Ranchers Want Planes Back In The Air ASAP

A Colorado-based wildlife protection group is calling for the permanent end of a South Dakota program that allows coyote hunting from airplanes.

The hunt has been suspended since late July, when one of the two aircraft used by the state to hunt coyotes and other predators was involved in a non-fatal accident. The Sioux Falls Argus-Herald reports Wendy Keefover-Ring, of Boulder-based Sinapu, wants the program to meet its permanent end.

"Instead, we would like to see South Dakota livestock growers get serious about using nonlethal controls such as bringing livestock into pens or sheds at night, and especially during the times when the livestock are lambing or calving," Keefover-Ring said.

A review of the program -- part of the State Game, Fish and Parks Department's animal control efforts -- should be finished within a couple weeks, according to the paper.

Officials say the program doesn't target entire species, just specific animals causing problems for a farmer or rancher.

"The most successful animal damage control programs are those that target the offending animals, and that's what ours does," George Vandel of the state Wildlife Division told lawmakers recently. "We've been very successful in being able to reduce the impacts of those animals on producers."

Not surprisingly, Keefover-Ring takes issue with that stance... calling it presumptuous.

"To claim that they can target animals that are causing depredation is probably a bit boastful, anyway," she said. "All these kinds of programs are broad-scale, lethal killing programs."

Ranchers counter some of the methods proposed by animal rights activists aren't practical, or even that effective.

"It wouldn't be healthy, either, to pack them in," said Lynn Perry, president of the South Dakota Sheep Growers. "And even if you did put them in at night, the coyotes don't always hunt at night. They're out there in the day, too."

Other methods proposed by Sinapu include using dogs, or electrified fences, to keep predators at bay.

It doesn't seem likely the program will come to an end, though. During recent hearings before state lawmakers, talk focused on using local pilots and their planes to conduct the hunt.

"[W]e favor getting that plane back in the air as soon as possible," Perry said. "Without it, they're in a lot of trouble out west."

FMI: www.sdgfp.info, www.sinapu.org