Thank you for signing our petition regarding Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ intention to ban the rehabilitation of coyotes and armadillos! We are close to 500 signatures, so please share so we can reach our goal of 2000!

A couple of reasons we were given by LDWF as to why they want to ban coyotes from rehabilitation were because they were a “nuisance” and “overpopulated”.  There are valid reasons this is a problematic statement on their end.

Firstly, all wildlife can become a “nuisance”, but the answer to rectify that is proper science-based educational efforts. Current science supports the idea that non-lethal deterrence strategies work better and are more sustainable than lethal methods of the past. 

 Overpopulated? Maybe not, because when stable populations of predators, like coyotes, are left alone they self-regulate their population based on available resources.  However, current studies show time and time again that fracturing coyote packs/families makes conflict worse. How? Coyotes live in tight-knit family units that self-regulate their population, as mentioned above, and hold territories - keeping transient coyotes out. Lethal removal breaks up these packs which have one mating pair, destroying the pack mentality, often leading to earlier breeding by the subordinate coyotes that normally would not be breeding, increased pup survival because of increased resources due to the removed coyotes, and more dispersing individuals - all of which increases the chance of human encounters. Keeping family units intact helps maintain stable, less visible populations. So, if LDWF feels the coyote population is exploding here, perhaps they ought to reconsider their nearly non-existent regulations which allows coyotes to be killed indiscriminately year round at any time of night or day and in any amount desired, fracturing the packs. Perhaps they are the aggravating factor in the equation, not rehabilitators who rehab 6 or less coyotes a year.  

New research reveals killing coyotes increases their numbers 

Below article by Dr. Valli Fraser-Celin

Moll, R. J., Green, A. M., Allen, M. L., & Kays, R. (2024). People or predators? comparing habitat‐dependent effects of hunting and large carnivores on the abundance of North America’s top mesocarnivore. 'Ecography', 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.07390

Study Findings

The findings of this study showed “a positive association between hunting regulations and abundance” of coyotes. It also provides the largest-scale evidence that hunting coyotes, as a method of managing populations, is ineffective. The study revealed that despite liberal hunting regulations (e.g. no seasonal restrictions or limits on numbers, size, or sex of animals a single hunter can kill in a day), there was a positive effect on coyote abundance locally, in particular in grassland habitat. 

In conclusion, according to the authors of this study, the results of this research “imply that hunting does not negatively impact coyote abundance, but it often actually increases local abundance. Thus hunting is not only an ineffective control strategy, but can have the opposite intended management effect.”

This research reveals that wildlife management strategies that focus on liberal hunting as the first (and sometimes only) way to limit human-coyote conflict can indeed have the opposite intended effect. Wildlife management strategies must consider the bigger picture of how hunting impacts localized populations of coyotes in the long-term, with habitat playing an important role in management strategies. Taken together, a more holistic approach to wildlife management that considers interconnected factors and regulatory restrictions on hunting may indeed prove to have better outcomes for both humans and coyotes.

Click here to read the original study (in a new window)

The above article can be found in full HERE. All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement is intended.

(Copyright Disclaimer: This article is being shared under  Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing).

REMINDER: Public comment is open until October 1. Emails written during that time will be part of the public record and are to be considered by the LDWF commission before the proper rule to sent to the Legislative Oversight Committee. If you haven’t written a personal email, we are asking that you do now. Please send emails to the commission and officials at LDWF below: 

kevinsag1@bellsouth.net
andy.brister@gmail.com

hegenereynolds@gmail.com 
nathan@wallsgatorfarm.com 
andrew@pearlbrandseafood.com 
jwalker@mmcre.com 
Bbreland@wlf.la.gov 
tbosworth@wlf.la.gov 
jduguay@wlf.la.gov 
rmyers@wlf.la.gov

Read the full NOI here: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/assets/Resources/Publications/Commission_Action_Items/Wildlife-Rehabilitation-Program-NOI---8-2025.pdf