Vermont Coyote Coexistence Coalition’s (VCCC) aim is to educate, create awareness, and promote ethical and sustainable coexistence with coyotes/coywolves in our state.

VERMONT RESIDENTS ONLY: PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!    

                                                                                                                 NON-RESIDENTS: PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND LIKE OUR PAGE https://www.facebook.com/Vermontcoyotecoexistencecoalition/?rc=p                                                THANK YOU!     

The goal of this petition is to enact a regulated season on coyote that is science-based, draws on principles of fair chase, no wanton waste, and promotes responsible hunting behavior and ethical pursuit.

 The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department collects no data on the size of Vermont’s coyote population, nor the number killed each year. Yet the Department currently permits an open season on coyotes; they may be killed 365 days per year, night and day. There are no regulations against coyote killing contests/derbies where monetary awards are offered for the largest or smallest coyote killed.  Coyotes are often call-baited by “field-agents” employed by ‘for-profit’ proprietary game-call businesses such as Foxpro (electronic calls). In turn, Foxpro  profits when all too many hunters  subscribe to this type of bait-hunting. Coyotes caught in painful steel leghold traps suffer for 24 hours or possibly longer, and resort to desperately chewing at the trap and their paw(s) to free themselves.  They are also hunted with hounds and chased for miles until they are completely exhausted and cornered; left defenseless, only then, they are killed.  Often their bodies are left to decompose as waste. Female coyotes are killed while pregnant, nursing or rearing young pups, leaving their young to starve to death.

 Coyotes generally mate for life and breed in January to February. Pups are born in dens in April-Mid May. They are weaned at about 6-8 weeks, and learn to forage and hunt with both adult parents. Pups mature around nine months, but do not breed until they are two years old, unless pack leaders, the alpha pair, are killed. An open season on coyotes does not actually decrease the overall population.   In fact, reckless killing induces earlier breeding and larger litters. It also disrupts the social hierarchy, which can lead to problematic behavior of younger, less experienced, pack members and more aggressive interactions with livestock and domestic pets.

 Without natural predators, such as coyotes, populations of small rodents can quickly become overpopulated.  "High levels of human-caused mortality of top predators can jeopardize ecosystem health in several ways as smaller predators can become over-abundant (e.g., raccoons), herbivores can become over-abundant (e.g., rabbits, ungulates), disease risks can increase, and non-native species may invade more easily (Science, 2014, 343:6167, 1241484)." Predators like coyote and fox also eat rodents.  Rodents such as mice are host to deer ticks who transmit Lyme and other tick borne diseases, documented to be on the increase in Vermont.

 This petition will be delivered to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and Board requesting implementation of a science-based, ethical decision-making process, including a defined, regulated and monitored season similar to those used in the management of other species. Such a step is critical in order for Vermont to catch up to 21st century sensibilities regarding stewardship of wildlife.

 The coyote, our unique Song Dog who has existed in North America since the Pleistocene, is the most persecuted native carnivore in North America. The coyote is the flagship species for all misunderstood and exploited carnivores. Poisoned, trapped, hounded and killed for bounties and in contests, an estimated half a million coyotes are slaughtered every year in the U.S. — one per minute. ~ Project Coyote