Utah Public Radio | By Caroline Long

Published January 21, 2025 at 3:40 PM MST

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• https://www.upr.org/utah-news/2025-01-21/places-where-coyote-hunting-is-legal-have-more-coyotes-research-shows

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Coyotes are native to the southwestern U.S. and have expanded their range rapidly in the last 100 years. A recent study examines patterns of coyote abundance.

“Now they’re found basically throughout all of North America. … And so, our main goal was to figure out – what are the environmental and human-led factors driving this expansion?”

Austin Green, one of the study’s authors, is an ecologist for Sageland Collaborative and an associate instructor at the University of Utah. He said the data for this study came from Snapshot USA, a network of camera traps across the contiguous United States.

“From that data, we can look at long-term nationwide trends in wildlife populations,” Green said.

What they found was that, in states and counties where coyote hunting is allowed, coyotes are actually more abundant.

“There’s a number of potential reasons for why we are seeing this kind of weird, what we call “coyote math,” where two minus one equals three,” Green said.

It does seem to be a pretty consistent trend. However, Green said, that where hunting pressures exist, coyote populations are high.

In Utah, hunting coyotes is encouraged to protect the mule deer population. The Division of Wildlife Resources offers a $50 bounty for each coyote killed. This month, that bounty was increased to $100 in areas classified as crucial mule deer habitat.

Research suggests, however, that killing coyotes is not the answer.

“There was no evidence across our model or across other investigations that unregulated coyote hunting is a legitimate population control measure,” Green said.

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• Staff writer, with CNA
  • https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2025/01/22/2003830633

The legislature yesterday approved amendments to comprehensively ban the use of steel-jaw traps, as well as dynamite and other explosives to kill wild animals.

Although the hunting methods were already formally banned, the amendments to the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) closed a loophole that had allowed for their continued use.

Specifically, the revisions deleted a section of Article 21 in the act that allowed exceptions for the use of steel-jaw traps, dynamite or explosives to kill animals that pose a threat to public safety, crops, livestock or aquaculture.

Animal traps are pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Taipei Times

The amendments also establish review and documentation procedures for indigenous people who hunt or kill wild animals for personal use as a part of their traditional culture or for religious ceremonies, although steel-jaw traps and explosives are prohibited.

The amendments also created a separate class of penalties for contraventions of the act by indigenous people, stipulating a fine of NT$20,000 to NT$100,000 (US$610.41 to US$3,052.04) for illegally killing a protected species and NT$1,000 to NT$10,000 for illegally killing a non-protected species.

Prior to the changes, the law stipulated prison terms of six months to five years, and a fine of NT$200,000 to NT$1 million for anyone caught illegally killing a protected species, and NT$50,000 to NT$250,000 for illegally killing a non-protected species.

The amendments also have a non-binding resolution urging the Ministry of Agriculture to hold consultations with indigenous groups to decide whether references to “other” prohibited hunting devices should include snare traps.