are targeting their young calves.

"We're overrun with coyotes," said Kathy Houghton, the county's acting administrative assistant to the commissioners. "They're really thick."

The county pays $7.50 per pair of coyote ears and the bounties started Jan. 15. The only restrictions are that the animals must be killed in Baca County and the ears presented by a county resident.

The county has set aside $7,500 for the program, or enough to pay the bounties on 1,000 coyotes. In less than three weeks since the bounties started, 143 pairs of ears have been turned in for a total of $1,072.50 in payments.

And neighboring counties are starting to follow Baca's lead.

In Lamar, Prowers County administrator Jim Sidebottom said his county's commissioners are close to approving a similar bounty.

"I think we're going to do essentially the same thing," he said. "There is kind of a coyote problem here."

To the north, a bill moving through the Wyoming Legislature would create a statewide predator management board to oversee efforts to kill predators. The board also would develop and suggest predator control policies to the governor and Legislature.

Under the bill, local districts would help the board shape policies. They also would retain their power to establish local priorities in managing predators.

Opponents said they worried about the efficiency of a new system.

"We're creating quite a bureaucracy here," said Rep. Jack Landon, R-Sheridan. "I just wonder if we aren't overdoing it."