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Aerial
Gunning Begins on Northern Arizona Coyotes
*** LETTERS NEEDED - PLEASE ACT NOW ***
 JUNE
2003 -- The
Arizona Game and Fish Department has contracted with the Department
of Agriculture, Wildlife Services to shoot coyotes from fixed
wing aircraft in our state. Wildlife Services is the new name
used by the highly criticized program that used to be known
as Animal Damage Control. According
to records obtained by ADLA under Arizona’s Public Records
Act, Wildlife Services is shooting coyotes in three areas:
north of Seligman, on Anderson Mesa southeast of Flagstaff,
and northwest of Snowflake. The Arizona Game and Fish Commission
agreed to pay $30,000 to Wildlife Services for coyote killing
this year. A special pronghorn antelope license tag program
referred to in an agreement between the commission and the
Arizona Antelope Foundation raised $9,000. It is unclear where
the balance of funds came from, and if they were spent this
year. Wildlife Services’ total budget for Arizona was
over one million dollars in 2001. Less than half of that came
from sources other than Wildlife Services.
The
contract says gunning is to occur between March 24 and May
31, 2003. Shooting had not begun as of April 12. Records indicate
that they also plan aerial coyote gunning in 2004 and 2005.
Game
and Fish records state that the purpose of gunning is “to
temporarily reduce coyote populations in site-specific areas
to affect a decrease in predation on newborn pronghorn antelope
fawns over a period of years....” The real problem isn’t
predators, which are essential to a healthy ecosystem; the
truth is that antelope populations are declining because of
habitat loss, drought, and overgrazing of cattle. Fawns survive
by hiding from predators in tall grass. Because their habitat
is so hammered by overgrazing, the fawns have nowhere to hide.
More fawns may survive for a short time, but the long-term
picture is grim. Despite years of aerial gunning, antelope
populations are still declining in Arizona. The sound wildlife
management approach would be long-term programs to improve
habitat. By preserving habitats while they still exist and
limiting grazing and fence building, Game and Fish could provide
long-range solutions. Such “Band-Aid” measures as
aerial gunning would become a bad memory.
What’s
more, the coyote population, following a massacre of this
kind, will rebound with a population surge. And in spite of
their concern for the survival of antelope fawns, Game and
Fish continues to allow antelope hunting. Add it all up, and
it suggests that Game and Fish merely wants to prevent coyotes
from killing this year’s batch of antelope fawns so that
they can grow up and be killed by hunters.
The
Game and Fish Department should be representing the interests
of all Arizonans, not just hunters, who are a tiny minority.
Predators are necessary to keep the populations of their prey
in check and to eliminate the weak and sick of a species to
keep the herd strong. They also help the ecosystem by keeping
their prey moving from one area to another, thus preventing
overgrazing. We need a Game and Fish Department and Commission
that do not view predators as harmful and in need of disposal.
Please
contact Governor Napolitano and the Game & Fish Department
and Commission and let them know that you oppose aerial gunning.
Contact information is below. For further information on aerial
gunning visit the website of AGRO, A Coalition to End Aerial
Gunning of Wildlife, at www.goagro.org.
Please
contact Governor Napolitano and the Game & Fish Department
and Commission and let them know that you oppose aerial gunning.
Contact information is below. Write your own letters, or click
here to view sample letters that you can edit or print.
If you write your own letters, tell them:
Send
letters to:
Mr.
Duane Shroufe
Director
Arizona Game & Fish Department
2221 W. Greenway Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85023-4399
dshroufe@gf.state.az.us
FAX: (602) 789-3299
Arizona
Game & Fish Commisioners
c/o Director Shroufe at above addresses
Chair: Joe Carter
Commissioners: Michael M. Golightly, Susan E. Chilton,
W. Hays Gilstrap, Joe Melton
The
Honorable Janet Napolitano
Governor of the State of Arizona
1700 W. Washington
Phoenix, AZ 85005
(Calls and faxes are preferable to emails)
Phone: 602-542-4331 (Just say that you oppose the Aerial Gunning
Plan by Game & Fish)
Fax: 602-542-1381
Click here for printer-friendly
sample letters.
Click
here to email Gov. Napolitano. (Type or copy & paste
your comments in the box provided at this link.)
For further information on Aerial Gunning go to www.goagro.org
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