Public comments favor, by a wide margin, a ban on hunting coyotes in red-wolf territory as the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission meets Thursday to discuss the issue.
In May a federal judge ordered the state to end its open season on coyotes in the five coastal counties -- Dare, Tyrell, Hyde, Beaufort and Washington -- roamed by the rare wolves, which resemble coyotes. Temporary rules the commission has proposed put the injunction in effect.
Rising numbers of gunshot wolves, often when they're mistaken for coyotes, threaten the species' survival on the Albemarle Peninsula of northeastern North Carolina, federal biologists say. Between 90 and 110 wolves live in the area.
Public comments the commission solicited found that 3,108 agree with the ban and just 69 disagree. That doesn't count form letters from members of the Southern Environmental Law Center, whose clients sued to stop coyote hunting, and Safari Club International.
More than 40 people submitted comments at a public hearing in Columbia on June 19.
The rules would take effect Aug. 1, but U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle has said he would revisit his injunction six months after he made the ruling.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Public supports ban on coyote shooting in red wolf territory
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13 comments:
Thank you so much for publishing this amazing and heartening information. Detractors will try to claim that the bulk of the comments were not from NC residents since the NCWRC did not require addresses from people sending comments. That does not matter, however. Red wolves are a federally endangered species under the ESA. They do not "belong" to North Carolina any more than the endangered California condor "belongs" to California. The fate of the red wolf is the responsibility of ALL Americans everywhere!
I am thrilled to see your report stating what I already knew: the majority of Americans support red wolf recovery. Red wolves are a treasure that belong to all Americans, as all endangered species do. Brought back from the brink of extinction, red wolves and the red wolf recovery program have set the standard for endangered species recovery. This is great news, and the Red Wolf Recovery Program needs to continue with full local and federal government support.
Thank you for this. As a long time resident of NC I am very proud that we have red wolves in the wild here.
As a teacher in NC, I take great pride in sharing with my students that the red wolf lives freely in the eastern part of our state. This apex predator needs to continue to be protected and the Red Wolf Recovery program needs to also receive funding. As a teacher and steward of the Earth, I will continue to educate about coexisting with wildlife! Marilyn McGee
Bunch of bleeding heart pansies.
The coyote is a predator of farm animals, domestic dogs and cats, and deer. This is a bad policy that will do more harm than good.
Anonymous 3:30,
Guess what, Wolves are so territorial they'll kick the coyotes out of their range. See, they're actually on your side.
This is for Anonymous who posted the comment "Bunch of bleeding heart pansies." You are fortunate to live in a country where divergent viewpoints, even when expressed with infantile word choice, can be be expressed. You have nothing of substance to say, but you say it anyway as long as you can hide behind that screen of anonymity. People who behave irresponsibly, who use bully tactics and who dip into their bag of derogatory names (never original!)abound on social media platforms, mud-slinging forums and in the comment sections of news articles. You are not threatening. You are silly, cowardly and childish, but most of all - you are completely irrelevant.
It seems perfectly fair to me that landowner/taxpayer rights are being trampled to support the introduction of a hybrid canid in NC. The red wolf has been EXTINCT for all purposes years. If the last so called red wolves were in Texas any sensible person would think that environment more suitable to recovery. This is yet another example of our government's lack of respect for landowning tax payers. FYI when the Red Wolf Coalition takes kids out to hear the wild wolves howl you are hearing the penned ones. SSS to take out invasives.
- The USF&W lied to the people or locals as they call them, of NC from the very start of this failed program. They knew, if they had been honest, this would have never had been allowed to go forth. - The USF&W stated that these “red wolves” would NOT stray off the Alligator Wildlife Refuge. They lied. - The USF&W stated that if these “red wolves” did, somehow manage to stray off the Alligator Wildlife Refuge that the USF&W would be there to trap them and return them to the refuge. They lied. - The USF&W stated that these “red wolves” would NOT eat deer and other wild game in eastern North Carolina. They lied. - The original "red wolves" released into the Alligator Wildlife Refuge, where not even close to being a true Red Wolf. They were nothing more than a hybrid wolf/coyote mutt. - The original "red wolves" and even more so, these so-called "red wolves" of today are NOT fully protected on private land under the Endangered Species Act, as these animals are a experimental non-essential reintroduced hybrid species. The red wolf in North Carolina is protected on federal lands under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as an experimental, non-essential population. This means that relaxed regulations allow landowners to kill a red wolf if it attacks their livestock or pets. Additionally, a red wolf that is taken incidentally to any type of legal activity (e.g., hunting coyotes following state regulations) on private lands in the red wolf recovery area does not constitute a violation of the federal regulation, provided that the taking a red wolf is not intentional. - These so-called “red wolves” have inter-bred with coyotes to such an extent, that they are indistinguishable from a coyote. Even USF&W field biologist admit that they cannot distinguish a red wolf from a coyote. Ms. Cornelia Hutt, Ms. Janet Hoben, and Ms. Kim Wheeler, can you tell the difference between these red wolf/coyote hybrids and coyotes, in the wild??? I seriously doubt it and if you truly can, then you are in the wrong field career. - 26 years and over $28 million later, there are only 8 “breeding pairs” versus the original 4 “breeding pairs”. If that isn’t defined as a failure, I don’t know what is. Given, these figures (from Mr. David Rabon, USFWS Red Wolf Coordinator, himself in November 2013), Ms. Cornelia Hutt, Ms. Janet Hoben, and Ms. Kim Wheeler, continue to perpetuate the lie that this program is a huge success. Truth is, it is anything but a success. - This red wolf reintroduction program is a miserable failure that even a blind man can see. So, there must ulterior motives at work here. Could those motives be financial gain, i.e. sue and settle?? Could they be for the procurement of private land for the Federal Gov’t?? Could they for a continued salary and title?? - The red wolf reintroduction program is such a failure that no amount of money and no hunting ban, is going to save it. You cannot save a sinking ship when the bow is under water and the stern is following. Again what are the true motives of those who continue to support this abysmal failure??? - The reintroduction of this bastardized red wolf/coyote hybrid to North Carolina has not benefitted wildlife nor the people of North Carolina in any way. In fact it has had the opposite effect, in that this non-essential experimental hybrid species, has done great harm to the eco system, the wildlife, and the people of eastern North Carolina. I say it is time the people of North Carolina to scream, enough is enough. We should be demanding the RWC to not go away mad, but to just go away. We should demand that the USF&W to stop with the lies, pack up their stuff, reel their folks in, and simply go away. We should demand that the NCWRC and Boyle’s reestablish the legal hunting season, immediately. 1SHOT1KILL out.
Four people on this thread used their real names. All made civil, non-confrontational comments in support of red wolves. None resorted to name-calling or character assassination. None used taunts or ridicule. The others posting did so anonymously. That gave them license for personal attacks and vulgarisms such as the "pansies" reference (How old are you, Anonymous?). The Red Wolf Coalition does not conduct the Howlings and has not done so for two years - maybe three. Where have you been, NC Native (another pseudonym). Tell you what. When some of you have the courtesy and the courage to use your real names, to come forward with questions and comments that demonstrate that you want to be enlightened and to engage in a conversation to air differences of opinion, and to post directly by identifying yourselves as people with brains instead of empty-headed cyphers with cute little aliases, maybe we can talk and even learn from one another. But that will not happen. That would take integrity and courage. It's in short supply on this thread and just about everywhere else there is a bully pulpit and someone standing behind it yelling.
For William Ball - Your comment was not there when I posted mine at just about the same time. If William Ball is your real name, then applause for you. You are obviously angry at everyone, including the Red Wolf Coalition. If you could set aside your rage, there would be a lot to discuss - if you would be willing to listen as well as to talk. But I have seen a lot of what you posted elsewhere, Mr. Ball. For instance, the challenge to me and others about distinguishing a red wolf from a coyote ion the wild. I have seen that part verbatim on other posts. It's as though you accumulated a lot of comments and tirades and threw them all together at the wall her, hoping they would stick. That's too bad, William Ball or whoever you are. There is much in your post that is legitimate fodder for discussion. A pity. . . .
One last observation, and then I am off here for good, although I am sure the "anonymous" phantoms will re-post some or all of my comments elsewhere so they can attack me by name while they remain concealed by their aliases. Except for "William Ball," all the the people who had the chutzpah to use their real names on this thread are women. I would bet this farm that the anonymous posts were made by men. Make of that what you will. I know what I make of it!
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