This letter is in support of L.D. 814. Coyotes, Maine’s native dogs and most maligned keystone carnivores, are an integral part of a healthy Maine ecosystem. These predators feed primarily on rodents, which carry ticks and Lyme disease. They are nature’s tick and Lyme disease control. Yet, they can be slaughtered all year because it is legal to hunt coyotes year-round, day and night, (except on Sundays), with predator calling devices, hounds, bait, and with no limit to the number of coyotes that can be killed.

In addition, if the intent of this free-for-all is to reduce the population of coyotes, then the science is lacking; studies of coyote behavior suggest that coyote populations are kept in check when family packs are kept intact. Killing an alpha male coyote causes the younger males to pursue females and this results in more females getting pregnant and giving birth.

L.D. 814 aims to restrict the year-round killing of coyotes, and contrary to some who are critical of any limits to hunting, this is not the slippery slope to gun control, nor to the end of hunting. Hunting for sustenance is ethical and acceptable but killing for the “thrill” is misguided and perverted and damages the reputation of Maine and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. This is not responsible science-based stewardship, nor is it a positive representation of “Maine’s heritage of hunting.”

Lega Sammut-Medcalf
Bridgton