STOP COYOTE KILLING CONTEST IN GRAYSON COUNTY

DEAR NEIGHBORS: WE NEED YOUR HELP TO STOP COYOTE KILLING CONTESTS IN GRAYSON COUNTY, VA

Let's help Grayson County find a more ecologically responsible, effective way to deal with coyotes in the area, by promoting coexistence through education.

Coexistence management plans work, as attested to by cities such as San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Vancouver, Denver and many others throughout the country. We ask officials in leadership positions to become proactive in stopping the trapping and in reaching out to the public with educational materials to promote a plan for coexistence.

*Killing coyotes, especially so cruelly through killing contests, does not work because vacated niches are soon filled by newcomer coyotes, and when coyotes are killed, they reproduce more to make up the difference. Published research shows that indiscriminate killing of coyotes throws off their natural social structure which keeps their own numbers in check.

*Killing coyotes, either through massive shooting or by trapping them is terrifyingly cruel to the animals and causes a huge amount of suffering and pain to individual coyotes and entire family structures.

*Simple guidelines and education work in other cities, they can work here. These include never feeding a coyote, not leaving food out, securing garbage cans, protecting small pets by keeping them indoors when they cannot be supervised out of doors, keeping dogs leashed in coyote areas, learning how to appropriately shoo a coyote away if it gets too close.

*Coyotes play a vital and natural role in the ecosystem, eating mostly rodents that can carry plague and hantavirus. Learn about their amazing close knit families, intelligence and survival skills even as humans have tried to wipe them out.

We, the undersigned, want coyote killing contests in Grayson County stopped, and we want our leadership officials to become proactive in support of coexistence. We support a coexistence plan which involves management through community education programs, presentations and workshops, information websites and other communication forms such as flyers on doorknobs and information in water bills.

PETITION BACKGROUND

Please make your voice heard by signing the “Stop Coyote Killing Contests in Grayson County” petition to be delivered to leadership officials in the area. In addition, we would appreciate your contacting your city and county officials -- either by phone or by email, using any of the talking points in the petition, telling them you oppose not only killing contests, but also trapping, and you support a proactive educational approach to coyote coexistence. This is a native American species for which we all are stewards. The wild animals in the area belong to all of us, and no one has the right to kill them indiscriminately.

Please visit the COYOTE COEXISTENCE website at www.coyotecoexistence.com for information and updates. If you are willing to help out more, please write us at [email protected]

Thanks for your support!