This joke is via ACE OF SPADES‘ Saturday Overnight Open Thread (8/28/21) Limited Content Edition:
The Sierra Club and the U.S. Forest Service were presenting an alternative to the Wyoming ranchers for controlling the coyote population. It seems that after years of the ranchers using the tried-and-true method of shooting or trapping the predators, the Sierra Club had a “more humane” solution to this issue. What they were proposing was for the animals to be captured alive. The males would then be castrated and let loose again.
This was ACTUALLY proposed by the Sierra Club and by the U.S. Forest Service.
All of the ranchers thought about this amazing idea for a couple of minutes.
Finally an old fellow wearing a big cowboy hat in the back of the conference room stood up, tipped his hat back and said:
“Son, I don’t think you understand our problem here… these coyotes ain’t fuckin’ our sheep… they’re eatin’ them!”
The meeting never really got back to order.
After seeing this in the joke:
- This was ACTUALLY proposed by the Sierra Club and by the U.S. Forest Service
I had to find out if this were true, and if so, catalog it…. at 6am on Saturday morning. Because I have some thorough “bug” in me that loves the political enough that I simply cannot move on after a laugh.
Here is a PDF paper by The University of Wyoming’s Neurobiology Program, the Zoology and Physiology Department, at the AZA Wildlife Contraception Center, Saint Louis Zoo, St. Louis, Missouri: “Chemical Castration of the Coyote”
Coyotes have been and continue to be significant predators of livestock, mainly domestic sheep. Primary control of depredating coyotes has been by lethal removal. This method has been met with mixed reviews mainly due to both public opposition and limited effectiveness of lethal control.
[….]
Therefore, controlling reproduction may be a more socially acceptable and effective tool for managing predatory behaviors of coyotes.
BTW, I paid a buck to get past a “pay-wall” for the following [effin] story. Grrrr.
Coyote Contraception A Potential Alternative (BILLINGS GAZETTE)
(Associated Press, Sep 8, 2012) JACKSON, Wyo. — A University of Wyoming research team is exploring using contraception as an alternative — and possibly more effective — solution to controlling coyotes.
The group, led by zoology doctoral candidate Marjie MacGregor, displayed its research at the International Conference on Fertility Control in Wildlife held recently in Jackson.
The technique uses deslorelin, a hormone that renders coyotes sterile.
Coyotes tend to prey on larger animals, including domestic sheep, pronghorn antelope and mule deer, more heavily when they have pups, MacGregor said. Because coyotes quickly fill territory left empty when their counterparts are gunned down, contraception has potential to reduce depredation better than killing, she said.
“The whole issue of coyote control is somewhat off the radar in Jackson Hole, where there’s limited animal agriculture,” MacGregor said.
“I’m not sure if Jackson Hole people think about how we manage coyotes across the state of Wyoming,” she said. “They are overshadowed by the larger predators.”
Numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services show coyote depredation across the state is a major issue.
From 1998 to 2008, Wildlife Services killed more than 77,000 coyotes in Wyoming — the second highest state total, trailing just Montana. The carnivore comprised some 94 percent of all the mammalian predators the agency killed in Wyoming during those 10 years.
A small percentage of the total coyote population, estimated at 50,000 to 80,000 in Wyoming, is killed each year, Wildlife Service’s state director Rod Krischke said.
Wildlife Services hasn’t removed coyotes from Teton County “in many years,” Krischke said.
The agency director was familiar with the research and agreed with MacGregor’s premise that contraception could be an effective means of reducing depredation.
“Basically, if you reduce the reproduction capabilities then you have fewer mouths to feed,” Krischke said. “The hope’s that the territorial coyotes would maintain their territory even though they’re not having pups.”
According to MacGregor’s paper, “Chemical Castration of the Coyote,” studies conducted in Utah and Colorado confirm that lamb and pronghorn fawn survival rates are higher in sterile versus intact coyote territories.
However, surgical sterilization programs — the only proven method — are not cost effective, the paper said.
Chemical sterilization is intriguing because of its lower cost and because it could potentially be used on a large number of coyotes, MacGregor said.
“The most important step is making sure the drug works — that we can stop the animal from reproducing,” she said.
While looking at all this, I came across a funny idea for making light of fender benders… enjoy, lol:
